REVIEW: Gone Too Deep by Katie Ruggle

In Gone Too Deep by Katie Ruggle, search and rescue team member George Holloway is recruited by Ellie Price to guide her into the woods to her grandfather’s cabin, where she believes her mentally ill father is hiding. Ellie’s father believes someone is after him because he know who killed Willard Gray. Ellie doesn’t believe him, but when she and George are attacked out in the wilderness, she begins to wonder if maybe her father wasn’t so crazy after all.

Having read the previous books, I was curious as to how a book about George would work out. He’s anti-social, doesn’t attend any events unless he has to, and barely speaks. Most of his communication comes in the form of grunts and shrugs, so I wondered how a relationship with him would work out. Ellie was great because she was the complete opposite of George. She was outgoing and spunky. While George held onto his silence, she spoke enough for the both of them. She didn’t let his silence bother her; instead she took the time to recognize his different noises to interpret their meanings. Since George didn’t really talk, I didn’t feel the chemistry between the pair until more than halfway through the book, when George finally started opening up a bit more.

For those who have read the previous books, the storyline about the arsonist isn’t really covered, but it is briefly referred to. Williard Gray’s murder, however, once again is a focal point. Everyone in town is still trying to find out who killed him, and Ellie’s missing father is the key. The end of the book is left with a slight cliffhanger; it concludes the book nicely, but makes it clear that the murder and arson storyline is going to carryover into the next book. We finally get a hint of who may be responsible for the crimes, and I certainly was not expecting the person mentioned to be involved. It was a surprising twist that makes me eager to see what happens next.

This is the third full length-book in the series (there is also an introductory novella), and I highly recommend reading them in order. While the couples in each book are different, the arson and murder storylines cross over and build upon the story before it.

I recommend this book for people who like romantic suspense, or those who have read and enjoyed the previous books in the Search and Rescue series.

Book Info:

Publication: August 2, 2016 | Sourcebooks Casablanca | Search and Rescue #3

In the remote Rocky Mountains, lives depend on the Search & Rescue brotherhood. But in a place this far off the map, trust is hard to come by and secrets can be murder…

George Holloway has spent his life alone, exploring the treacherous beauty of the Colorado Rockies. He’s the best survival expert Search and Rescue has, which makes him the obvious choice to lead Ellie Price through deadly terrain to find her missing father. There’s just one problem-Ellie’s everything George isn’t. She’s a city girl, charming, gregarious, delicate, small. And when she looks up at him with those big, dark eyes, he swears he would tear the world apart to keep her safe.

With a killer on the loose, he may have no choice.

Ellie’s determined to find her father no matter the cost. But as she and her gorgeous mountain of a guide fight their way through an unforgiving wilderness, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a dangerous man in search of revenge. And they are now his prey…