Nikolas Mikkelsen could make a very long list of unpleasant things he's endured in his life. Then order it from "nearly killed me" to "extremely horrific and don't want to do again". And what does it say about his 45 years, that being hit by a tsunami would be considerably way down on this list? But nothing - not torture, imprisonment, or starvation - has prepared him for what he now has to endure for Ben Rider's sake - attendance on a residential gay-therapy course.

It takes a certain kind of courage to live as if favoured by the Gods, ignoring the ever-present ghosts of your past - or perhaps not bravery, but arrogance. And maybe not even that. Ben genuinely believes that the past is behind them - that they deserve to enjoy the life they have created. So it's not hubris that leads him to overlook the signs that Nikolas does not share his faith, it's love. But Nikolas knows something is coming. He can't stop it; he can only decide how he will choose to face it. And without Ben's support, he is entirely alone.

The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Nikolas has always liked art. You'd have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learned that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit. Neither of them, however, foresees the long-term impact that endless winter has on their relationship. They return with a metaphorical darkness that threatens everything they have created together.

Only a few months from his 50th year, Nikolas is feeling a distinct wobble in his formidable certainties. Aleksey Primakov appears to have become irrelevant. All he needs, therefore, is to be dragged into an adventure with Devon's answer to the three musketeers. How many times can he tell Ben and his moronic friends that a mutilated body buried on Dartmoor has nothing to do with them? But not only does this desecration slowly become their business, it cuts to the heart of the life they have created together. It's just as well, perhaps, that generals never do actually retire.

Ben Rider and Nikolas Mikkelsen learn that danger comes in all shapes and sizes and often in places you least expect it. Nikolas' dark past calls to him, inexorably dragging him back into its seductive embrace. While he goes on an errand of mercy to Russia, Ben travels to Denmark to learn Nikolas's language. Convinced Russia's vastness will swallow Nikolas, Ben doesn't see the enemy much closer to home. Thinking he has lost Nikolas, Ben then makes a terrible decision that threatens to destroy everything they have together. 

Ex-SAS soldier Ben Rider falls in love with his enigmatic married boss Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen, but Nikolas is living a lie. A lie so profound that when the shadows are lifted, Ben realises he's in love with a very dangerous stranger. Ben has to choose between Nikolas and safety, but sometimes danger comes in a very seductive package. 

On September 11th, 2001, Kris Caldera was a junior member of the CIA's Alec Station, the unit dedicated to finding and stopping Osama Bin Laden. They failed. Ten days later, he was on the ground in Afghanistan with a Special Forces team. On the battlefield, he meets Special Forces Sergeant David Haddad. David - Arab American, Muslim, and gay - becomes the man Kris loves, the man he lives for, and the man he kills for, through the long years of the raging wars. When a botched mission rips David from Kris' life, Kris' world falls into ruin and ash.

Let me just say this—fake dating the cocky movie star was not my idea. Especially since he’s my former roomie and, gulp, my secret ex. But my agent tells me I have no choice since I’m ridiculously overdue with turning in the next big blockbuster love story to my publisher. Not to mention, ahem, writing it. Hooking up with the smooth-talking English hottie once upon a time—fine, twice—were huge mistakes that I shouldn’t repeat, but pretending to like the guy who drives me crazy is my only chance at saving my job. 

Ben and Nikolas know that if they were to compare recollections of their life together, they’d remember things very differently. Ben never asks about their time together in the Department because he doesn’t want to hear Nikolas lie. Nikolas never talks about those early years because he can’t afford for Ben to know the truth. For the first time, since their strange meeting in Whitehall 14 years ago, Ben is forced to rethink his claim that nothing Nikolas could ever do would make him stop loving him. 

FBI Agent Noah Downing had questions about his sexuality that a single night in Vegas should have answered. But dawn finds him on a plane back to Iowa, back on the trail of a vicious serial killer who disappeared six years ago and has suddenly resurfaced. There's nothing like a murder investigation to escape an existential crisis.