Book review: Cold Fire - Dustin Stevens (Hawk Tate #1)

As a DEA agent, Jeremiah “Hawk” Tate was one of the best at taking down drug traffickers. Then the cartels struck back—and destroyed everything he held dear.

Five years later, Hawk has retreated from society and is living a quiet life as a Montana wilderness guide. He’s done with the DEA, done with the criminals, and done with the pain left over from his past. But his past isn’t done with him.

When a mysterious woman offers him an enormous amount of money to find her lost brother, Hawk knows he should walk away, but, with a flash of gunfire, he gets pulled back in. Surrounded by old enemies and allies, he must face off with a new player planning to flood the market with a lethal drug. This may be the chance for revenge Hawk never thought he’d get. 

My opinion.

Dustin Stevens' name on the cover has become a guarantee for an amazing read. Cold Fire is no different. With Hawk Tate Dustin created another intriguing, complicated and fascinating main character who provokes you as a reader by repeatedly flirting with the line between good vs. evil. Cold Fire is an intricate and incredibly layered story. There are so many story lines, clues, secrets and hidden pasts, it's amazing how Dustin Stevens managed to fit all of them into this book in a way that is still understandable; and because you're not being given all the pieces of the puzzle right away - nor in a chronological order - you're being challenged to think along with the characters, trying to solve this complicated story.

Although a lot of Hawk's past and background story is revealed over the course of this novel, I do feel like there's so much we don't know about him yet. He's almost too cold and detached to be able to relate to him - which becomes apparent when he challenges that fine line between fighting "the bad guys" and becoming one of them. Which is why I'm really looking forward to reading the second book following Hawk Tate, Cover Fire. I'm excited to find out more about his character, and to see what else lays in store for him.

Cold Fire is a thrilling, thought-provoking, exciting read you won't be able to put down. Dustin Stevens has proved himself again and I'm yet again amazed by the amount of different, convincing types of characters and settings he can create, all of them in astonishing detail.