Before the Scorpius Syndrome tore through North America and nearly wiped out the population, Vivienne Kennedy was the FBI’s best profiler. The bacteria got her anyway. But she survived. She recovered. And when she woke up from a drug-nightmare of captivity, her skills as a hunter of men had gone from merely brilliant to full-on uncanny. Her mysterious rescuer wants her to put them to the test. But no matter how tempting he is, with his angel’s eyes and devil’s tongue, Vinnie knows she shouldn’t trust him.

If the FBI were still around they would rate Raze Shadow as one of the bad guys. His military training can’t wipe out his association with the Mercenaries, the most feared gang in a thousand miles. His loyalties are compromised. He won’t even tell Vinnie his real name. But there’s no FBI in the new America of fear and firepower, only instinct and risk.

And the way his arms wrap around Vinnie tells its own story. Whatever else Raze is concealing, he can’t hide his desire . .

Everything on earth can be explained in terms of atoms and matter…… except love. – Dr. Franklin X Harmony –

I’m a huge fan of dystopian books especially if they are done right and this is one of my favourite series. Ms. Zanetti does it right.

We meet the characters in the first book and I just knew that they were going to be good together.

“What’s your last name?” “Shadow”
“You feel good can I keep you?” she mumbled.
Raze sobered. “No, but we can negotiate later.”

Dr. Vivienne “Vinnie” Wellington worked for the BAU before the virus struck. She also successfully captured Rippers after the virus hit. Kidnapped by the president, tortured and pumped full of CIA unknown drugs. She is having some issues in the sanity or insanity.

Vinnie is intelligent, strong, adorkable and since the first time I met her I like her. Slight girl crush going on here. . She is compassionate, funny and overall a great character in the book. See slight girl crush. She has had many challenges that she has had to overcome but her biggest one is yet to come

Raze Shadow is controlled, possessive, strong, silent dangerous type. He is a fantastic Hero you can really feel him struggling with his split loyalty and what he wants to do and what he should do. It keeps on getting harder and harder for him. Another huge crush on going on here. He is the tortured soul you want to knit back together again. For all his flaws and cracks he is loyal to a fault and doesn’t take anything easily. He is all in when it really counts. He is so sweet with Vinnie.

“Because I care about you, and the idea of you being harmed makes me want to blow up the entire Mercenary organization just to ensure your safety.” The words hit her dead center. She held out a hand. “Please don’t be sweet. I can’t take sweet.”

Vinnie is the light to his dark, he has an intensity that makes you get all hot and bothered. She is slightly crazy in a good way.

She cannot be held responsible for what comes out of her mouth.

“Morning,” Vinnie said as she passed. “Don’t worry. We didn’t have sex, although he had a raging erection.” She gasped and jerked free of his hold, running for the landing.

He tries to fight his attraction to Vinnie but he is succumbing to everything that is Vinnie. Vinnie knows that it is a bad idea especially the hallucinations and conversations she has with her step mom. They are there for one another and have such a strong connection with each other. They are explosive together.

Slowly, deliberately, he slid his hand down her back and flattened his palm over her firm ass, pressing her into his aching cock. “I like you a lot,” he rumbled.

Vanguard & Jax know that he has a hidden agenda so the pressure is on to see what it goes. In the end he comes clean and they figure it out together. Although Vanguard is strong they are accumulating a lot of enemies. But alliances will be formed. Raze is working for the mercenaries particularly Greyson Storm as he has Raze and his sister Maureen ‘Moe’ an agriculture expert. I’m using the term working for loosely here as it is more like blackmail. Vinnie for Moe.

Vinnie is filled of nightmares with her time being tortured by the president of the United States. One of the most stable yet dangerous rippers out there after the virus. But only Raze can remind her of her femininity while surrounded by such destruction.

With everything that happens in the book and the world building I feel as if I’m right there with them every step of the way. The book and the plot in the book is cleverly orchestrated by Ms. Zanetti that you are feed information on what is going on and can keep up rather than having an information overload.

Great character development. But hey we’re talking about Ms. Zanetti here so that is a given. The MC grow individually throughout the book as well as being a couple.