Kit Jernigan is the newest member of the K9 Unit having arrived in town after the unit’s police department was blown to bits by the previous novel’s bad guy. Needless to say, her male counterparts are a little gun shy to trust the new girl in town. The day she arrives she is called to the scene of a fire with her bloodhound Justice to track a potential killer. When that trail points to a seemingly innocent person, Kit is the only one to believe that her story may not be true. Until Wes comes along. Wes, the local fire-spotter who works for the National Park, did his job and spotted the fire. When Kit goes to interview him, their chemistry sizzles and as they get to know each other, Wes is on hand to help her investigate her suspect.

This is the final book in the Rock Mountain K9 Unit series and it wraps up the series story arc very nicely. It was refreshing to have Kit’s perspective as the only female officer in town. Don’t let that book cover fool you, that should be Kit next to the dog not Wes, since she is the officer in the unit. (The guy on the cover is handsome, but Wes was described as a huge mountain man with a lot of hair and I’m not seeing it at all on that cover!) Kit was smart, and her inner dialog made me like her even more. I also liked how she was attracted to Wes’s personality. It is obvious that he is borderline autistic or at least severely uncomfortable with person to person contact of any sorts. Katie Ruggle wrote his character as if that was totally normal and didn’t explain his peculiarities at all, which was really refreshing in an age where “diverse” characters are celebrated. She didn’t draw attention to it, it was just who he was.

Wes was completely charming! He was a hot mountain man with a brain. He was also willing to face his fears of being around people socially to be a part of Kit’s life. That is romance! My only critique is that she wrote him a little too well? I liked his personality with Kit, but because of his awkwardness the reader may have had to work a little harder to connect with him.

If I had to classify this book’s genre, I would classify it as romantic suspense or an action novel. There was a lot going on and the mystery definitely took center stage. However, I really liked Kit and Wes and was happy with the romance sub plot. This series started off flat but slowly built up steam and I liked Through the Fire the best of the four novels. You definitely must read the other books before reading this one since there is an overlying plot that runs through all four novels, sorry! Reading a Katie Ruggle book isn’t a hardship so even with the slow start I’d recommend reading this series. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase!* Through the Fire (Rocky Mountain K9 Unit)

Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights reserved

*Amazon Associate