I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Darkest Hour
by
Maya Banks
romantic suspense in Paperback edition that was published by Berkley on September 7, 2010 and has 304 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Sweet Surrender, Colters' Woman, Sweet Persuasion, Sweet Seduction, In Bed with a Highlander, Seduction of a Highland Lass, Colters' Lady, No Place to Run, Men Out of Uniform, Red-Hot Summer, Never Love a Highlander, Brazen, Sweet Temptation, Whispers in the Dark, "Colters' Wife", Colters' Promise, Echoes at Dawn, Undone By Her Tender Touch, Four Play, Cherished, The Tycoon's Pregnant Mistress, Never Seduce a Scot, Highlander Most Wanted, "Softly at Sunrise", Shades of Gray, Rush, Fever, Forged in Steele, Burn, Colters' Daughter, Colters' Gift, Be With Me, When Day Breaks, After the Storm, Taking It All, Keep Me Safe, Darkest Before Dawn, Enticed by His Forgotten Lover, Sweet Possession, Sweet Addiction
First in the KGI action-romance series revolving around a group of brothers who have formed a private special-ops group, Kelly Group International, rescuing hostages, blowing shit up, rescuing people from impossible situations based near Kentucky Lake, Stewart County in Tennessee.
The couple focus is on Ethan and Rachel Kelly.
My Take
Wow! This was good. Banks is an amazing writer. So far, every series has been different from the other. And this first installment of the KGI is a pip with Ethan’s struggle with his guilt and his hope that he can make things right with Rachel. Banks sets up the series’ characters with a decent background on their various strengths and weaknesses. We understand the solid underpinning of love and caring provided by the parents and gain an introduction to close friends and the men (and woman) on the two KGI teams. I loved hearing Sam’s plans for KGI’s future just as we hear the hope in Marlene’s heart for Rusty’s future.
It’s a group of people you want to cheer on and look forward to further adventures setting things to rights in peoples’ lives.
The Story
When Darkest Hour opens, Rachel has been dead precisely one year now. Burned to death in a plane crash coming home from Columbia with a group of humanitarians. A year filled with grief for all the Kellys and intense guilt for her husband, Ethan. He had been cruel to Rachel before she left. He rejected her out of his own guilt and all the plans he had laid to make it up to her are just that, plans. Guilt-ridden pain that she never knew how much he truly loved her.
Until a package arrives on his doorstep. Maps, charts, satellite imagery, photos of Rachel being held in a jungle camp. A Rachel who has lost her memory and been forced into a cocaine addiction. Somehow, the Kellys must rescue Rachel. Bring her home. Heal her. Love her. Find out who and why did this to their girl.
The Characters
Frank and Marlene Kelly have raised a fine family of boys with respect and caring. Each son has served in the military with the youngest twins, Nathan and Joe currently serving in Afghanistan. Sam, Garrett, and Donovan “Van” have formed Kelly Group International (KGI) while Ethan recently retired from the SEALS after his wife, Rachel, miscarried. Sean is a sheriff’s deputy and, although technically a family friend, Marlene treats him as one of her sons.
KGI has two teams so far: one led by Steele and the other by Rio. Rusty is a young, homeless teen who breaks into the elder Kellys’ home stirring Marlene’s heart and dragging Rusty willy-nilly into the family.
The Cover and Title
The cover is generic with a hot guy dressed only in khaki cargo pants, a holster and gun dangling from his shoulder and a pair of dogtags set against a stormy-looking sky. The title sums up Ethan’s worries about how much and when Rachel will remember their Darkest Hour.
