The Enforcer by Leslie Georgeson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

She’s desperate to find her son. I’m determined to keep my distance. But we share an unexpected connection that could either make us or break us.

Damaged. Broken.

Words I never thought I would associate with myself.

Until The Controller got a hold of me.

Now I am a mere shell of the man I once was. The Controller’s insidious pull still a poison in my veins.

Not wanting my dreg brothers to see me this way, I hide out in a small cabin in the woods.

But the loneliness gets to me, and I crave a woman’s warm body and gentle touch.

Anyone will do.

Until my eyes clash with the gorgeous and sexy bartender at the Northern Pike.

And I’m hit with a startling truth: she’s just like me.

Can she be the one to heal me?

How am I to know she will bring the danger back into my life? Or that she will turn my world upside down?

But now it’s too late.

The Controller is back.

And this time, he’s not letting me go.

The Enforcer

The Strongest Bond: A Powerful End to The Dregs

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💜💚❤️🤎
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌎
Character development: 😋😀😍☺️🥰

📚 Book Review: The Enforcer (The Dregs, #8)

Author: Leslie Georgeson
Genre: Military Romance / Genetically enhanced Super Soldiers

🦸🏻‍♂️ The Hero: Luke (a.k.a. The Enforcer)

Luke is one of The Dregs, a band of genetically altered soldiers whose childhoods were stolen by cruel experiments. Injected with strands of animal DNA, each boy developed a unique ability — Luke’s gift, or curse, is his extraordinary empathy. He can read thoughts and drown in the emotions of others, a skill twisted into a weapon by the General, who forced him to torture and interrogate until truth was wrung out of his victims. To survive, Luke built walls around his mind, shutting out not only strangers but even his closest brothers-in-arms. Haunted by what he was made to do, he has withdrawn into isolation, convinced that his presence is dangerous to those he loves.

🦸🏼‍♀️ The Heroine: River

River is also an empath, though her life has been marked by different scars. Once married to Marcus, a soldier who died in service, she now raises their son Andrew alone. But when Andrew is kidnapped in the dead of night, River is thrust into a nightmare: the ransom demand is not money, but murder. To save her child, she must kill a man. River’s resilience is remarkable — she lost part of her leg years ago in an accident, yet refuses to let her prosthetic slow her down. She runs a bar in a quiet Idaho town, armed with the skills her late husband taught her, but her heart remains steadfastly against violence. Now, with her son’s life hanging in the balance, she faces an impossible choice.

📚 The Plot

Four months earlier, Luke’s mind was hijacked by The Controller, a villain who can infiltrate thoughts and twist them into submission. Broken and mistrustful of himself, Luke has lived in seclusion after his fellow Dregs found love and built new lives in Idaho. Though he plans to open a mechanic’s shop with Ryan, loneliness gnaws at him, and one night he seeks distraction in a nearby bar. There he meets River — the woman behind the counter, whose quiet strength draws him in. What he doesn’t know is that River has just received her orders: her “target” matches Luke’s description perfectly. Their collision sets the stage for a tense, emotionally charged story where survival, trust, and love are constantly at war.

🌟 What Worked

• The bond between Luke and River is electric. Their shared empathic abilities create a connection that feels deeper than words, a raw intimacy neither has ever experienced.
• The Controller is a chilling antagonist. His ability to invade minds makes him not only powerful but terrifyingly insidious, a villain who lingers long after the page is turned.
• As the finale to The Dregs series, this book delivers. It ties threads together with emotional weight and gives fans a satisfying, powerful conclusion.

💔 What Fell Short

• Luke’s refusal to read River’s mind, even when he knows she’s hiding something, felt frustrating. While it speaks to his desire to respect her privacy, it also left me wishing he had acted sooner, sparing them both unnecessary pain.

💬 Final Thoughts

This installment is a gripping blend of action, emotional intensity, and moral dilemmas. Luke’s tortured past and River’s desperate fight for her son intertwine in a way that makes their love story both fragile and fierce. The empathic bond between them is not just a plot device — it’s the heart of the novel, showing how connection can heal even the deepest wounds. As a closing chapter to The Dregs, it’s one of the strongest entries, leaving readers with both closure and the lingering ache of saying goodbye to characters who feel like family.

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