Title: Divide & Conquer: (Cut & Run #4)
Author: Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban
Cover Artist: Mara McKennen
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Amazon: N/A
Genre: Contemporary M/M, Action/Adventure
Length: Novel (320 pages) 104K approx.
Rating: 5+ stars, DIK
Review Summary: Divide & Conquer is a triumph. It will make you cry, it’s fun, it will lift you up, and ultimately give you the best reason to continue reading books.
THE BLURB
Baltimore, Maryland, is a city in alarming distress. Rising violence is fanning the flames of public outrage, and all law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are catching blame. Thus the FBI’s latest ideas to improve public relations: a municipal softball league and workshops for community leaders. But the new commitments just mean more time Special Agents Ty Grady and Zane Garrett have to spend apart when they’re happily exploring how to be more than by-the-book partners.
Then the latest spate of crime explodes in their faces—literally—throwing the city, the Bureau, and Ty and Zane’s volatile partnership both in and out of the office into chaos. They’re hip-deep in trouble, trying to track down bombers and bank robbers in the dark with very few clues, and the only way to reach the light at the end of the tunnel together requires Ty and Zane to close their eyes and trust each other to the fiery end.
THE REVIEW
Book four started off with a bang, literally, as an angry mob used hand-made weapons against the FBI agents to express their anger and frustration because they were fed up with the rising crime rate in Baltimore, MD. It was too bad that Ty and Zane were in the shower when the fire alarm went off at their headquarters that particular day so they had to run outside almost naked in the frigid January air smack into a wave of water balloons. This set the tone for the story as Ty was so incensed that federal agents were being attacked by the public they had sworn to protect he didn’t let discretion get in the way of making his displeasure known. Unfortunately that made him the main target of a small-time perp who loved making bombs and didn’t like being shown up on television, so he aimed his bombs at Ty.
In Divide & Conquer what I noticed from the beginning were the raw emotions of a different kind between Ty and Zane. The extreme competitiveness was still there but Ty seemed to lean a lot more on Zane and vice versa, and there was a heightened tenderness between them I never saw in the previous books, even Fish & Chips where Ty revealed that he loved Zane. Zane changed a lot as he realized, more than he ever had before, how much Ty meant to him and that he couldn’t live without him – Ty had become as essential to him as breathing and there was only one explanation, even though his past kept colliding with moving forward. Here’s an excerpt that explains Zane’s confusion:
It was important to Zane to understand where craving Ty had become needing him, and when needing him had become caring for him, and if it was possible for that caring to truly become even more. Because Ty deserved nothing less. Zane could see it now. The craving he worried about wasn’t an addiction. It was far more wrenching. Something significant enough that Zane was changing his entire life to be worthy of it, and there just wasn’t any other possible explanation.
Both MCs went through every emotion in the book: Anger, love, rejection and a passion so all encompassing that the constantly changing landscape made the sex erotic and moving, tender and brutally hot, as Ty showed his mastery over Zane who gave as good as he got while they measured every surface in the apartment in the context of how and where they could lay other each out. Ty being possessive was a thing of beauty. 🙂
There is a new character: Nick, Ty’s best friend since boot camp, and their relationship is complicated by their old friendship and new revelations. Ty’s insecurities are never more apparent than when he’s with his Recon buddies. He’s uncertain and conflicted and he worries about maintaining his tough image as he lives with one foot in the present with Zane and the other in the past.
For the first time since they met and became more than partners on the job Zane had to face one very troubling question. Could he lose Ty? The likely answer took an emotional toll on him at a time when he had no defenses, and he wondered whether they could survive the stress and come out intact, if they made it out alive.
There is one character in the book that I absolutely loved, and it’s not human – it’s Ty’s Ford Bronco. It had been with him for most of his adult life, he had built it from spare parts and it was his baby; the stickers and decals on the vehicle told the story of his life. He lavished love and tenderness on the four wheel drive that was his oldest and most beloved possession and it repaid him in the most incredible way.
