Book Review: Treacherous Tango

 Treacherous Tango by E. Ryan Hale starts off in the courtroom at a trial where you meet some of the key players, including Aidan Wolf and Jenna Jacobs. You’ll want to pay attention to the trial and everyone involved because nothing is frivolous in this fast moving thriller. Hale weaves a story that is indeed a tango with intricate moves and enough twirls to keep you guessing as to the killer.

Here is the cover blurb:

* Kimberly Larson doesn’t remember the assault that almost ended her life.
* Her sister Michelle identifies Kim’s ex-fiancé, Thomas Peyton, as her attacker.
* District Attorney Wilson Howell receives numerous threats against his family.
* Former prosecutor Aidan Wolf learns via e-mail that he’ll never see his son again.
* A series of insistent posts threaten the security of trail lawyer Jenna Jacobs.
* What do these attorneys have in common? They all played a part in the Peyton trial.

This tango is a fast-paced dance. Hale keeps this story moving by bringing in a compelling second thread. Emilio and Ana Ortiz and their children, including their newborn Jenna. Their lives and the family are being torn apart by a system that seems to work on stereotypes instead of finding out the truth.

But it is the strange and ominous threats that have everyone on edge. They start off as warnings, then get darker and more direct. Then they become dangerous and personal. And the heroes are not necessarily who you would have expected.

Hale is good at keeping the characters true to their personalities and not letting them off easy. At times I wanted to whack a character upside the head, but he was being himself rather than omniscient, like the reader. There are books where you can feel the author pushing a character to change or see the light, but E. Ryan Hale lets her characters show their true selves.

Treacherous Tango
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Since E. Ryan Hale is a new-to-me author and I enjoyed the book, I give Treacherous Tango a rating of Hel-O!

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FTC Disclaimer: Treacherous Tango was sent to me by the author, but that in no way influenced my review. One thing that did influence me was that this book had two strong threads. While ominous threats were pulling apart one family, another family was being destroyed by an uncaring system. Unlike on TV where attorneys work on one case at a time, in Treacherous Tango, Hale paints a more realistic picture of people who are pulled in many directions and can come close to losing everything.