Review: Rebel (Operation Justice Force Book Four) by Reese Knightley

Rating: 3.25🌈

I was expecting much more from this story because it was the long anticipated romance of Cohen “Ace” Gray , leader of Pegasus, and Jacob Burns , the Pegasus Tech specialist and son of the men who formed Phoenix.

There was a lot to unpack emotionally between them. A big age difference, Jacob’s dad’s feelings about his future, stubbornness, arguments. Plus there’s history, some hidden and others riddled with fear and injuries layered on top of each other to form barriers against any romantic relationship.

All those elements make for a terrific romance. But here it’s delegated to almost secondary status next to a poorly crafted suspense/action storyline with Seven . That escalates and spins off into other minor threads with more characters (CIA, Pegasus, anonymous teams, agencies) with tons of shooting, a few explosions, bad guys, new characters, more characters. Then a moment or two when the shaky path to a romance gets picked up and immediately dropped for more espionage, more murky type shootouts and well , you get my drift.

If Rebel was one of those big all star action movies, you could go get a beverage of choice, some popcorn, come back to find , while the movie has progressed, the narrative is basically the same.

It’s too many characters (Including teams/couples from the Phoenix series) that make one dimensional appearances. Too many plots that have no depth or explanation that makes them especially believable. We get no foundation here for anything that would make us commit emotionally to the “high stakes” action that’s constantly happening.

Even Jacob who has a good argument stating his fathers and Ace treat him like a youngster because of his age, then proceeds to undermine his own stand by putting those around him in danger by using poor judgment in order to prove himself because. Young. SMH.

Knightley wants us to support him. Really? Those last actions are of a boy scout with street cred who’s not thinking clearly but rage and action.

In the end, it was popcorn entertainment. Taken at surface value, easy to enjoy, easy to move past.

I hope Hunter and Seven’s story has greater attention to detail and their relationship then this did. They figured in here as much as Ace and Jacob.

🔹Operation Justice Force series:

✓ Lethal #1

✓ Rough #2

✓ Honor #3

✓ Rebel #4

◦ Stealth #5 – March 21, 3023

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showRebel (Operation Justice Force #4) by Reese Knightley

Description :

One man on a journey of redemption and the other out to prove himself.

Cohen “Ace” Gray – Pegasus Commander.
He’d buried one lover; he wasn’t going to take the chance of that ever happening again. Ace had his own demons to work on, but working closely with Jacob and having his friendship— despite their twenty-year age difference—had made life a bit easier. The void that Jacob left ate at him and burned into his brain, making him think that he might have made the biggest mistake of his life turning Jacob away.

Jacob Burns – Techie specialist, skilled in combat, expert at weapons. He never dreamed it would be this hard to cut the apron strings from his three dads. He got it. They lived a brutal life and dealt with the scum that hovered in the darkest part of society. What they didn’t fully understand was that he’d watched and learned from them, and he would leave his mark on this world. Ace and his dads thought he didn’t have what it took to be an operative.

They were so damned wrong.

One job.
One chance encounter.
When an unexpected meeting happens, both men are left stunned.

Then, shit gets all twisted up.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Reese Knightley reading order

Code of Honor series (Phoenix)

Code Of Honor

1. Cutting It Close (2019)

2. Risking It All (2019)

3. Bringing It Home (2020)

4. Taking It Slow (2020)

5. Whatever It Takes (2021)

6. Battle It Out (2021)

7. Despite It All (2021)

8. Call It Quits (2021)