Bold Tricks is the third and final installment in Karina Halle's The Artists Trilogy. This book is not a standalone novel and should only be read if you have read both Sins & Needles and Shooting Scars. I highly recommend that you also read the prequel novella On Every Street before reading Bold Tricks. If you haven't read this series, there may be spoilers below. I have been both looking forward to this book and dreading it. I have really loved reading these books and I am sad that it is over. I have become incredible connected to these characters and it is hard to say goodbye to them.
This book immediately picks up right where we were left at the end of Shooting Scars. As Ellie, Javier and Camden continue on in their quest for revenge and freedom they form an alliance of sorts. There are many lies and secrets between them and very little trust. But in order to get past the dangers that lay ahead they know that like it or not they must try to work together. Each have their own agenda though, and with the stakes as high as they have ever been, is it possible that they will all make it out? Can they find the freedom and redemption that they seek? Will Ellie choose Camden or Javier, and can they have a HEA after everything that they have been through?
At this point in the series, pretty much everyone has decided which team they are on. I love both Camden and Javier for completely different reasons. I felt like I would be happy no matter who she chose, because I have really come to care for both of them. I did hope that she would choose Camden after Shooting Scars. I was solidly on Team Javier to start, but the more time that has gone on Javier has really started to change. I was hoping that he would sort of redeem himself in Bold Tricks though, even if him and Ellie couldn't work things out between them. I was a little disappointed if i'm honest about how this triangle sort of resolved itself. Ellie really didn't end up having a choice to make. Without going into details and spoiling everything, it is pretty easy for Ellie to pick because one of our guys seems to sort of shift in character. I don't know what happened to him to change him so much but whereas he was multi-faceted in the previous books he sort of loses many of the things that we have come to know and love about him. I was looking for a bit more angst and drama when it came down to the choice, but for some reason Halle sort of eased up on the havoc she was able to create so well in the previous books.
Overall, I think that this book was a satisfying end to the series. My small gripes about the romance portion of this book are really pretty minor in comparison to this story though. As usual, this book definitely brings the action and I loved how consistently great Halle's writing is. She does a great job of making her characters interesting and you really get invested in them as a reader. Halle does a wonderful job of pulling you into the story so that everything seems incredibly real. This series brings the heat and steam and is filled with adrenaline pumping action right up to the end. I have loved reading about these characters and seeing how they have grown and changed from the first page until the last. They have all had their ups and downs, and the evolution of each character has been something that I have really enjoyed. I'm sad to say goodbye to these characters, but I am glad that this book provided closure and was ended in a way that was believable to the reader. I can honestly say that Halle kept me guessing throughout this entire series, and I never knew what would happen and how everything would end. I cannot wait to read more from Karina Halle in the future, and I am interested to see what new characters she will come up with for her readers to get to know and love as we have with Ellie, Javier and Camden.
