An action-packed series starter: Ruthless criminals. Sordid covers. And a vice operative who's very good at being bad.
Ruby Rivera has come a long way from running guns for a motorcycle club in Las Vegas. She’s now a vice detective in the LAPD, spearheading an op to dismantle a sex trafficking ring led by Chauncey Ford. With her cover as Crush, Rivera’s mission is to capture Ford’s attention and snag a job as a prostitute in his organization. She’s got two things going for her—great legs and she’s a great liar.
Alejandro Gutierrez is haunted by demons—one tattooed on his back and the memory of the young woman he couldn’t save. As a leader to an organized crime syndicate, he’s supposed to be all-machine. But he can’t convince his heart to stop feeling. When a chance encounter with Ruby Rivera draws him into the middle of a sting, he finds himself attracted and offering his expertise.
Problem is, their day-jobs put them on opposing sides of the law.
When stakes are high and bullets start flying, will they work together as a team? Or will that opposites-attract thing blow up in their faces?
For fans of James Patterson, Michael Connelly, Willow Rose, and more thrillers with strong female leads, Ruby Rivera and her missions are keep-you-up-at-night action-fiction that will make you get up and lock your doors.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An interesting police procedural. This electronic version was gifted to me by the author and publisher as a 'teaser' for the series. The 'Adult' in the title is not redundant. Detective Ruby Rivera is an undercover operative for the Los Angeles Police Department. She has four personas that she assumes in these undercover operations - this story sets up the series for Rivera as Crush, where she is working a street corner with other girls-of-the-night while searching for Chauncey Ford, a newly established high-dollar pimp who is killing off his girls and perhaps the odd client. Crush is a motorcyclist with lots of black leather, swagger, and arrogance. She pulls this off very well.The pace is frantic, the action well related, and Rivera is a fairly young female investigator who bases her actions on her own personal understanding of good and evil. You really don't want to be on her bad side. Gutierrez, a bad guy with gang connections and tattoos, would really like to cross over to her good side. Not going to happen. Well, probably not going to happen...
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I am a huge fan of Darcy Walker and love reading anything from that world. I love it that one of my favorites got her own book. Ruby Rivera is a great character - with depth, passion, drama, and mystery. Being an undercover cop and having a story no one really knows, she is a complicated bundle of fire and sass. She has so many sides that there is no name for her shape. With how much there is going on with her, the author should be able to keep us in R. R. stories for a long time.Ruby Rivera is the bad-a$$ woman that all women need in their lives. She is a force to be reckoned with but is chill enough to just hang with on a Saturday afternoon. I would love to have her as a friend and ally.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This first book in the Detective Ruby Rivera Series-a spinoff from the Darcy Walker Series-is filled with wonderful characters that had cameo appearances in previous books, but really needed to tell their own stories. The action and mystery are definitely a step darker than others from Lape, but the impact is equally powerful. As with most books by Lape, this is a one-sitting read, so grab the tissues and the tea. You won't be disappointed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ As always, I totally enjoyed another AJ Lape book. This one is shorter, but it's still written by the best indie writer I've ever read, and it doesn't disappoint. Ruby Rivera is a vice cop, so this work is a little darker and rawer than the Darcy Walker novels, but Ruby, who was introduced in Ride or Die, is another great character who goes to great lengths to bring down a sex-trafficking ring. Twenty Bucks from the Darcy Walker series is a key character, and it's nice to learn more about him and get more of his backstory. Darcy makes a few appearances as well, and since she's one of my all-time favorite characters, I was happy to see that also. Ruby and Twenty Bucks, a dedicated cop and a hardened criminal, have to team up, which brings some interesting internal conflicts within an otherwise action-filled, suspense thriller. I loved the book, the characters, and as always, the style of the author. I'm looking forward to more of this series.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ Ruby Rivera is here to show you some serious sleuthing! I never imagined Lape writing anything other than Darcy Walker. She just upped her game with Ruby and Alejandro. After years of following Darcy from high school to adulthood, we now have a new addition to Lape's ever exciting stories.
I was hooked from the start of this book. I can't imagine this book being any better than it is. It's full of great characters. Some familiar. Some new. A great plot that had me waiting in suspense to see what would happen next. I flew through the pages with rapt attention.
I highly recommend jumping into this one. I, for one, cannot wait for the next book. I need it, like yesterday!
