KJ Dahlen, $2.99, ISBN 978-1393076650
Contemporary Romance, 2020
Ajax is the first entry in KJ Dahlen’s Louisiana Heat series, and I can only assume the heat is responsible for frying the main characters’ brain cells and bringing about the rampant stupidity in this one.
Wynette Fletcher is now out of jail. She spent eight years behind bars for a murder that she didn’t commit, and now the only family member that still welcomes her is her grandfather.
Naturally, it’s time for her to monologue to her grandfather about the past, like he has never heard of it before. Sure, the readers don’t know, and these days, I guess romance authors have completely denied the validity of the art of showing.
“You did not shame this family,” Joel told her with a snort. “And I never believed you killed that young man either. You told the truth but no one wanted to hear you, instead they put their own spin on things and blamed you but I know you didn’t hurt him.” Shaking his head he admitted, “I don’t know what really happened but I don’t think you hurt him.”
“I didn’t.” Wynette sighed. “I was out collecting herbs when I heard an argument. I went to see what was going on and I saw the back of one man as he struck down the other man. The man went down and I could see he was hurt. Then the other guy pushed him into the swamp and held his head under the water for the longest time. Then he just walked away.” She paused and looked over at her grandpa. “I couldn’t just walk away I had to see if the guy was okay. I pulled him out of the water and began checking him. I was covered in muck and mud from the swamp and his blood, so when the Sheriff came, he asked me why I killed him. I told him I didn’t but he wouldn’t even hear me.”
Our hero Kaden “Ajax” Turner—he’s an MC dude, and they all need nicknames more appropriate for names of pit bulls—begs to differ. He knows that that murderer murdered his brother in cold blood and now he’s going to aim his gun—the real deal, not a metaphor—at her and murder her back!
“I already know the truth bitch,” Ajax snarled.
Wynette shook her head. “No, you don’t. That farce of a trial eight years ago was set up by the real killer. Matthew Trance didn’t die the way they claimed he did. The Sheriff was paid to set up the trial by the real killer and it wasn’t me.”
Wait, how does she know all that? Is she secretly a psychic or something?
“Why should we believe a fucking word you got to say bitch?” Fireball called out.
Someone with a name like Fireball has no right to speak. STFU, Fireball.
She snorted, “Do you think I’m fucking stupid? If I did kill him, why the hell would I come back to this town? You think you’re the only ones that want me dead? Not fucking likely.”
Let’s see, she happily comes back into the same town that is crawling with dudes with dumb nicknames that are convinced she murdered their brother and they’re all out to get her. Hmm, this is a tough one, but after careful deliberation, I have to conclude that yes, she’s fucking stupid.
Of course, what she says doesn’t matter as Ajax is determined to kill the heroine in cold blood—MC justice or something—but then, the heroine’s grandpa tells them that his family received death threats after Wynette was sent to jail, and then people came and beat the old man bloody. Gee, that sounds like what the hero and his gang are planning to do!
Anyway, for some reason, Ajax is convinced by Joel’s words that maybe Wynette isn’t guilty after all.
“We’ll talk about this later.” Ajax growled. Then he looked at all his men. “I want a watch on the house twenty four seven. If what the old man said is true, there’s someone in this town hiding something and that something is what got my brother killed. That girl knows what they don’t want anyone else to know and I aim to find out what that is. I want the truth of what happened here eight years ago and I aim to get it.”
What? Am I missing something here? Why would he change his mind so quickly and give the heroine the benefit of the doubt when he’s more than happy to kill her just a few paragraphs ago? Does “MC” stand for “Mental Crackpots”?
Fortunately, later the heroine does get beaten bloody, which is a good thing because the sight of her getting what he has initially wanted to do to her finally convinces him that she’s innocent. Phew, just when I am thinking that the hero may have to kill the heroine in the end and set a new precedence in the romance genre!
For the rest of the story, the MC is impressively efficient in weeding out the identity of the possible actual murderer, which makes me wonder why they didn’t do this eight years ago. Joel finally reveals important clues that he had been holding back all these years, I guess maybe because his beloved granddaughter isn’t so that beloved after all, and the whole thing ends with the threat of the bad guys going to come and kill Wynette.
I have no idea why Wynette is so kill-worthy as she’s not exactly a threat to the bad guys. Then again, she’s as dumb as rocks and the only hint of her personality is the mosaic of wounds and bruises on her that makes her totally sexy to Ajax, so hey, I won’t shed any tear if she actually gets killed. I just hope these guys kill the rest of these imbeciles while they’re at it.
Still, as horrifically dumb as the whole thing is, I admit it does have a macabre kind of entertainment value. The train wreck factor can be unintentionally amusing at times, so I suppose it won’t hurt to give this one an additional oogie for this reason.
