Review - Moonlight on the Water by Crystal D. Budy

Carter and Max have agreed to drop their personal investigation of the Appalachian Order and let law enforcement do their jobs. But when Carter’s brother and acting police chief Scott is charged with possession of a large quantity of heroin, the pair of lovers are drawn back into the case. It’s a dangerous game. The leader of the Order may be Max’s father, but even Max isn’t sure the man wouldn’t kill him and Carter to get them out of the way. There are others to be concerned about as well. Carter’s brother Joey, who escaped the Order and is now in rehab; Max’s sister Violet; and Kip, the young man Max kept out of the clutches of human traffickers. Max and Carter aren’t alone, though, and help comes from some of the unlikeliest people.

This fourth and final Polaris Mystery wraps up the story of Carter and Max and their fight against the criminal gang headed by Max’s father. This book pulls together all the threads from the first three books, so you need to have read all the books before this conclusion. The closer Max and Carter get to bringing down the Order, the more dangerous things become for them, their friends and their family. Be prepared for edge of your seat action as things get intense for the couple near the end.

The relationship between Max and Carter feels much more solid in this latest book. I had my doubts in the early stories. Max felt like too much of a self-destructive loose cannon. Sooner or later, he was going to do something Carter couldn’t forgive. It was already clear in the last volume that Max recognized the need to heal the trauma of his past if he wanted to have a future with Carter. Often, characters with deep trauma in fiction undergo an almost instant cure. Max’s transformation seems more natural. He’s healing, but it’s not going to happen right away, though we can see that Max is taking the right steps.

Carter remains the white knight figure we’ve come to know him as. Max and Carter aren’t nearly the polar opposites they appeared at first. In the end, they’re more complementary. It feels like their relationship could last.

“Moonlight on the Water” is available from Smashwords or see BookBub for other online sources.