The Devil You Know

(Mercenary Librarians #2)

by Kit Rocha

We’re in a post-apocalyptic world. Our little corner is divided into the haves and the have-nots. The haves live in a beautiful city ruled over by TechCorps– a company that doesn’t shy away from genetic experimentation, brainwashing, and body mods even in children.

The have-nots live on the outskirts. But some of TechCorps most valuable assets have defected. One group of women have formed a “library” and go on dangerous missions to fund the food and valuable books they gather. Another group, a former military squad, just are trying to live a life without doing TechCorps dirty work until the ticking time bomb of their implants go off.

In the first book, we got the love story of the leaders of each of the groups: Knox and Nina. In this one, we follow Gray (the squad’s sniper whose implant is failing) and Maya (the ostensibly weakest of this super-soldier group who functioned as a human data repository) as they handle Gray’s decline, Maya’s realization of her full potential, and try to rescue children from TechCorps genetic/human trafficking illicit doings.

If you’re a Kit Rocha fan, you might be a bit surprised by the comparatively less time spent on steamy scenes then her post-apocalyptic paranormal romance other series like Gideon’s Riders. It was almost as if the Tor editor was like “great, great, now with less sex, more missions.” Which is fine, but I originally became a Kit Rocha fan based on her/their Gideon’s Rider series (the Beyond series is a bit too much erotica for me) and had come to really enjoy that level.

Don’t get me wrong, Maya and Gray’s romantic relationship is the central theme of this book. We also get some fun becoming-found-family as the various members of the squads bicker, flirt, care for eachother, and incorporate more fun characters into their family, like one of the rescued children and Nina’s evil clone sister Ava.

The missions are action-fun. I will definitely keep reading this series because its so comforting and doesn’t require major emotional investiture. Kit Rocha always spins a tale with angsty men and women who don’t necessarily need their protection.

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