Without Restraint

Launching the Southern Shields series, Knight brings enough passion to carry this otherwise tensionless narrative. Alexis Rogers is a cop with a secret kinky lifestyle. Frank Murphy is introduced to her by a mutual friend. Their chemistry is instant and unrelenting, slowed not at all by the discovery that they work for the same sheriff’s office and are assigned to the same investigation. Their adventures don’t amount to a mystery, since Knight reveals the culprit on page one. Any sense of thrill or risk in the scenes of kinky sex is mitigated by frequent interruptions that deliver clunky exposition on the ideals of BDSM, and the only nonheterosexual characters are murder victims. However, once these obstacles are overcome, Knight delivers on most of the promises she makes. This is neither a police procedural nor a romance, but a flirtation with both, and readers will have to overlook the poor workmanship in favor of the satisfying erotic scenes and story conclusion. Agent: Roberta Brown, Brown Literary Agency. (Aug.)