Flight or Fight

I love a good whodunit and this book didn't disappoint. Brantley leave the big city after something pretty shitty happens to him. He buys a ranch hoping for some peace and quiet. What he winds up with is a dead body on his front porch. I really enjoyed Mack. His gruff personality is at the beginning it awesome. I ejoyed watching Macks attitude towards Brantley grow from suspisous to protective. These two together were HAWT! The tension and heat in this book made it hard to put down. The characters were very well written and the story flowed really well and kept you wanting to know what would happen next.

Imagine you’ve moved from the biggest of cities, NYC, to the smallest of towns in South Dakota. You are seeking a stress free life in the safety of anonymity, and you’ve bought a house on some acreage to isolate yourself even more. This is the life Brantley Calderone was seeking. Instead he has stumbled into nothing but stressful and bizarre problems. His real estate agent is murdered on his front porch, he is initially the prime suspect, the clothing that he bought to “fit in” is all wrong, and no one is the least bit friendly. A drought is a huge problem in the area and in the middle of the night he sees cattle on the horizon. Brantley does not own any cattle.
Mack is the county sheriff in an area where the biggest crimes should be small, but are approaching real danger – murder, cattle thieves, and a newcomer who rings all the wrong bells in Mack’s lonely heart. As Mack and Brantley quickly get to know each other it becomes apparent that they are going to need to team up to solve the crimes that are suddenly coming to a head and escalating fast.
Who is at the bottom of the mysteries and is someone else going to have to die before the culprit or culprits are discovered? Mack and Brantley are great characters and are well developed in context. Dirk Greyson writes wonderful suspense and one of his gifts is creating characters that you truly care about. Mack’s father Lew is a secondary character but gets plenty of page time and is a wonderful man. I felt like I knew him and wanted to keep up with him as a friend even after the story was over. I could hardly put the book down while trying to anticipate what was going to happen next and why the crimes were happening.
Great modern day western, just my kind of story and one I highly recommend. When a plot-driven novel meets a character-driven romance great story telling happens and the reader is the beneficiary. Enjoy!

This was a great murder mystery. I really thought I had been clever, but I was surprised by the reveal. And it wasn't because it was unrealistic.

While the mystery was good, it took some time for the crime solving to get good. I thought it was unrealistic how all knowing the financial advisor was and to me it seemed to weaken sheriff and deputies. But it did improve and we got to see the sheriff doing his job.

The main characters, Mack and Brantley, fit together and I love the new little family they became, but it all developed too quickly for anything more than a sexual relationship in my opinion. So much was going on that they didn't really have time to get to know one another.

Now THIS is how you do a murder mystery folks! It’s rare that an author gets the drop on me. I’m always figuring it out right away or at least half way. But for this one it took me right to the end. I literally cheered over the fact I was left stunned! I want to bake the author a cake!


This is such an awesome mystery with great drama and equally fantastic characters. Brantley comes to live in South Dakota from New York City to live a dream he’s had since he was a kid. Mack, the Sheriff, has his first encounter with Brantley when a woman is found dead and Brantley hovering over her. It was almost comical actually.


Of course Brantley isn’t guilty that would be too easy. But the whodunit is what was truly brilliant. We take this journey with these two and the rest of the town. Some near misses for Brantley who finds himself almost killed quite a few times.


So, we have this suspenseful mystery, Mack and Brantley falling in love, a billion secrets floating around this small town, some serious emotion too. Brantley finds so much more than his childhood dream though, he finds family. Something he really never had.


I loved the balance in this story. The love, drama, mystery, comedy, and just great all around writing. This is a wonderful book for someone who’s a fan of a well put together mystery and likes being on the edge of their seat.

4 Hearts Reviewed by Pixie

Mack is sheriff in a small town, there aren’t any major crimes until a disturbance call comes in and Mack finds a man leaning over a dead body. Brantley is starting fresh in a small town after a scandal left his reputation in tatters in the city, he expected an easier life making a ranch for himself and getting to know his neighbors, what he didn’t expect was to return from town and discover a dead body on his porch.

When Mack clears Brantley of the murder of his realtor their attraction sparks but it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to scare Brantley off his ranch, and it’s down to Mack to protect him and discover the identity of the killer.

This is a great mystery that has a dash of suspense and romance. Mack and Brantley mesh well together, their relationship is pretty intense for the amount of time they know each other and when you add in the circumstances surrounding them it is pretty explosive at times.

It becomes clear as you read the story why the title is Flight or Fight, with the pressure that Brantley finds himself under you can see as he struggles with his instincts to flee back to the city, or to stand his ground and fight for the future he could have with Mack.

The storyline is fantastic; the mystery surrounding the murder and then the attempts to drive Brantley away from town is brilliant written. You get ideas as to who is responsible but then as more is revealed another suspect pokes their head up and you could easily miss the real suspect who isn’t revealed in clear light until right near the end, it’s beautifully executed.

I would have rated this story higher but with everything else going on I found that not much was put into developing Mack and Brantley’s relationship, just ‘them’ time as they learn more about each other and get to know each other better, a connection more personal than sexual, a deepening of feelings outside the bedroom or during the pressure intense times. But other than that this is a great story to enjoy.

I recommend this to those who love a good murder mystery, who love digging nuggets of truth out of murky waters, who adore characters that have got spark, and endings that are perfect.