FATAL DECEPTION is the third instalment in April Hunt’s contemporary, adult STEEL OPS erotic, romantic suspense series focusing on the team at Steele Ops, owned and operated by the Steele Siblings. This is thirty-two year old, US war veteran Roman Steele, and thirty-one year old, doctor and virologist Dr. Isabel Santiago’s story line. FATAL DECEPTION can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Isabel and Roman) FATAL DECEPTION follows in the aftermath of a break-in and theft at the Tru Tech Lab. The FC-5 virus was stolen, and with it the possibility of biological warfare with the potential to wipe out millions of people. As the primary researcher at Tru Tech Lab, thirty-one year old, doctor/virologist Dr. Isabel Santiago finds herself on the defensive when the team at Steele Ops but most especially Roman Steele, lay blame for the theft at our heroine’s feet. A mysterious outbreak of potential cases of FC-5 has been reported in a small village in Alaska, and the team at Steele Ops along with Isabel Santiago fly out to uncover the truth, and in doing so track down the people responsible for the deadly theft. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Isabel and Roman, and the potential fall-out as Roman struggles with demons from the past, and the virus is about to get up close and personal with the team of investigators.

Isabel Santiago finds herself the target of the people responsible for the theft of FC-5 but our heroine, along with the team at Steele Ops are in the dark as to the who, what and why of the attacks on Isabel Santiago. Roman Steele continues to struggle in the aftermath of the war that changed the direction of his life but his struggle comes home when he finds himself falling for a woman who knows about loss as much as our hero.

The relationship between Roman and Isabel begins acrimoniously as Roman’s attitude and alpha-behavior directed towards our story line heroine. The team at Steele Ops suspects there is a sexual attraction between Isabel and Roman but Roman refuses to give in or admit he may be falling in love. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are reintroduced to Steele Ops team: former Army Ranger Knox Steele and girlfriend Zoey Wright, retired Navy man Liam Steele , retired Marine Ryder Steele; FBI profiler Grace Steele and US Army Ranger / police officer Cade Wright; Hunter ‘Tank’ Dawson; former Marine sniper Jaz Curva; along with their mother Cindy Steele; Isabel’s grandfather Carlos Santiago; doctoral student Maddy Calhoun, and Isabel’s mentor Anthony ‘Tony’ Winter. The requisite evil has many faces.

FATAL DECEPTION is a story of betrayal and vengeance; power and control; secrets, lies, desperation and love. The premise is intriguing and suspenseful; the romance is seductive and captivating; the characters are energetic, charismatic and colorful.