True Shot (True Trilogy #3) by Joyce Lamb
Paperback
Romantic Suspense
December 6, 2012
Berkley

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “It’s like you’re Jason Bourne and I’m… the resourceful girlfriend who gets killed in the beginning of the second movie.”

Sam Trudeau ran away from her home and family at eighteen and never came back. Manipulated into joining the FBI, Sam was experimented on and used as a weapon. When a fellow agent comes to her accusing their boss of unethical practices and is killed for it, Sam barely escapes with her life. She goes the one place she feels safe, her family’s remote cabin, but is shocked when she finds she’s not alone.

Journalist Mac Hunter has had a rough year and when Sam’s sisters offer him the cabin, he jumps at the chance to get away for awhile. He’s shocked to find Sam there, wounded and unconscious. When men in black burst into the cabin, guns blazing, Max knows that whatever Sam’s involved in, now involves him and vows to help her anyway he can.

When Sam loses her memory, she and Max have to stay one step ahead of her enemies while trying to figure out what is so special about her that her boss is willing to kill anyone to get her back.

True Shot is the third book of Joyce Lamb’s True trilogy. A romantic suspense with hints of paranormal that finally expands on the mysterious third sister, the reasons behind the sisters gifts, and their mother’s seemingly cold attitude. I loved her first one-True Vision but wasn’t to keen with her second one-True Colors. I found this one was more like True Visions with its dry humor but the tension and suspense don’t really come into play till the last quarter of the book. A slow but steady pacing tells an interesting story of lies, betrayal, and revenge as we meet and learn more about the elusive Sam Trudeau. Discussed in the previous books, Sam has always been a fleeting shadow in her sisters lives; they never know where she was or what she’s been doing with her life since she left home fourteen years ago. Sam left home in response to her mother’s abuse and lack of communication concerning her past. When she learns she has a different father then her sisters, she vows she will discover why her mother lied to them all and crack the rigid shell that surrounds her. Sam finds her birth father, only to be conned by him, and ends up making a terrible mistake that puts her in a bind. She is “rescued” by Flinn -an FBI agent who runs a black ops squad of psychic agents. Sam unwillingly gives up her family and life for the next fourteen years, using her gift to fight on the side of good. When she is given irrefutable proof that her boss has used unethical means against her and fellow agents to further his own frightening hidden agenda, Sam turns to a new love and the family she left behind years ago.

I enjoyed meeting Sam Trudeau. A tough as nails, honest to god spy, she is pure bad arse without the bitchiness that usually comes with it. She is an empath like her sisters but lucky for her, she has been trained to control it. Losing her memory helps soften her and allows for our beta hero, Mac Hunter, to be her knight in shining armor. She handles her situation well and doesn’t try to be a controlling alpha heroine. She doesn’t want Mac involved in her problems but Mac won’t abandon her.

Mac is a wonderful character. Very beta yet there throughout the book he always has Sam’s back. Smart and sweet, he automatically stole my heart with his blundering kindness. Even though he is in way over his head and knows it, he plunges in head first to help keep Sam safe. They fit together comfortably and it really feels like they have been together for years. None of the normal angst or misunderstandings intrude. They are remarkable laid back for being chased by a madman.

They have a cute chemistry together. I can’t say it’s steamy hot; more like cute and romantic with some humor tossed in. I love how he consistently teases her about being psychic.

“Inside or drive thru?

“Drive thru so we don’t waste a bunch of time.”

“It’s like you’re reading my mind.”

We hear a lot of Max’s POV and it’s very humorous & sweet. Through out the story he has these in depth sexual fantasies about Sam, and while he enjoys them, he also feels bad for having them because Sam’s hurt, in trouble, and she doesn’t really know him.

Well hello. Either partial nudity embarrassed her, or she’d just gotten the same electric charge seeing him half naked as he’d gotten seeing her. But then he wanted to smack himself upside the head for being such a dolt that he was more focused on sensual curves and lust then helping the poor woman sit down after tossing her cookies.

I really liked how Ms. Lamb made choose to characterize Max. It’s nice to have a hero that isn’t mind numbingly angry over his and his woman’s predicament; plotting death and destruction in every other thought. He genuinely feels bad for everything Sam’s been through. He wants to help her and protect her but tempers that with the knowledge she is way more lethal then he is.

“She’s a spy. A psychic spy. A trigger happy psychic spy.”

Previous characters all make an appearance; helping to tie the books together and wrapping up the series. Ms. Lamb addresses the abandonment that Charlie and Alex both feel over Sam’s “abandonment” of them but understand once the full story is revealed. Our villain is a nasty piece of work. Narcissistic with a God complex; he’s a fanatic with a cause. Though we know from the beginning who the antagonist is, it’s through the story that we are able to learn how it all came to be and what his final plans are.

The first half of the book is filled with Sam’s history and a dangerous game of cat and mouse as Max and Sam try to get to Lake Avalon (home) before Flinn catches them. I enjoyed the characters and the dialogue but the build up of the plot and main conflict is slow. We spend lot of time watching Max and Sam do mundane things as Sam slowly regains her memories. Any interaction with the villain is handled in a matter of fact way without much fanfare. The last half of the book speeds up considerably and the tension and suspense mount as we race to the end. Ms. Lamb does not spare our hero and heroine a painful finale that contains scenes that were hard to imagine. I love she includes an epilogue, that wraps up the storyline and the series beautifully.

Overall Rating: C+

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