REVIEW: Zero at the Bone

Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I had trouble getting through this one but not because of the writing - that was superb - it was the fact that it should have been two books instead of one.

Summary:After witnessing a mob hit, surgeon Jack Francisco is put into protective custody to keep him safe until he can testify. A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won't allow him to murder an innocent man. Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies.

Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D's cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was. As the day of Jack's testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives... but also fighting for their future. A future together.

Why I loved this read: The suspense and action in this book is fast-paced and tense enough to keep you at the edge of your seat through most of it. The main characters, while polar opposites, grip you from the beginning and keep you vested in their budding romance from the get-go. Where the story started to fall apart for me was at the end where I expected the book to end long before it actually ended. I would have recommended that this book be split into two and turned it into a series because I DO want more of D and Jack but I want it in different settings. I want to see how they adapt, adjust and enjoy their relationship while dealing with killers, mafia and hit men.

Several parts of the characterization were a bit difficult for me to stomach as well but these were at the end of the book, where I had already resigned myself to this being a neverending story. Perhaps my characterization judgment was clouded by my impatience to finish the book.

I still found myself thinking and caring about these characters greatly. I've got a soft spot for conflicted souls like D's. I loved him dearly and I think that's why I wanted another book. I want more of D.

Excerpt: With no warning, D left off his exploration of Jack’s body and rolled into him, his mouth claiming Jack’s hard and fast. Jack sucked in a sharp breath through his nose, his arms coming around D’s shoulders. He wound their legs together, angling his torso toward D so they could wrap around each other. This close was just not close enough. Jack clutched what he could of D’s short hair, D’s weight pressing him back into the pillows. He felt D’s hand between them; he tilted his hips and groaned into D’s mouth as he was penetrated, D surging up over his body, pressing forward with his hips socked tight between Jack’s legs, gripping D’s biceps hard as he propped himself up.

D dropped his head into the crook of Jack’s shoulder, still eerily silent except for the rasp of his breath, rolling and thrusting like the tide against him, Jack letting himself go pliant to take him in as far as he could, his hands on D’s back. He itched to say something, do something. Push D over on his back and ride him until he begged for mercy, perhaps. But he didn’t. He just hung on and held him, cradling him in his body, one hand going to the back of D’s head.

Suddenly, D stopped and lay still on top of him. For a long moment, they just lay there breathing. D drew back and met his eyes. “Jack,” he murmured, the name barely more than a puff of air.

Jack nodded. “Harder,” he whispered.

D reared back on his knees, pulling Jack’s hips with him to keep them connected. He hooked Jack’s legs over his forearms, shut his eyes and thrust forward once, hard and deep. Jack hissed, grabbing at D’s wrists. “Like that?” D breathed.

Jack was almost too shocked that D was vocalizing something having to do with their sex life to respond, but managed to nod.

D thrust forward again, his head lolling back, and then again, and again until he was pistoning fast into Jack, holding his legs up and apart, every muscle in his chest and arms standing out like carved marble. Jack was transfixed just by the sight of him.

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