Review: Catch a Ghost by SE Jakes

Catch A Ghost
Author: SE Jakes 
Reviewer: B.
Rating: A, 4.5 Stars

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What I’m Talking About:

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To begin with, I really liked Catch a Ghost. A lot. There were so many things that I liked equally about it, in fact, that I’m not sure where to begin. This story hit every button I’ve got: good writing, complex characters that get under your skin, lots of action, suspense, angst, a little romance, and so on. As a “sub-series” within an established universe (Extreme Escapes Limited), I’m hopeful that the two main characters, Prophet and Tommy, will have plenty of room to stretch and flesh out the parameters of their relationship, without that evolution becoming hurried. Time seems to be more important for some characters than others, and these two men definitely need it. Either that, or I’m a little bit in love with both of them, and I’ll take as many of their stories as I can get.

Prophet and Tom are truly wonderful characters. Both are scarred warriors (although not in precisely the same way), keeping their secrets locked away tight while trying to separate their pasts from the present. Yet, for all their mutual antagonizing and denials, there’s also a magnetic pull that connects them, which was at once compelling and fascinating. A more accurate comparison might be the irrefutable attraction that exists between opposing forces. Prophet doesn’t want a partner so that he won’t let anyone else down. Tom wants to partner with Prophet in order to prove that he won’t do that exact thing. Prophet is a master of control, at least to the casual observer. Tom needs to learn to have some.

Together, however, they are wickedly provocative, and even though they know that sex with one another is a bad idea, they can’t help but give into their desire anyway. Whether it’s a need for physical pleasure or for basic comfort is questionable, if not irrelevant, depending on the situation and perspective. Yet, even here, they oppose one another. Tom wants more of Prophet in every respect and pursues something more substantial with him to that end. Prophet, meanwhile, denies the unmistakable connection between them to everyone, including himself. Sexually, these two are more well matched than they’d like to admit, each encounter being more of a skirmish, as if the only common ground they can bear to acknowledge is the intimacy of battle.

One of my favorite things about Catch A Ghost is that Ms. Jakes deftly and respectfully addresses the inner demons Prophet and Tommy are fighting. A former Navy SEAL, Prophet has lived the horrors of war, and, as is true of so many of our military, he continues to do so in the life he’s currently trying to live. Tom is subject to the past in a different way than Prophet, but the fact that there are some things he’ll never be able to outrun is cast fully and unflinchingly into the light for the reader to see. I don’t believe these issues could have been handled any better than they are in this story, and I would read anything Ms. Jakes creates for that reason alone.

While both men have become quick favorites of mine, it is Prophet who has carved out a place in my heart. Catch a Ghost reads well as a standalone, but there are quite a few secondary characters that stand out vividly as well, and I regret not having read more of the books leading up to this series (an oversight I’ll be correcting as soon as I possibly can). Fortunately, the next book in the Hell or High Water series is out soon, and once I start reading it, I won’t be coming up for air until I’m done.

4.5 stars: Loved it – enthusiastically recommend (A)

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About the Book:

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Everyone knows that Prophet—former Navy SEAL, former CIA spook, full-time pain in the ass—works alone. But his boss at Extreme Escapes, LTD. has just assigned Proph a new partner and a case haunted by ghosts from Proph’s past. Suddenly, he has to confront both head on.

Tom Boudreaux—failed FBI agent, failed sheriff, full-time believer in bad luck—is wondering why the head of a private contracting firm has hunted him down to offer him a job. Still, he’s determined to succeed this time, despite being partnered with Prophet, EE’s most successful, lethal, and annoying operative, on a case that resurrects his own painful past.

Together, Prophet and Tom must find a way to take down killers in the dangerous world of underground cage matches while fighting their own dangerous attraction. When they find themselves caught in the crossfire, these two loners must trust each other and work together to escape their ghosts . . . or pay the price.

Release Date: September 9, 2013
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Series: Hell or High Water #1
ISBN: # 978-1626490383 
Genre: GLBT, m/m, Contemporary Romance, Military/Law enforcement
Format(s): e-book, paperback (258 pages)
Book Source: NetGalley

Purchase Info:
Catch a Ghost (Hell or High Water #1)