Krissy's Reviews > Ball & Chain

I finished my read of Ball & Chain late last night and have been carefully considering my thoughts and feeling ever since. To be honest, I was in tears about 75% through the book. Not because of all the angst and characters feels but, because I felt something precious had been lost. This was not the Cut & Run books I had fallen in love with.

Spoilers Below...

Ty and Zane were a disappointment. The chemistry between them seemed gone. Their interactions lacked the depth and meaning that they had in past books. They had been apart for 6 months, both recognizing that they had changed during that time, but neither really addressing the hows and whys of those changes. There was almost zero attention paid to what should have been a major transition in their lives.

Then there was the mystery. It was overly complicated and poorly constructed. The main characters, Ty and Zane, seemed to have forgotten how to FBI. Everyone acting like Nick is the only reasonable choice for investigating these murders was ridiculous. Ty and Zane are trained FBI agents. When we met them they had been sent to investigate a serial killer. They solved this case no one else could and lived to tell about it. But they are next to useless in this situation. Ty is a trained profiler and one of the best agents the agency had, yet he offers little more than back up and complications here. No wonder Nick was so pissed and aggravated. Things would have gone about the same (if not better) if Nick would have locked Ty and Zane in their room after the first murder.

Next up is the Nick factor. This is a character that I had liked until this book. I lost track of how many times I threw my hands in the air and shouted "really, Nick again." This plot depended too much on Super Nick. Really there was nothing this guy didn't do, including making breakfast then doing the dishes. Every major plot twist or break in the mystery came from Nick. You could have edited Ty and Zane out and it would have little to no affect on the out come of this book.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment comes from the ending of this book. The one bright spot for me in this plot was Ty's proposals and Zane's rejections. This is what kept me reading, the hope that Ty and Zane would address Zane's reasons for saying no. This, too me, would have been a sign that they really were ready for the next step, proof that they had finally learned to communicate as a couple. In the end, if this happened it was off page and never alluded to. Then to make matters worse, we are cheated out of the moment we have been waiting 8 books for, really 2 big payoffs moments. First, there is the Nick and Kelly proposal. This is obviously an important moment for this couple but, it happens way too soon in their relationship and really should be taking place in their own book series. Why do I want to read their series now? That leads me to the biggest cheat of all. The on ship wedding (both badly timed and in poor taste) and the Nick and Kelly proposal completely stole the spotlight from Ty and Zane's big moment. By the time I reached the final proposal scene I was tired and wanted Zane to say no (but getting warmer) just so that I had something to anticipate in the next book.

Will I read the next book? Yes, but a mostly in hope that Abigail Roux brings back some of the magic from previous books and perhaps explains the travesty of this one.