Review: Hit & Run (PASS Series Book 1) by Freya Barker

Hit & Run by Freya Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mature Romantic Suspense

I like Freya Barker’s work because she tends to focus on slightly more mature protagonists, in this case 38 and 42. Both have lived fairly solitary lives up until their meeting. In the case of Jake, his parents died when he was young and after meeting his best friends in foster care, went into the military. When he came out he joined up with his best friends and started working for PASS (Protection and Security Services). He is a loner, who has never been interested in romance or relationships. He didn’t avoid them, they just never even entered his head.

On the other hand, Rosie had wanted a chance for a family and relationships but got sucked into a long term relationship with a married man and believed all his lies. Her Dad, with who she had a great relationship, died when she was 20 and her mother criticised her endlessly.

Eventually returning to Grand Junction to look after her mother who had rapidly worsening dementia, Rosie found herself working in housekeeping on a night shift in order to look after her mother during the day and have someone sleepover at night for less money than a nurse would charge for watching her mother when she was awake. She was exhausted, harried, miserable and alone, apart from her friend Grant, a gloriously camp black man, who was also kind of isolated.

Jake ended up meeting Rosie when he was based at the hotel she worked in, whilst he worked security for a film that was shooting nearby. They both had separate run-ins with the star of the film and they were not happy occasions. Rosie witnessed the star doing something they shouldn’t and Jake ended up having to find out whether she would keep her mouth shut.

This book was interesting because it not only dealt with a romance between two older and more experienced people, but it also dealt with the moral ambiguity involved with working with the rich and the powerful and how the downfall of one important part of the puzzle would mean hundreds, if not thousands of people being affected financially. Having the backdrop of their newly flourishing relationship being lies and coverups doesn’t make for an easy start.

I liked this book because the heroes weren’t ‘good’ people. They were ordinary people forced to see things in grey rather than black and white. These characters were interesting, flawed and normal. Added to the interesting characters was a diverting plot, to keep you guessing until the end.

All around, this was an entertaining book, and I’ll definitely read the next in the series.

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