Being an old fogie, I’ve never heard the term “Rizz” – which is this month’s TBR Challenge prompt – but fortunately, our hostess-with-the-mostest, Wendy the Superlibrarian, was kind enough to explain that it’s slang for “charisma”. So I went looking for a book featuring a charmer or a rogue or a roguish charmer, and settled on The Morning Star, a caper movie in book form featuring the cat-and-mouse games played by a charismatic thief and the FBI agent set on apprehending him.

The Morning Star is the first in the four-book Shadow of the Templar series, and it’s a fast-paced, action-packed story with plenty of wit, snarky banter, high-stakes drama and  sexual tension. Hot-shot FBI agent Simon Drake (codenamed Templar in one of the novel’s many nods to the genre) has an outstanding track record and is already the leader of his own team of rag-taggle but talented operatives. Their methods may be unconventional and some of them may be loose cannons, but under Simon’s leadership, they’re a force to be reckoned with, their high solve-rate meaning that the higher-ups often turn a blind eye to their less-than-regulation antics.

When the story opens, we find the team preparing for their latest op – to prevent the theft of the fabulous Morning Star diamond from the high society party its owners have thrown to show it off. Babysitting a shiny rock is not something Simon’s team would normally be concerned with, but he has a very particular reason for wanting to keep this particular rock safe.

As Simon and his second-in-command, Sandra, are mingling with the guests and mounting surveillance, their hostess introduces them to a Mr. James Crown, a slender, good-looking Englishman Simon immediately recognises as Jeremy Archer, one of the world’s most infamous art thieves and most wanted criminals, who has clocked up an impressive ninety-one million dollars worth of thefts all over the world. He’s charming, brilliant, slick and unpredictable, and no-one has ever come close to catching him – until now. Simon and ‘James’ spend a few minutes sizing each other up – a little verbal sparring, a little almost-flirting – until ‘James’ slides back into the crowd and Simon loses sight of him, confident that Sandra had planted a tracker on him when they’d danced earlier in the evening.

A few boring hours later, Simon is still waiting for Archer to make his move on the diamond when he realises two of his team have gone silent – and discovers that all the security systems have been rigged. Racing to the basement (where the diamond is on display) he arrives just in time to find Jeremy Archer handing upside down suspended from the ceiling, one hand curled around the jewel. Archer is singularly unfazed by Simon’s sudden appearance and the gun trained on him, but he makes to obey Simon’s demand to throw him the diamond – and the next thing Simon knows, he’s being shaken roughly awake by Sandra, and Archer and the diamond are both gone.

Days later, Simon is still furious and trying to figure out their next move, when it falls into his lap. Astonishingly, he receives a message from Archer asking him to call, which leads to a meeting during which Archer explains that although he no longer has the Morning Star, he’s prepared to help Simon retrieve it. He learned that the man who employed him to steal it had lied to him about his intentions and had attempted to embroil him in some sort of terrorist plot – and while there are a lot of things Jeremy Archer will do for money, there are some lines he’s not willing to cross.

Simon and Jeremy form an unlikely alliance and embark on a secret mission to foil a plot which turns out to be more dangerous than either of them had imagined. The action set-pieces are well choreographed, culminating in an edge-of-your-seat race against time; the banter between Simon and Jeremy, and between Simon and the members of his team is excellent, and the cat/mouse dynamic between the couple works really well. I enjoy enemies-to-lovers when it makes sense, as it does here, and I liked the way the interactions between Simon and Jeremy slowly morph from tense to flirty, which makes their romance both entertaining and believable. There are no sex scenes in the book (although the author did write one, which can be found at their website – I have no idea why it’s not in the book), but their chemistry is sizzling and the sexual tension is delicious. And I really appreciated the lack of mental lusting here; the attraction between Simon and Jeremy is obvious but subtle and that works within the context of the story.

There are a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me, though. The story begins in media res and there’s a lot to take in all at once; Simon’s team all have actual names and codenames, which are thrown at the reader really fast and made for a bit of confusion, and while I really liked the team dynamic there were times when the banter was just a bit juvenile. But I really liked the two leads; Simon, the brilliant, cool-under-pressure leader and Jeremy, the deliciously enigmatic, quick-witted thief. There are hints that that there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye, and reviews indicate that there is more character development in store for the secondary cast members as the series progresses.

Sometimes, you read a book that delivers exactly what you need at exactly the right time, and that’s how I feel about The Morning Star. It’s a thoroughly entertaining, fast-paced romp, and I can’t wait to dive into the next instalment.