Review: Hide from Evil – Jami Alden

Hide from Evil by Jami Alden
Series:  Trilogy #2
Release Date:  November 1, 2011
Publisher:   Forever
Page Count:  398
Source:  NetGalley
Buy the book at: Amazon

Sean Flynn should feel lucky he’s alive. But a betrayal by a close friend-and two years on death row-has left him feeling only numb. When his conviction was overturned, Sean retreated to a quiet woodland cabin, far away from prying eyes. There, he believed, the past couldn’t come back to haunt him . . . until she showed up.
Overcome with guilt, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Krista Slater can’t forgive herself for convicting an innocent man. But when another brutal murder reveals chilling, new facts about his case, she must turn to Sean for help. She’s ready to face his anger, but the desire in his eyes ignites a need she’s never felt before. Shadowed by danger, Sean and Krista uncover a twisted maze of deception and betrayal-all under the dangerous gaze of a cunning mastermind who will do whatever it takes to keep his evil secrets safe.

Krista Slater has spent months trying to figure out why Sean Flynn was set up for murder.  She can’t believe the evidence that pointed to Nate Brewster as the end of the line.  When a potential witness finally contacts her to set up a meeting, she figures she’s finally headed in the right direction.  But when that witness misses their meeting and ends up dead, Krista takes her suspicions to her boss and mentor hoping he’ll be on her side.  When he instead tells her to leave it alone, she does the exact opposite and makes a trip to see Sean Flynn.

Sean has spent the months since his release trying to make it through each day.  He came out of prison a very different man than the one that went in.  This new person doesn’t want to feel anything:  not the panic of being in an enclosed room, devastation at being set up by a man he thought of as a brother and not the anger at the prosecuting attorney.  So when Krista Slater shows up while he’s chopping wood he couldn’t have been more shocked.  Except when she started asking questions about Nick Brewster.

What neither of them know is that Krista’s digging has put them both on the top of the kill list for those responsible for the covering up Nick’s crimes.  After escaping the local sheriff’s attempt to kill them (along with some hired thugs) Sean and Krista flea through Washington state while trying to figure out who’s responsible.  With the help of an ex-Army buddy, Sean and Krista soon learn that the people responsible are far reaching and taking them down will mean trusting in each other.

Sean Flynn is a broken man.  He suffers from panic attacks, has used his Army training to close off his emotions and feeling all while living by himself in a mountain cabin far from any human or electronic interaction.  Krista barges into his life and suddenly everything he was keeping locked away breaks free.  He feels too much.  He wants too much.  But what he wants more than anything is Krista, which scares the hell out of him. 

Krista Slater is being eaten alive with guilt over sending Sean Flynn to prison for three years.  But she also knows that there was something about Sean that also drew her.  She felt it when he was in court, felt it when she went to prison to tell him he was getting out and really felt it when she saw him bare chested chopping wood.  While Sean says and does things that hurt Krista, she knows she can’t fight her feelings for him, especially now that she’s seen the true Sean Flynn.  The protector.  The knight in shining armor.

Krista and Sean were awesome together.  They supported each other, even while dealing with their own demons. They were HOT together, while at the same time heartbreaking.  It was their chemistry that drew you into the story and had you riveted.  You wanted them to win and get Maxwell for all he’d done.  But more importantly, you wanted Sean to believe in himself and his feeling for Krista.  You wanted him to believe he was good enough, because we knew Krista was strong enough for him.