In book four there’s a lot of hurt/comfort and one devastating problem for Zane required that Ty be even more supportive towards him, and their feelings underwent a metamorphosis of sorts. The emotions were so thick at times you could cut it as they experience need, desperation, love unspoken, and a lot of it was painful to read especially when they were fighting a real menace that could end their lives at any moment. The last 10% of the book was the most harrowing and dangerous as Zane and Ty had to race against the clock to avert disaster and loss of life, but it was worth every second as in the end Zane was the one to offer Ty comfort in critical moments to stave off his complete breakdown. For the first time I really understood Ty, what drove him and how conflicted he was; his trust in Zane was absolute but there were issues around that trust, his love for Zane, and the uncertainty about whether it would be returned or if he would always play second fiddle to Zane’s dead wife. 
Divide & Conquer had many “moments” but one picture that sticks in my memory is Ty in dress blues. What an incredible gift. You will understand why this impacted me so much when you read the book.
To summarize: Urban and Roux gave the fans of the series a book for the ages in thrills, chills and emotional content and context. They are skilled in knowing when to go full tilt for the “kill” and how to rein it in. The characters are like living, breathing human beings with feelings and you live through all of their emotions as well as the inevitable tensions, but the best times are the quiet moments that allow you to feel the punch in the gut and dread when they are at their weakest and can’t find their way back to each other.
Divide & Conquer has the usual personal blowups as well as explosions of a different kind, and our heroes’ trust in each other is tested due to challenges from a direction neither saw coming. For the first time Ty has to face a personal donnybrook without the usual fisticuffs, and Zane has to fight new demons in a world where it seems there’s no light in the darkness.
There are many revelations in this book that will rock your socks and you realize how clever Urban and Roux are in using the action/adventure plot as a distraction for what was the real story – Ty’s and Zane’s very complex relationship – as they set the stage for what comes next.
Is this the best book in the series so far? I certainly think so because the authors really stretched here and didn’t phone anything in. They put their hearts on the line and created characters that touched me because they are memorable, flawed, tender AND kick-ass which very few authors know how to do as well. Ty and Zane are heartbreaking and their pain gave the characters a luminous quality that sparkled and shone brilliantly. Divide & Conquer never lets up until the big finale, and it was a finale that only Ty could have dreamed up for the fans. I totally LOVED this book and I don’t see how Urban and Roux can top this but I never underestimate them.
This book is not a standalone and should be read as part of the series, starting with Cut & Run.
Highly recommended.
Cut & Run Series
omg I can’t wait for this book. One of my favorite series!!
Hi Mandi
You will be very happy. 🙂
I’m not reading the review until I finish the book, which will be asap after release. If I’ve got to stay up all night, I’ll do it, dammit! But I did see your summary and I know it will be great. Thanks Wave.
You always do that to me. I spend all this time writing the damn reviews and you won’t read them. 🙂 I’ll await your verdict. 😀
I did the same thing Lynn. Always with book I really look forward to read. I don’t want it spoiled with the opinions of others.
*sigh* :delic:
when was the release date for A&D again?? :asap: i hope?
In about 10 months Ingrid if they run true to form. :wallbash:
:hurrah: Ohhhhh! Can’t wait! It’s a long one too. Even better!
Laura
The pages will go so fast you won’t even realize how long it is. 😀
Wave, from you that’s one helluva statement! 😉 I was up late reading until I finished it, and even so it went quickly. I’m already looking forward to re-reading it, a little more slowly. :hearts02:
I know. 😯 I was so involved in the story that the time just flew. The guys tease me because I rarely read books that are longer than novella length, although I’m getting better now and don’t always go for the “pamphlets” which is what they call the books I love to read. 😀
I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to read Cut & Run long after it was released. Both Madeleine and Abigail kicked me until I gave in, despite the gore and the length. I’m so happy I did. 😎
I’m ready! :biglove:
Gird your loins. 😆
I am sensing things do not end well for Ty and Zane in the climax of this book from the tone of your review. Now I will still read it, but I hate ambiguous endings. 🙁
BTW, do we know when it will go up on Amazon? I wish DSP did pre-orders.
My lips are sealed. I really love this book and I think the end was appropriate. 🙂 I can’t say more because that would be a spoiler. 😀
It’s not available at Amazon as yet but DSP offers all formats.
