Necessary Action is an action-packed romantic suspense set in the Ozark mountains. Melanie Fiske has known little else other than life on her family's sprawling farm community, but even she can tell that something hinky is going on when people start turning up missing and nobody is allowed to leave without permission from her uncle. Who can you possibly trust when everyone you know might be in on whatever scheme is going on? Only a complete stranger.
Tom "Duff" Watson has personal reasons for going undercover as a security guard on the Fiske Family Farm - the smuggled weapons that were used to cause havoc at his sister's wedding and almost killed his grandfather came from there. He didn't count on falling for a curvy paramedic, the farm owner's niece no less.
This is an absorbing read with a very believable premise and two likable protagonists. Although it's the third in a series about the Watson family, there was enough set-up that I had no issue following along with the plot; it wasn't necessary to have read the previous books in the series. I enjoyed the book but found myself disappointed in a couple of areas; firstly, we never did get the backstory about Duff's previous undercover entanglement. It was mentioned a couple of times as the reason for his being gun-shy about relationships and then just ignored thereafter. I'd have liked to learn more.
Secondly, and this was a big one for me, the climactic confrontation between Duff and Silas was completely skipped over. One moment the villain of the piece is telling Melanie everything (because of course she is about to be disposed of) and literally the next paragraph we're in the hospital and everything is done and dusted.
It all happened so fast I got a case of reader whiplash... did I just skip a page, or three? I had to turn back to check, and then I felt pretty let down because the entire book had been leading up to that point. I feel like a whole scene was missing at a crucial moment.
While I enjoyed the read, and I'd enjoy reading more in the series, that missing climactic scene meant I finished the book feeling a bit flat. I'll give it four stars.
Necessary Action is available now in paperback and is released in ebook on May 1.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.