Gone Too Deep

Ruggle’s search-and-rescue romantic suspense series sags with this slow-moving third installment (after Hold Your Breath and Fan the Flames). City slicker Ellie Price comes to the Rocky Mountains to locate her father after he phones to say he fears for his life. She’s skeptical about the threat, given her father’s history of delusions, but she hopes to help him get the medical treatment he needs. When she arrives, he’s nowhere to be found, so she begs for assistance from the local search-and-rescue team’s most accomplished wilderness guide. George Holloway is a monosyllabic, hulking character without much appeal; however, when killers begin pursuing Ellie, she finds his competence very attractive. Plunged into a small Colorado town full of violent meth dealers and thwarted rapists, Ellie finds an inner strength that helps her handle all challenges. The mystery of the headless corpse from the previous books is still unsolved, but introducing George to his first kiss and much more keeps Ellie busy and will distract readers from an uneven plot. (Aug.)