THE DARKEST HOUR

Author: Maya Banks ISBN: 9780425227947 9/2010 SUSPENSE Publisher: BERKLEY

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 US government can’t... It’s been one year since ex-Navy SEAL Ethan Kelly last saw his wife Rachel alive. Overwhelmed by grief and guilt over his failures as a husband, Ethan shuts himself off from everything and everyone. His brothers have tried to bring Ethan into the KGI fold, tried to break through the barriers he’s built around himself, but Ethan refuses to respond... until he receives anonymous information claiming Rachel is alive. To save her, Ethan will have to dodge bullets, cross a jungle, and risk falling captive to a deadly drug cartel that threatens his own demise. And even if he succeeds, he’ll have to force Rachel to recover memories she can’t and doesn’t want to relive—the minute by minute terror of her darkest hour—for their love, and their lives, may depend on it.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

After grieving for his wife for a year, Ethan Kelly discovers that Rachel is still alive on the anniversary of her death.  With three of his brothers who make up The Kelly Group International (KGI), he heads to South America to rescue her.  Upon returning home, the two battle Rachel's drug withdrawal and her lost memories, while his brothers try to figure out why she had been taken captive to begin with.

Where most romantic suspense authors attempt an almost equal balance between the suspense plot and the romantic side, Maya Banks makes Ethan and Rachel's relationship the primary focus in THE DARKEST HOUR. Both are trying to continue their marriage, Rachel is trying to remember it, and Ethan is attempting to make amends for the mistakes he made prior to her "death."  I liked that Banks doesn't come out and say what exactly their issues were.  Instead, we get hints from Ethan, with the bulk of the information coming from Rachel's memories.  I think Banks did well with the characters finding their way back to each other.  The reasons behind Rachel's captivity, however, do not make a reappearance until well into the novel and are given minimal attention from there on out.  Additionally, scenes with Ethan's parents taking in a teenage runaway seem a bit misplaced.

As Ethan is one of six, we'll be reading stories for his brothers.  THE DARKEST HOUR is a good starting point for this new series.  I liked the series debut enough to continue with the KGI books, as I believe Banks will improve with balancing both sides of the stories. 

Christina Baker