VERITY UNDERCOVER

A roguish starship captain and an intrepid librarian discover more than just a conspiracy in this erotic SF adventure, the eighth book in the Sexy Shipwreck series.

The story starts as Doctor Verity Force, an agent for the Biblio Services Agency, a group of “esteemed knowledge keepers, fact finders, and truth seekers,” is shot down on her way to a secret meeting at Detritus Station. Escaping in her souped-up pod, she reaches her rendezvous and arranges to meet up with her contact Cyfrin Cariad, a pirate captain and secret agent for the Ministry of Interplanetary Security for the planet Na Krom. What is originally intended as a sub rosameeting in a BDSM pleasure club takes a turn as Cyfrin and Verity need to make a quick escape, starting a five-day voyage to find a woman Verity must interview to defuse a political timebomb on the planet Ratlar Big. On the way, Verity and Cyfrin explore a dominant-submissive sexual connection that deepens in a surprising way. But as the mission’s danger mounts and Cyfrin’s ship is shot down, leaving Verity with memory loss, the survival of their relationship is very much in doubt. Landon obviously knows how to please readers, so it’s no surprise that the sex scenes are strongly written and provide the charged writing fans crave. Fortunately, the author provides an involving story to go along with the spicy stuff. The environmental details, particularly around the dive-bar setting of Detritus Station and Cyfrin’s made-for-the-modern-outlaw ship, are well developed, and the characters feel rounded enough to provide a sense of lives lived beyond the page. By alternating the viewpoints between Verity and Cyfrin, Landon gives readers a look into the minds of two characters who grow beyond the erotic stereotypes into realized people.

Strong characterization and a layered universe provide both an erotic charge and an enjoyable story.