Save Me From Dangerous Men by S.A. Lelchuk

Genre: Mystery

My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Nikki Griffin isn’t your typical private investigator. In her office above her bookstore’s shelves and stacks, where she luxuriates in books and the comfort they provide, she also tracks certain men. Dangerous men. Men who have hurt the women they claim to love. And Nikki likes to teach those men a lesson, to teach them what it feels like to be hurt and helpless, so she can be sure that their victims are safe from them forever.

When a regular PI job tailing Karen, a tech company’s disgruntled employee who might be selling secrets, turns ugly and Karen’s life is threatened, Nikki has to break cover and intervene. Karen tells Nikki that there are people after her. Dangerous men. She says she’ll tell Nikki what’s really going on. But then something goes wrong, and suddenly Nikki is no longer just solving a case―she’s trying hard to stay alive.

Part Lisbeth Salander, part Jack Reacher, part Jessica Jones, Nikki Griffin is a kickass character who readers will root for as she seeks to right the world’s wrongs. S.A. Lelchuk’s Save Me From Dangerous Men marks the beginning of a gripping new series and the launch of a fabulous new character.

Review of Save Me From Dangerous Men

When I’m considering whether to get a book, the first thing I do is I read the opening pages. The question I’m asking myself as I read: Why should I care?

I read books to “meet” interesting people and see the world from their perspective. So it’s critical that I feel connected to the protagonist from the get-go.

When I read the sample for Save Me From Dangerous Men, I was drawn in right away by Nikki’s voice. The story is written in first person from her point of view, and her strong personality comes through immediately.

Critically, the opening scene demonstrates Nikki’s positive traits – a strong sense of justice and a willingness to do something about it. This made me care about her as a character.

Basically, she’s a badass. Need I say more?

Meet Nikki Griffin, Badass Female Vigilante

Nikki Griffin is a private investigator who specializes in a specific type of job. She teaches abusive men a lesson so they never hurt the women in their lives again. In the opening chapter, we see her in action.

She approaches this random guy at a bar and leads him to believe she wants to hook up. When they get back to his place, she kicks his ass instead, putting him in the hospital with the same injuries he gave to his ex-girlfriend. After he gets back from the hospital, she threatens him with a gun – again, something he did to his ex.

Nikki makes this guy understand that if he ever harms his ex-girlfriend again, she will kill him. She tells him, think of this as your restraining order.

So there we have it – Nikki as a vigilante, protecting women caught in abusive situations. But there’s a lot more to her character than that. She owns a bookstore where she hosts a book club for the women she’s helped, providing a vital sense of community as they rebuild their lives. Nikki also takes care of her brother who is struggling with addiction.

I really appreciated the character depth here. It’s very clear that Nikki cares about people. She has this hero complex that drives her to protect others. At the same time, she can come across as very cold and emotionless. Violence doesn’t faze her like it does for other people.

S.A. Lelchuk did an excellent job crafting a complex, multi-faceted character who feels like a real person.

Plot of Save Me From Dangerous Men

To be honest, I think the marketing for this book sets up false expectations for the plot. The back cover copy makes it sound like the story will be focused on Nikki’s mission to protect women from abusive men. However, the main plot revolves around an apparent case of corporate espionage that evolves into a more sinister cover-up. So basically, you get a corporate thriller instead of a vigilante justice tale.

The mystery kicks off with a visit from Gregg Gunn, CEO of a company that makes high-tech baby monitors – cameras, wearable sensors, that kind of stuff. Gregg hires Nikki to investigate an employee who allegedly stole company secrets and is selling them.

Nikki gets to work tracking Karen Li, the accused employee. Right off the bat, it strikes her as odd that Karen seems terrified of the people she’s selling secrets to.

Things get even weirder when another employee of Care4, Oliver, warns Nikki that she shouldn’t get involved with the situation – that she’s in over her head. He gives her Gregg Gunn’s flight itineraries from the past ninety days, which show that Gregg’s been visiting hotbeds for extremism.

Now Nikki starts to wonder if there’s more to this story than she’s been told. She asks a friend – a former investigative journalist who got fired for digging into the wrong person – to help her investigate Gregg Gunn and Care4.

Meanwhile, we get a break from the main mystery with some side plots. Nikki goes on a double date with a man she met at the beginning of the book, and totally freaks him out when she beats up a guy trying to mug them.

We learn some more backstory about Nikki – that she’s in court mandated therapy sessions for her anger issues after assaulting some men that were harassing her and her ex-boyfriend at a bar. Her violence and rage chased away her ex, and it’s looking like they might chase away her current love interest too. We also learn that a traumatic event from her past drives her overprotective nature, and she trained in boxing to help deal with this trauma.

There’s another side story involving a barista who has an abusive boyfriend, which brings in more of the vigilante justice element as Nikki tries to save this woman from her abuser.

The stakes of the story are raised when Nikki finally meets Karen Li and speaks with her. Karen denies the accusations that she is selling company secrets. Instead, she claims that she’s trying to stop something horrible from happening. Karen cryptically states that a lot of innocent people are going to die if she can’t stop what Care4 is doing. Now Nikki has to choose who to believe and what to do next.

I won’t give away any more of the plot to avoid spoilers, but the action ramps up from here and goes nonstop until the conclusion of the book.

Rating

Overall, I’d give this book 4 stars out of 5. I loved everything about Nikki as a character. She pulled me in right away and kept impressing me with her courage, grit, and deep compassion for others.

I was left a bit disappointed by the whole corporate thriller angle of the plot, and wish we could have seen Nikki dishing out more vigilante justice.

I also felt the FBI involvement was totally unrealistic. In reality, Nikki would probably land in jail for the things she does in this book, but the two FBI agents she interacts with seem to cover for her for no reason.

Lastly, the love story was sweet, but I honestly felt Ethan was too much of a mismatch for Nikki. It would have been more interesting to see her with a man who has his own strong personality traits that at times clash with Nikki’s personality. Ethan came across as almost weak in comparison to Nikki, especially in the mugging scene.

Overall, I highly recommend Save Me From Dangerous Men, and I look forward to reading more entries in the Nikki Griffin series.

If you enjoy kickass female protagonists with a strong voice, you will love this book. Nikki is one of the coolest characters I’ve ever met. I appreciate that she’s well-rounded and has actual flaws, instead of being a too-perfect caricature like so many other “strong female protagonists” (I’m looking at you, Marvel). Give this book a read – it’s well worth it!