Bad, BAD Wave! To bait us like this… *sniff* I can’t wait…
I could have reviewed it last week 😮 but I knew you would kill me so I waited. There’s only a day and a half left before you can order it since you’re in a different time zone. I think you will enjoy the book.
Can’t wait till friday, thanks for awesome review wave. Please tell me that book does not end in cliffhanger? 🙂
You know better than to ask me that question Sirius. 😕 I’ll just say that I think you will absolutely love Divide & Conquer. Don’t read the end first because you will spoil the story for yourself.
Can I bribe with dark or milk chocolate of your choice to get that email to tell me there is no cliffhanger at the end? 😉 Newhouse? Thatcher champaigne truffles, anything for that tiny bit of info? 🙂
Of course I will look in the end, because if I come unspoiled and learn they split up, I will be annoyed. There are some books I manage to restrain myself when I am reading, but surely not the series where I already got so attached to the characters as if they are “real people”. I mean, if it was the end, I could leave with it, but cliffhangers I so dislike lol. I still have not started Rifter. I am happily collecting my issues in order to look at the last page first lol.
No? Oh well, I guess I just have to wait till tomorrow.
Here’s what you do after you finish the book — there’s a preview of Armed & Dangerous, book 5 in the series, which should make you very happy. lol
I am reading it right now and all I can say is…..WOW!
You must have friends in high places since the book won’t be released for a couple of days. 😯 Glad you’re enjoying D & C as much as I did.
Can’t wait to read it 😯 !!
Enjoy!
I stayed up late last night reading this, and Jaime’s right: WOW, indeed! I loved it. 😀 And, like Wave, I think this just might be the best book of the series so far. And that’s really saying something!
Though I did have one little stylistic niggle with this one I don’t remember having with the others. Ty spends an awful lot of time staring “devotedly” at tables, out windows, etc. I think “intently” or “determinedly” or “fixedly” might have been better options, and provided more variety. But, like I said, a small niggle in an awesome book!
:biglove:
Hi Jeayci
I’m so happy you enjoyed D & C. I really do think this is the best book so far. I found out that a few readers have ways to circumvent DSP’s system and have been able to “pre-order” books that haven’t been released, even though their system doesn’t accept pre-orders. 😆
Your comment is on the money, however the copy I reviewed was not the final and I had no way of knowing if the wording in the prose had been fixed, so I couldn’t mention it in the review. That’s the problem when you review from what is not even an ARC – you take your chances. 😮
Oh, and this?
This sums it up so absolutely, perfectly brilliantly! :bananadancer:
Thanks Jeayci. I appreciate the kind words. 🙂
I was highly anticipating this one before your awesome review Wave, and now I know that apparently I will get no sleep on Friday night……. 😀 Can’t wait.
I can’t say I’m sorry Dianne. You should stay up all night because this book is worth every hour of lost sleep. Please come back and tell me if D & C came up to your expectations and if I nailed the review. 😀
This is going to be a joy to read 😀
Thank you for your review 😎
Helena
It was a joy for me too. 😀
Ugh! Not ’til Friday? I can’t wait!
Some of the readers seem to be able to get their books ahead of time so you could try. 😀
Okay, that settles it – I’m stayin’ up tomorrow night so I can grab it as soon as it’s available on the DSP website… Thanks for the review!
Pea
You’re welcome Pea. 🙂
You could try now and see if you can buy D & C. lol A few readers seem able to beat the DSP system.
I tried, but I can’t figure out how they did it! Argh.
I’ve come to expect great things from Abigail and Madeleine, so I shouldn’t be surprised by how much you loved this Wave. I can’t wait to read it. Really nice job on the review, you enticed me with tidbits, but gave nothing away. And I loved this part:
“…and there was a heightened tenderness between them I never saw in the previous books, even Fish & Chips where Ty revealed that he loved Zane. Zane changed a lot as he realized, more than he ever had before, how much Ty meant to him and that he couldn’t live without him ”
*sigh* Now that’s worth waiting until Friday for.
Hi Teej
Thanks. I hope I haven’t oversold D & C but I don’t think so. I really loved the story and I hope you do too.
OMG! The wait is killing me. I am so excited to read this book.
