This was an interesting story of a loner who is a "fixer" and the journalist who wants answers about the long-ago disappearance of her cousin. I liked the characters, but I can understand the frustration of some reviewers with the implied autism of the love interest. I did guess fairly easily what happened to the cousin, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the book.
I really liked their names, Wren & Emery and the explanation for Wren's name. ( )

Emery has been on a life long quest to find out what happened to her cousin Tiffany who disappeared when they were in their teens. Working in the missing persons field she has discreetly investigated for years and now has stumbled upon a name in the files listed as Wren. Searching for Wren proves to be a problem.
Wren is a fixer and he's lived most of his life in the shadows and under secret identities while carrying out jobs for clients that need problems "fixed". He values his privacy, solitude, & not being sociable or having many friends.
The two collide when Wren steps out of his privacy to warn Emery off of trying to find Wren. She won't be deterred and a weird relationship starts. She's not cowed by his controlling, stoic, uncommon behavior and he finds himself not knowing how to handle feelings he's never had before. Emery's life is threatened and Wren assigns himself her bodyguard and pools resources to get to the bottom of Tiffany's disappearance. The more they dig the more an old family friend and Emery's father try to get them to quit. A collision course is happening while investigating and trying to figure out the relationship they are in with each other, Wren & Emery have a lot of circumstances to overcome as they get closer to the truth about Tiffany ( )

Enjoyed it. Liked the awkward hero. ( )

“We need to talk about her. We need to have answers.” She did. Down to her soul. The guilt. The not knowing. Waking up every day thinking Tiffany could be one of those poor women chained to a bed somewhere in some sick bastard’s basement, unable to get out.

This had a bit of a different feel and texture than the usual romantic suspense/mystery, slower because this was about solving a decades old case but I enjoyed it for the most part because of the something new feel.

Our hero is quite different from the over-saturated with take control alpha, he was a solid quiet, composed, with some anti-social coloring. I can't say I ever felt like I "knew" him because of this little bit of dry, little bit of aloofness but he was also refreshing. I really liked the heroine and how she meshed with him, they played off each other very well.

“You still scare me a little.” She didn’t know why she admitted that, but it was absolutely true. There was no mistaking his smile now.
“The feeling is mutual.”

They had this slow dry heat thing that really worked but I just didn't get to see or completely feel them together because of the murder mystery components taking control of the story. The heroine is still searching for her cousin that went missing when she was a teenager and recently finding the hero's name in the case files leads her to him and has the hero being captivated against will for her and helping with the case.

“I got the impression you were attracted to me.”
“I’ll rein it in and say simply, yes.”
Her finger pressed into his wrist and his wild heartbeat thumped against her skin. She took that as a very good sign. “And if you didn’t rein it in this time?”
“The need to strip you naked and spread you out on that mattress is kicking my ass.” What was she even saying before that?
“Subtle.”
“There’s nothing subtle about how much I want you.”

They had chemistry but the hero ultimately remained too closed off in some ways for me, I felt walled off from him. The search for what happened to her cousin is crux of the story but it felt a little sluggish in the middle and had an ending that was fairly obvious and a bit announced and abruptly left.

She could fight her own battles, but it was pretty sexy to have a guy who wanted to stand up and help.

Dimon's writing draws me (I like how she writes the dynamics between the hero and heroine) and I like her voice but there also seems to be a feeling of things not quite clicking; her procedural writing is great but maybe some of the emotional aspect is missing for me? Either way, I'll keep reading her and I'll keep going with this series as I've already read one in it and liked it. If you're looking for romantic suspense that has a little bit of a different feel to it, this could be a change of pace.

Her spirit reeled him in and drove him mad.

I had to include this quote because of how deep in my soul I have felt this way before:
Caroline had the whole balanced-life, good-person combination down. By comparison, Emery felt like an unmade bed. ( )

Sweet and funny with a bit of a mystery thrown in. I particularly enjoyed the utterly ridiculous scene in the plane. ( )