Darkest Before Dawn by Maya Banks Series: KGI, #10
Published by Berkley Publication Date: October 27th 2015
Pages: 384
Also in this series: Darkest Before Dawn, Brighter Than the Sun
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THE ALL-NEW KGI NOVEL from the βincredibly awesome" (Jaci Burton) #1 New York Times bestselling author of When Day Breaks.
The Kelly Group International (KGI): A super-elite, top secret, family-run business.Qualifications: High intelligence, rock-hard body, military background.Mission: Hostage/kidnap victim recovery. Intelligence gathering. Handling jobs the U.S. government canβt...
The enigmatic Hancock has been both opponent and ally to the KGI teams for as long as they've known him. Always working a deep game, Hancock's true allegiance has never been apparent, but one thing is for certainβhe never lets anything get in the way of duty.
But now, his absolute belief in the primacy of his ultimate goal is challenged by a captive he's been ordered to guard, no matter how much she suffers in her prison. She's the only woman who's ever managed to penetrate the rigid walls surrounding his icy heart, but will he allow his perplexing feelings for the beautiful victim to destroy a mission he's spent years working to complete or will he be forced to sacrifice her for βthe greater good.β
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from Galley Sites, NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
I want to start off my review saying that this is my first Maya Banks novel and I am glad it was though I did have a hard time with some of the book.
Darkest Before Down is number 9 in the KGI series, this is a story about Hancock a mercenary who in the past has had an allegiance to no one except himself which has made others (other than his immediate team) weary of his intentions.Β Honor is a young relief worker who has a big heart and whoβs only mistake is literally being at the wrong place at the wrong time.Β Hancock has been asked by his employer to find Honor and take her to a ruthless Russian named Makismov who Hancock has had dealings with in the past and has vowed to take Makismov out any means necessary β even if that means giving him Honor.Β The problem is that the more time Hancock and his team spend with Honor the more they come to like and respect her, and as the relationship grows between Hancock and Honor it because increasingly clear handing her over to a ruthless killer like Makismov for the greater good is not worth it in the end.
You do get to revisit with the members of the KGI and learn about the relationship they have with Hancock which some of the other books have been about.Β You also as a reader get to see (from my understanding) a different side to Hancock, that as a new reader to the series didnβt come as a surprise to me but definitely had an impact on some of the members of the KGI.
What I loved about the book, is the relationship between Honor, Hancock and the members of his immediate team.Β You can feel the true admiration they had for her and her back to them.Β She truly believes in them and learns to trust them as the story moves forward; as a reader I would have been good with just this.Β However, this being part of a larger series and Hancock playing such a vital role that as a long time reader you would definitely want that pay off β I believe you have that.Β Seeing Hancock go through so many emotions from guilt, joy, trust, and at the end love was a payoff for me a first time reader; I can only imagine how a long time reader of the series would feel.
My concern with the book overall though, is how long it seemed to have taken to get to that payoff.Β From the beginning there is a lot of exposition almost to the point for me of over telling the story.Β We spend a lot of time dealing with Hancock feeling guilty over what he perceives as the right thing to do knowing chances are he is going to change is mind and go a different direction.Β There is a lot of build up around the KGI team as well as secondary characters that seemed to keep coming into the story and that the author had to keep spend time explaining who they are that I am not sure where necessary.Β Honor also was a little to perfect, she has to win the hearts of this group of mercenaries but I would have liked to see some flaws in her and there really isnβt any.
That all being said overall I still enjoyed the story of Hancock and Honor and will definitely go back and read some of the other KGI books to see his relationship with the members of the KGI team.Β I do recommend this book for those who have followed the series and new readers as well.