Midnight Thursday is not far away. 🙂
THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST – MOST COMPREHENSIVE – AND EVEN HEARTRENDING REVIEW I’VE EVER READ ON THE SITE. it read, honestly, like the great emotion in the books. WELL DONE!
:0)
-kkm
KKM
Thanks for the kind words. You will be pleased to know that I checked with the authors re spoilers in the review (because I know you don’t like them) 🙂 and they assured me there weren’t any. I only had to change one word. 😯
squeeeeee! i’m so excited to read it!
and i appreciate that you know my aversion to spoilers! **mwah!**
-kkm
I only read the first line of the review, then I had to stop myself. I fully intend to enjoy this book with out spoilers. Anyone know if it will available for purchase at 12:02 am on Friday from the publisher’s website?
Hi
Usually DSP books are available at midnight PST.
BTW re spoilers, we try to avoid them wherever possible and usually place a warning on the reviews if there are any. In this case because I knew how important this book was for the fans, I sent a copy of the review to the authors and asked them to let me know if there were any spoilers so that I could remove them. Madeleine Urban asked me to change only one word, which I did. However I know that some readers prefer not to read reviews until after they have read the books.
Awesome timimg! I have so much work to finish up between now and Friday. This will be the perfect way to reward myself for good behavior!
Since I live right outside Baltimore I’m very excited to see the Charm City featured in this book. Can’t wait!
Aquina
You won’t be disappointed since there’s a fair amount in the book about Baltimore (where the guys are now located). This will be a wonderful reward for you, and if you have the time, drop by and let us know if you enjoyed the book and whether the review was on the money (or if I screwed up.) 😆
Just finished Cut and Run–wow–know I understand Yoda–I really do. Am reading book 2 Sticks and Stones–good Lord can those women write!
Hi Sammy
You have a long way to go if you just started S & S. 😀 These damn books are l-o-n-g. 🙂 I echo your sentiments about the authors – they sure can write.
Great review! I can’t wait my only problem will be having the discipline to go to sleep and go into work and not stay up reading. (sigh)… Oh well I hear sleep is over rated. I have loved this whole series and am pleased to say that these writers don’t disappoint with the next book like so many series where the sequel is never as good as there first they manage brilliantly. I am so pleased that they continue to write about Ty and Zane and am glad that a quick peak of the next book is included! 😀
Tara
I think this is the best one of the series but then anything about Ty and Zane is great for me. 🙂
PS Sleep is overrated. 😀
just finished…I have to say. That ending was a bitch. I’m settling in for the long wait until Armed & Dangerous…
Of course, I’m also about to just start the book back over and read it again. Definitely the best of the series! I really appreciate how they can have the characters still struggling with their relationship but still show that they’re growing into at the same time.
How did you get your copy so quickly??? =D
Allison
What I love about these authors is that they are not predictable so I always gird my loins whenever I start a new book in the series. 😯
Clearly, Ty and Zane can’t live without each other despite any issues they may have about “togetherness”. 😀
Agreed! Definitely not predictable. Ty especially surprised me a LOT through the whole book. Wow.
Ty is my favourite character in this series and I can’t wait to see what Abigail will do with him in Armed and Dangerous. 😮
I can’t wait either! I hope they surprise us and release it within a few months 😉
I’ll do all kinds of things with him, Wave *g*
Abigail
Please don’t hurt him. PLEASE!!! 😮 I will hunt you down if you do. 🙂 I would like him and Zane to come through at least one book intact. Also, I want Ty and Zane to resolve their “togetherness” issues and bite that particular bullet. Can we have a wedding (or at least a secret commitment ceremony) at the end of the series? 😀
NOOOOOOOO! I have wait untill 3am my time to read D & C. I dont know if I can make it…..
As I mentioned to Hope, when DSP released Fish & Chips they posted it early because there was such a demand, so my advice is to keep checking their site.
Is it midnight yet? 😀
Sorry Hope. Just a few more hours. However sometimes DSP posts the books early — they did with Fish & Chips so they might again.
Does the book tell us why they used a broken piggy bank with bandaids as the cover? I’ve always wondered about that….got to wait till Friday afternoon to read it though : (
Hi Issa
Yes there is an explanation for the broken piggy bank used for the cover. 😀
ANT-I-CI-PATIONNNNNN!
-kkm
Do you know if it will be available on Amazon tomorrow as well as the DSP page? Amazon still hasn’t posted anything about it? 🙁
Hi Hannah
I have no idea. Many publishers don’t post their books immediately on Amazon – they wait for a few weeks before they post on re-sellers sites.
Okay- thank you! 😀
Love, Love, Love this series!
I’m so pissed that I have dinner plans tomorrow night. :wallbash: 😀
Saturday is definitely stay in bed and read day. :hurrah:
It will be worth it Ellie. I’ve read it twice and it was better the second time around.
I’ve been SO looking forward to the latest adventure with these great characters, but I’ve been reading some of comments about a cliffhanger or ambiguity. I can’t stand cliffhangers. So now I’m wondering if maybe I should wait for the next one and read them both together. The last one in the series was one of my favourite novels over the past year.
Madonna
I can’t tell you about the end but I think this book is the best in the series so far. If you wait, probably other reviews/comments could give away some spoilers and that will take away part of your enjoyment. It’s up to you but I would go for it now.
Soooo Dreamspinner is so not on my favorites list right now. Book is available, I buy, and it would not show up in my downloads. Ugh, if you cannot make it available right after purchase, dont take my money before you do. Sorry, stayed late and cranky right now lol. But how about sending the LINK with download same as Loose ID does right after purchase instead of making me go into my bookshelf and well, not finding it. Oh well, it is better be there tomorrow. Night everybody 🙂
Did you contact Customer Service? They usually respond right away if there’s a problem. It could be that the system crashed — it did once before (with Sticks & Stones).
Same happend to me Sirius, but I actually had a warning that it would not be available right away. I have it now though.
I stayed up most of the night reading this and I admit to being left totally satisfied. Even the ending didn’t spoil it for me (not that I read it first, cause I don’t do that like some people *coughsiriuscough* but it fit).
Your review was spot on and simply wonderful, Wave. I laughed, I cried, I gnawed on my nails, I had hope. The character arc is…arcing, and I eagerly await the next chapter for these two. And you’re right, this is definitely an example, in the days of boredom with much of this genre, of why we continue to read. Roux and Urban continue to amaze me with their talent to put out books in a series that hasn’t gotten tired or jumped the shark. Hopefully they’ll know when to stop it on a high note. 🙂 I don’t think that’s yet and there’s at least another book in them.
Speaking of which, for me, one of the biggest surprises was the excerpt of the next book, Armed & Dangerous, which marries this series with characters from another of their works (you’ll need to read to find out!).
Hi Lynn
Thank you for this comment. I’m so glad you agree that this writing partnership is one of the reasons that a lot of readers continue to read books in this genre. I have re-read their other books in the series and from Cut & Run to Fish & Chips they haven’t put a foot wrong. Divide & Conquer took the series to another level.
I think that after Armed & Dangerous they may have one more book left in them before they close off the series. One of the reasons series like Adrien English have such impact is that the authors know when to put them to bed.
Re the merging of this series with characters of another book I will have to check out that particular book before A & D is released. 😮
Now I’ve read it, I agree with your review, though I couldn’t make as much of the Bronco as you did. Ty’s dress blues struck me as odd, he’s no marine anymore, after all. Is there some kind of “once a marine, always a marine” thing when it comes to funerals?
However, the emotions! Boiling up like geysers in here, heartrendering to read. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I read this, not by far.
What I’m curious about now is the fifth installment. Mostly, I’m anxious to learn how the authors will pull off dealing with FOUR main characters; it’s seriously upping the ante. Like puppet players suddenly leading two puppets at once instead of just one. If you happen to do an interview on Armed and Dangerous with Urban and Roux, I’d like you to include the question as who leads/writes who, I’m really curious about the brainchild pairings.
Hi Feliz
I re-read the other books before I reviewed D & C, and that Bronco was a significant part of Ty’s life before he met Zane so I understood what it really meant to him.
You got it – once a Marine, always a Marine. 😀 I love military books and I noticed that how Marines always stick together and remain one of the brotherhood. For something as official as a funeral dress blues would be appropriate I suppose.
