Interpol cop, Anna Leyton, spirals down into a hopeless vortex of sexual and emotional passion
as she fights to keep her professional cool. Who is deceiving who in this fast moving ride across continents?
What motivates her art loving prize-bull of a lover Freddie La Salle? The power of love and trust stands against greed and crime as conflicting forces grapple for that knockout punch.
Review:
This was my May read for Love a Happy Ending Magazine and as I’ve previously read Emma’s new novel ‘Shannon’s Law’ and loved the crap out of it, I was eager to start Knockout! When Anna Leyton, Interpol cop meets Freddie La Salle, world champion boxer, it’s love at first sight but they are both hiding huge secrets from one another. With the fight of his life coming up, Freddie is the suspect in a case that Anna is investigating but the problem is, he doesn’t know she’s a police officer. When a chance meeting turns into a passionate love affair, can Anna keep a clear head to get to the bottom of this case without her love for Freddie over-shadowing her integrity?
As with all of Emma’s books, I read this one very quickly. I love that the themes in her book focus on the police force as I was quite interested in joining it at one time so it’s a profession and world that has always fascinated me – the ins and outs and the way it all works. The story-line was very compelling and a bit different and I liked the insight into Freddie’s world of boxing which isn’t something I would usually read about. Emma gives nothing away throughout the book. I desperately wanted to know more about Freddie but I was getting nothing – just like Anna. He was such an endearing character who’s description was second to none. I had such a clear picture of this strong, muscly, powerful man in my head. Another thing that resonates well with me about Emma’s books is her strong, independent female protagonists. It’s always refreshing to read about a woman in an otherwise dangerous profession who can hold her own, like Anna. There’s a nice mix of different genres in this book but the last third which focuses on the case rather than Anna and Freddie’s relationship really picked up for me and I couldn’t put it down. There was surprise after surprise and every few pages I was stunned at another revelation that had come to surface.
The connection between the two main characters was strong, maybe a bit too strong for the amount of time they had known each other and I did feel the romance side of the story was a bit too over the top. Not being a particularly big romance fan myself, this did throw me off and I couldn’t really get to grips with the Shakespearian language the two of them were using with each other compared to normal every day English with everyone else. Their relationship just moved too quickly but I don’t believe in love at first sight and clearly these two characters do so maybe it’s more about my beliefs that were dislodging me from the romantic side of the story rather than theirs. Despite all that, I love the sex scenes in Emma’s books. Aside from all the lovey-dovey romance, Emma knows how to write a cracking sex scene! Every emotion and sensation is brought into consideration which leaves you feeling just as fired up as the characters. Knockout! had an incredible back-story into worlds which the average person would never step foot in. A story of deceit, secrets, risk-taking and lots and lots of passion.
You can find Emma and Knockout! on the following links: