REVIEW: River Of Need | Shayla Kersten | Ellora’s Cave

Detective Kyle Shelton is hunting for a serial killer on the streets of Memphis, a killer whose signature is to leave bloody crosses over the eyes of their victims. An already fraught situation is further complicated when Kyle’s ex, Dustin Eldridge, is hauled in on a charge of prostitution. When they were dating, Dustin was deeply in the closet, lying to everyone about his true sexuality. Since then, his wife – who discovered him in bed with Kyle – has divorced him and his fortunes have fallen so far he’s now homeless and selling his body to make ends meet. Seeing Dustin at his lowest point stirs all kinds of unexpected emotions in Kyle, and encourages him to rekindle his affair with Dustin. But will his lover lie to him again, just as he did before? And what will happen when evidence links Dustin to the scene of one of the serial killer’s murders, and suggests he may know more about the death than he’s letting on?

Set in the world of Tennessee law enforcement, River Of Need is part of a series of novels that also includes A Helping Hand and Hidden Hands, but you don’t – as this reviewer hadn’t – need to have read those other books to enjoy this one. The search to track down the killer is mixed in with Kyle’s attempts to come to terms with his feelings for Dustin, and to try and trust his instincts when the rest of the force seem convinced his lover is a vicious serial killer as well as a prostitute. Their lovemaking veers between soft, tender exploration and sizzling rough play, as they revisit the need to control and be controlled that marked their initial affair. If the thought of big cops with handcuffs does it for you, there’s plenty here to thrill you among the procedural twists and turns of the police investigation. Overall, River Of Need works as both a detective thriller and a love story, and is a pretty good argument for sex with your ex!