Abigail writes Ty and Madeleine writes Zane. Re Armed & Dangerous, I suppose they will have to go back to who wrote Julian and Cameron in Warrior’s Cross.
Divide & Conquer is definitely my favourite book in this series so far because of all the factors I mentioned in the review. 😀
Spent a large chunk of Friday night and yesterday reading D&C. This series and the characters of Ty and Zane are prime examples of why I love to read 🙂
To quote Lynn, I love how “the character arc is…arcing”. Zane being calm and introspective in the aftermath of his incident- instead of having a “freak out” or regression – was huge for me. Ty opening up to his recon buddies and being so open emotionally in general was also big – and it’s finally paying off for him :love2: . That being said, the ending to me ties in perfectly as a culmination of Ty’s unspoken past and how it is figuring in to his relationship with Zane. I’m hoping to see Ty let Zane in on that part of his past in the next story.
The criminal case in the story really acted as a catalyst for the advancing of the inter-personal relationships without taking over the story and I really liked that. I love a good crime/mystery but seeing the characters make a huge step in evolving was especially satisfying here.
Nick – heh, I was right about him 😀
I wonder how long that purchase of Zane’s is going to remain hidden…
I thought at some point I read that the authors plan on 7 in this series?
Thanks Madeleine and Abigail for another awesome read :bravo:
Dianne
Thank you for coming back. I can’t add anything to what you said. 🙂 Also I appreciate that you did not reveal any spoilers, for those who still haven’t read the book – that’s huge.
This was the best book in the series and that’s saying something. The ending!!! Awesome.
So 2 more books in Ty and Zane.
I know the story has to end, I just hope there will not be any questions left hanging.
Hi Hannah
I’m so happy you agree this is the best book so far. I’m already counting down to Armed & Dangerous. I’m hoping for 2 more books before the series ends.
EXCELLENT!!!!!! The best so far. You do really start to see under Ty’s shell and it’s as if Zane is finally see his true feelings with clearer vision. Although I have to say being a fan of all of their books I was blown away by the preview of A&D. For those of you who have read Warrior Cross you will be blown away, excited and frustrated all at the same time too! What a shear stroke of genius to do that. If you have not read warrior cross download it and read it NOW. It’s going to make reading A&D soooooo much better
Hi Jeff
Like you I, too, think this is the best book so far. This writing pair seems to gather strength with each new book and they can’t put a foot wrong.
It will be interesting to see how Cameron and Julian from Warrior’s Cross will work with Ty & Zane. Can’t wait. 🙂
Jeff,
Youre right, that reference to Warrior Cross….just about blew my mind!! Now Ive gotta go re-read the story.
I would not have seen that coming if I tried! I almost fell off my sofa. Urban and roux surprised the hell out of me with that one.
My love for this series just grows and grows. This was the best book IMO by far and I loved how much the characters have grown individually and as partners (in both senses). I can’t imagine Zane trusting Ty so much during his problem in any of the other books. I can’t wait for the next book, I think I might explode!
Hi Nolagal
Urban & Roux can’t seem to put a foot wrong in this series. Cut & Run was mostly about the serial killings, interspersed with “getting to know and hate you”. Then came books 2 and 3 when Ty & Zane’s relationship really got rolling and they haven’t looked back, even with the few hiccups the authors threw in their way.
What will we do when the series comes to an end as it must? Not looking forward to that day.
By far my favorite of the series. I especially loved Ty in this book. I was also happy that Zane was able to finally say those important words to Ty. I am a little nervous to read A&D. I like Warrior’s Cross but not as much as these books. I don’t want Ty and Zane’s parts to be cut down.
If you think about it there a lot of parallels between the four. Cam and Ty were the first to admit their feelings and although polar opposites in their personalities are more alike in their feelings. Zane and Julian are the same in their hesitation although for different reasons. It might be nice for Ty and Zane to each have a sounding board with a character who understands the emotions, kind of a been there done that thing. I don’t think that urban and roux would cut down Ty and Zane at all. If anything I think it will make the story more brilliant. Just my thoughts. And just by the little piece of the attitude between Ty and Julian in the preview you just know it’s going to be a wild ride! I mean really with lines like “Preston shoot the stupid one” how can it not be