Squeeze: A Romantic Adventure by Hiram Davis isn’t your usual romance novel. Following the misadventures of veteran Cooper Landry, it is filled with action, suspense, and a lot of violence.

After leaving the service, he continues to struggle with his past. He seeks change by leaving his hometown and quickly falls in love with Quinn Daltry. What follows is a classic romantic misunderstanding, but with a violent twist. Cooper ends up leaving again, convinced Quinn isn’t interested, not knowing she is in a hospital in a coma. Cooper decides to move on and takes a job in Central America, to which his lifelong friend accompanies him for the trip down. Before they know what’s hit them, the two men have been abducted by a drug cartel and are fighting for their lives. Upon discovering her love is missing, Quinn sets out to find him.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this action-adventure novel had emotional depth as well as thrilling drama. The book takes certain clichés: a damaged hero, a loyal best friend, and a silly misunderstanding, and twists them to offer something unique in this packed genre. Cooper is an immensely likable character whose troubling past is handled well. While it is dark, it never overshadows the lighter moments of the book. All three main characters are a joy to root for because they are well-developed and compelling.

This is a story that is constantly moving, focusing more on the action and suspense rather than the romance. I enjoyed the quick pace because I always felt like we were moving forward, all the while left guessing what would happen next because the path forward is circuitous but so much fun to follow. A true page-turner. The ending, in particular, is very intense as Davis has done a great job of making you care about the characters, and readers will be invested in them by the end.

The author puts a lot of emphasis on domestic abuse early on, both Cooper and Quinn are survivors, which may upset some readers, but it’s not superfluous. The story also deals with addiction, and the violence can be quite grizzly. I can’t recommend Squeeze enough. It takes important and troubling themes and wraps them up in an exciting adventure full of violence and suspense.

Pages: 332 | ASIN : B0BHTQFVNY