Book Review: The Predator

The Dark Verse series by Runyx has been on my tbr for over a year. I finally read the first book in this dark romance, mafia series – The Predator and I’m addicted!

The book follows Morana Vitalio. She is in her early 20s and the daughter of a mafia boss. The Vitalio’s used to have an alliance with another family – the Maroni family of the Tenebrae Outfit – but over 20 years ago the alliance ended and they become rivals again. Morana is a genius and wrote a code that her ex-boyfriend stole. She needs it back before her father finds out and before it falls into the wrong hands and brings down her family. She believes her ex sold it to the Maroni’s and more specifically to Tristan Caine – a high ranking member of the Outfit and a sort of adopted son in the Maroni family. He’s known as “The Predator” because he is ruthless.

Morana tries to go after Tristan to get the codes back, which backfires as she may be a genius but working “in the field” in a manner of speaking is not her strong suit. It becomes evident that this was all an elaborate set up and Tristan nor the Maroni’s have the codes. And not only that but she is going to have to work with her enemies to find the codes and figure out who is behind this plot because the codes could be used to target both families. Can Tristan and Morana get along and work together without wanting to kill each other?

I loved this book so much and get the hype! It was so addictive and I couldn’t put it down. If you want an angsty dark romance, this is for you. The slow burn, tension, and angst is so good. I loved Morana and Tristan. Tristan was a man of few words in this book, but he is so well written and you can just see his tortured soul and how much he wants Morana and how much he hates that he wants her. I can’t wait to get into book 2 soon!

Read this if you want a spicy dark romance with the mafia romance, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity tropes. There are also the beginnings of a found family trope, but I think that will be more prominent in the next books in the series!

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