It’s all part of his sick game. A game he’s been planning for an entire decade. Now everything is perfect: One woman and one man have been selected. They used to be a couple—and they can no longer stand one another. They are the perfect victims. He doesn’t intend for the game to be easy. He wants to push them to the brink of insanity, to make his hunt real. . .A DESIRE WORTH FIGHTING FOR. . .
The couple has been captured and dumped into a massive wooded area. There’s only one rule in this fatal game: They will have 72 hours to find a way out before the sadistic serial killer begins his hunt . . .But what he never could have expected was the explosive passion that ignites between the two ex-lovers—one that makes them strong. Fierce. And determined to do whatever it takes to escape—and to survive. . .
Standalone
Romantic Suspense
St. Martins Paperback | April 4, 2017
72 Hours isn’t a book I’d normally request. As a rule I try to steer clear of romantic suspense because it falls into the contemporary romance category for me that usually falls flat. This one sounded good though. I liked the plot idea of having 72 hours to survive a killer who is hunting you. I also liked the idea that the two people chosen hate each other but have to rely on each other anyway. It seemed interesting enough to make me curious. Unfortunately I think that awesome premise was lost a little bit on the telling of the story.
From the beginning I had a hard time with Lara. She was just so dramatic. I get that books are supposed to be more dramatic than real life, but I mean exceptionally dramatic. For instance, in the very beginning you learn that Lara lost someone very close to her in a traumatic way. It devastated her and altered her perception of herself and the world. Yet, just after we read that, she talks about her recent breakup as the hardest thing she’s been through. That was definitely a turn off for me. I just didn’t believe it. Death should/does put everything in perspective. I also thought that Noah was a little too heavy handed and aggressive, but between the two I preferred him.
The middle of the book was a bit better. The characters were still too over the top, including the villain, but I did find myself interested in the suspense of the story. I’m not saying I was super on the edge of my seat, or dying to read nonstop. There were holes in the plot a mile wide, but (I’m repeating myself) the idea was promising and I wanted to see how they would survive. I wanted to see how they were overcome.
Of course, like they always do, they did persevere. I’m sorry if that’s a spoiler, to me all romantic suspense ends like that. I’ve yet to read an author who has her characters lose. Normally after the ending, the book ends. This one didn’t. It was like The Return of the King, just when you thought it was ending there was more. And then more. It was too much. The book needed to be trimmed by quite a few chapters. Not just chapters, the end was just wrapped up way too neatly. It was too perfectly ended. Lara was far too perfect.
Despite all my hangups, I’ve heard that there’s going to be a second book and I might give in and read more. I may not be able to help myself.
Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Birdie Bookworm 
Hmmm, I can’t decide if this is a book for me or not. Some of it sounds quite good, but I think Lara might drive me crazy with the dramatics, haha. Great review though!
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That was exactly what got me too. Some of it does doing quite good!
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