Moving on together, though, is harder than either of them realized it would be. Kelly struggles with simply being a lover instead of the Doc, while Nick is mired in his recovery. The distance between them inches along in stilted silence.
Desperately seeking solace, Nick finally gathers the courage to sort through the possessions his dear friend and fellow Sidewinder teammate Elias Sanchez left him when he died. Instead of comforting memories, Nick and Kelly find a stack of letters and strict instructions from Eli that prompt them to send out a call for assistance. With Eli’s letters in hand, Sidewinder sets out on one last mission together, seeking peace and absolution from beyond the grave—and from each other.
Comment: This is the 3rd installment of the Sidewinder series, a spin off of the Cut and Run series, a quite popular work of the author Abigail Roux (and until a certain point of co author Madeleine Urban as well).
In this spin off, the focus is on the Sidewinder team, namely Nick and Kelly, wo have realized there has always been something special between them.
In this third story we basically have the team going on an adventure through the US in order to fulfill the wishes of Eli Sanchez, the team member who is dead and who left a sort of treasure hunt notes for the team to bond over again and to explore what makes them a family, even without them. As the miles pile up, so do strange feelings and past memories.
Will the guys be able to deal with is left between them? Can they keep the groups' spirit alive even without one member?
This is a difficult book to grade and to analyze. I liked it as a whole but there several parts I struggled with what I felt about them so the adding of the parts doesn't give me such a strong feel as the notion of the whole.
I think the biggest issue was the amount of detail given to assumptions and past situations which, I thought, had already been addressed in other books. Some situations had been dealt with, so my first complaint would be why keep insisting... unless there wasn't anything else to add.
Many readers have also complained about some (unnecessary) revelations and the over the top angst scenes as opposed to the purpose of this book: a road trip among friends to remember their last comrade and the good things they shared.
I must say I was not bothered by any of the revelations because they were obviously not important. They were there to shock or surprise the reader, they had no influence in the plot so I cannot imagine the idea of them being much more than that, a supposedly surprising filler.
As for the angst content... I get it, the characters went through a lot, they had to really trust in each other for their work to be done well but now they are free of some obligations I can understand the pressure is off and they can take time to talk, to interact more freely but.. aren't they supposed to be friends? So, of course we have them being so but with a few minor drama details in the mix.
That aside and since they are spending so much time together, the author focused her attention, again, on Nick and Kelly's relationship. The other two members of Sidewinder (Owen and Digger) are not that important, it seems.
My problem with the way things happened, though, is simple. For the story to be meatier, it felt like Nick and Kelly had to discuss once more a lot of stuff which could have been solved in the past two books. Then again, this would only be a novella, so a lot of doubts and little details get between them.
After a while it got annoying they wouldn't be able to do no wrong and still the other one expected it to be so... it gets tiring to read about characters who should have known things before the others said it. I'm glad they found each other, romantically speaking, but really how can this be that convincing when they keep having so many issues even though their initial bond was tight even before sexual attraction was acted on? Things just felt very forced between them and I don't think most of it was that critical to the story.
Anyway, the overall idea I got out of the story is that, obviously, the road trip was also an excuse for them to think of one another and how they have always looked at one another as part of a team and now, as individuals who might be - or not be - close to each other.
The ideas are still alluring because these characters have been part of the fans/readers expectations for a while but the execution didn't feel up to what had been the norm. Maybe it's just my feeling of it.
These things considered, I can't say this was as amazing as I hoped for, although there are some cute scenes to mix things up a little and that turned this into something bearable. But yes, it doesn't feel like the same as when Cut and Run begun and all the amazing feelings/action scenes happened. Time does get people to see things differently...
Grade: 6/10
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