3.5-4 stars (leaning towards the 4 stars)OK, so the mystery seems to take a back seat to introducing us to the main characters, Zane and Ty. OK, so the whodunnit isn't a huge mystery, although the WHY and the HOW (it all fits together) *is* a big deal and quite clever. OK, so this book is gritty, tough, dark, rough, mean, snide, and sometimes almost unbearable...At times, I was really irritated at the main characters and all their bickering. I *get it*!!! These two aren't easy guys; each has his own secrets and past and baggage to deal with. And I appreciate the layers involved; I appreciate that we don't see all and know all about these two guys in this one book. BUT... the "switch" in personalities part-way through was very confusing to me. It took a lot of getting used to, and frankly, I didn't like it. OK, so I understand the WHY of it, based on what is revealed to us, and I grudgingly admit that is makes psychological sense. But then again, it doesn't. Zane was just "playing by the rules" all that time, trying to be the "company man"? So how come he seems to fall apart and back into his addictions so quickly? Even someone as good as he is at hiding his feelings and stuffing everything down... the addictions make sense; it's the getting away from them and being the company man for so many years that doesn't.It's tough to see these two even being partnered up by Burns on this assignment. What made him think they could and would work together? And WHY don't these two seem to do their job? They're told that their real assignment is to find out who killed the 2 FBI agents slain by the killer, and yet they seem to spend their working time trying to track down the killer.And the Killer... we're sort of left to guess at what his motives really were, and why neither Ty nor Zane could seem to figure out it was him. Why did the Killer decide that he needed to "play" with Ty and Zane? Why did he "miss them" - or did he? Did they simply escape being killed by dumb luck and extreme skill or didn't he really want them dead? (At the end, obviously he did; but up to that point... ???)There are so many questions, you might wonder why I gave this book 4 stars, especially since that's not an easy rating for me to give. I guess my answer would be because Ty and Zane are such complex characters, and because this book doesn't shy away from the darkness. It's sort of like an Urban Fantasy that's not a Fantasy. It's more than "true crime" or just another FBI series. And it's not even because of the m-m relationship that happens during all of this. Perhaps all of those things are part of making up the whole.Truthfully? It puzzles me. Which means that I need to read the next book to figure out whether I still like these two and this series...
