No limits by Ellie Marney

Ellie Marney, 2017. ISBN 9780648088516
(Age: New adult - adult) Highly recommended. Warning: contains sexual references, drug use and swearing and is for older teens. Themes: Romantic suspense. Drugs. Domestic violence. Murder. Ouyen (Vic.). Mildura (Vic.). Marney continues the story of Harris Derwent, the young man readers met in her Every breath series. The story starts off with Harris, injured after helping Rachel Watts, in hospital where he meets Amita Blunt, the police sergeant's daughter. Unsteady on his feet, when he leaves the hospital the only place he has to go is home, where he is at the mercy of his violent father. The only solution he can find to paying off his father's debts is to join a drug cartel and he makes the decision to feed information through Amita to her father.
This was a totally engrossing story that fans of the Every breath series will really enjoy although it is much darker and more mature than those three books. The suspense throughout the book was breath taking - I was on the edge of my seat, worrying about Harris and whether he could escape his father's violence, and then worried about whether he could hide his undercover activities when telling the police about the drug deals, and then worried about whether he would escape the drug cartel. At the same time the growing relationship between Amita and Harris was beautifully described and real. Both characters were complicated and the life choices both had to make weren't easy.
The setting of the country towns of Ouyen and Mildura provided a wonderful atmospheric background to the scenes of the dreadful drug trade and how it operated. Readers familiar with those two towns will recognise them and those new to Australian country towns will learn a lot about how they function, with football dominating, silence prevailing about domestic violence and a small town cop being important in the community. The drug culture will be a revelation as well.
No limits puts Marney right at the top of the romantic suspense genre and I look forward to more novels in this vein.
Pat Pledger