I really, really enjoyed Going Deep by Anne Calhoun.  It’s an excellent blend of romance and mystery, and it features a bodyguard hero, which I love. In addition, it’s pretty much free of violence, so if you’re iffy on romantic suspense because you don’t like violent themes, then this book is for you.

Cady Ward aka pop superstar Queen Maud, is returning to her hometown for the holidays. She’s exhausted from being on tour for months and just wants to sleep and spend time with her family. When a drunk (and possible stalker-ish) fan gets onstage during a hometown concert, Cady’s manager decides she needs round-the-clock security. Cady had recently fired her last bodyguard, and she’s not thrilled about having a shadow around when she just wants to be normal and at home.

Conn McCormick views his fellow police officers as his family. When someone (likely another cop) makes it look like he beat a suspect, he’s crushed and terrified. While he’s undergoing an internal affairs investigation, his lieutenant suggests he take the job guarding Cady. It will give him something to do while his lieutenant (who believes Conn is innocent) works on clearing his name and finding out who is really guilty.

Neither Cady or Conn are happy with the situation or really want to be there. They are super attracted to each other, though, and Cady is looking to burn off steam after being on the road for eight months. Despite it being a bad idea generally, and definitely a conflict of interest, they start sleeping together–a “no strings” arrangement.

Then Cady’s website goes down from repeated DDOS attacks and personal items go missing from her home. It becomes clear that someone is trying to scare the shit out of her. So now Conn has to figure out who is threatening Cady, who is framing him, and to top things off, he’s falling in love with his client.

The characters in this book really sold the story for me. They’re nuanced and felt real and relatable. Despite being a celebrity, Cady is a real person who longs for normalcy sometimes, but acknowledges she’s given that up to achieve her dreams. For her, every relationship (with the exception of her family) is tied into her fame:

“You get used to it after awhile,” [Cady] said, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Get used to what?”

“Blurring the lines between favors, until everything feels like a transaction, like you’re using and being used. It makes it hard to trust people. Evan, my previous bodyguard, had a career plan,” she offered matter-of-factly. “I was a stepping stone to big money and visibility–Hollywood. He wanted to get into acting. That’s why I quizzed you at the police station. For all I knew you wanted the job because you’d gotten a taste of being a big shot bodyguard at the concert. You knowing nothing about the business sealed the deal.”

“I’ve got a job,” Conn said. “It’s the only job I’ve ever wanted. I’m LPD, and I’m sure as hell not going anywhere.”

Conn really struggles with the possibility of losing his job at the police department. He could face jail time for assault if the investigation finds him guilty, but he’s less concerned about that than the realization that someone inside the force set him up. Conn’s father was an alcoholic and deadbeat, and Conn spent his childhood bouncing from family member to family member, none of whom really wanted him. He never felt like he had a family until he joined the police force, and the idea that one of the people who meant so much to him would betray him so profoundly is deeply unsettling:

Rocked to his very core, Conn sat back down. A black hole yawned inside him, sucking at all his carefully constructed defenses. It wasn’t the first time he’d been falsely accused. He’d been six feet tall by the time he was in eighth grade, with a temper, which made him an easy target for finger pointing and had gotten him sent to anger management classes. Name the emotions. I’m afraid of being abandoned by my family. Again.

Conn is large and intimidating, but he’s never violent. That’s an association people have made due to his size and general scariness.

Even though hooking up is obviously a terrible idea, I understood why Conn and Cady did it. Both of them are under constant stress and they’re reaching out for some human connection. Cady has to maintain two personas, herself and Queen Maud. Everything she does is scrutinized. She needs to be real with her fans while still maintaining some privacy. Her label is demanding. Her family, who rarely sees her now, is demanding. It’s a lot to balance. Conn meanwhile is struggling with betrayal and fear and feeling unmoored by the idea of losing a job that was central to his identity. It’s no wonder they reached out to each other for some comfort boinking.

The thing I really, really loved, though, was how this book managed to have a great suspense plot with zero violence. There are references to the person Conn was accused to of assaulting, but nothing happens on stage. I’m not opposed to violence (you guys know what I read), but this is an excellent book and it’s perfect for readers who don’t want scary shit.

When someone starts attacking Cady’s website and then, somehow, gets into her house to steal extremely personal items, she’s terrified. And she should be. The story highlights that there’s a large element of horror to fucking with someone’s sense of safety and privacy and that can be awful without needing a gory serial killer thrown into the mix:

“Which is a flaw in the law, and in your way of thinking,” Caleb Webber spoke up unexpectedly. “It’s psychological. The most damaging thing you can do to a woman is make her think she’s not safe. As long as she thinks she isn’t, she’s off-balance, easier to control. This could easily be an attack not on her person but on her creativity.”

THIS. SO MUCH THIS.

Inflicting psychological terror on someone is insidious and terrible, and so often the victims of this kind of mental abuse and/or stalking have zero recourse. I was blown away that the story took that idea, ran with it, and created a truly suspenseful mystery narrative with no blood, no guts, no one needing to get hurt. I actually wanted to applaud when I read that passage.

The mystery is well done, too. I totally thought I had figured out who was tormenting Cady and I was completely wrong. It’s always fun to be surprised.

So if you like romantic suspense, I cannot recommend Going Under Deep enough. If you want to like romantic suspense but can’t handle the murdery-ness, then you really, really need to get your paws on this book. I’ll certainly be checking out the previous books in this series.