Primordial

Author: David L. Sobel, MD, JD

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: December 9, 2021

What do you get when a lawyer is tied up in a medical thriller? Primordial!

Jonas is a member of the legal team at a hospital in New York City and enjoys his quiet life. He’s good at his job and enjoys living with his dad, even if his dad does wish he would get involved with someone. When one of the hospital’s research analyst determines that someone has been killing patients and provides a list to Jonas of the next potential victims, he pays little mind to it. But then he finds that one of the patients who dies the next night was on the list! With only the help of two medical residents, Jonas begins to uncover something sinister that dates back to concentration camps in WWII.

This is one of those rare books that you don’t expect to keep on your shelves after you’ve read it, but you are so surprised by how good it was that you think about rereading it. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book and watching the characters relationships get intertwined with each other. It was a little bit cat and mouse mixed with some medical/legal thriller aspects that kept me turning the pages. And how about that ending? I wasn’t sure how the flashbacks were going to tie into the present-day story, but WOW! Can this thing have a sequel?

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Lethal Intent

Author: Cara Putman

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Release Date: January 12, 2021

A medical/legal thriller that gets darker with every twist and turn!

Caroline Bragg is excited to start her new job as legal counsel for Praecursoria, a research lab working on cutting edge therapy for cancer treatment. Along with the new job, her relationship with Brandon Lancaster has never been better. Just when she thinks things can’t get any better, her world comes crashing around her as the job she thought was so perfect starts to show all is not as it seems and with each new stress at the job her relationship with Brandon becomes more and more strained. Brandon has been running a foster home and one of the kids in his care, Bethany, is very sick and a candidate for the new research. When the treatment doesn’t show the same results for Bethany as others and things don’t add up as they should, Caroline starts to wonder if things in the company are not as good as she and others were led to believe. The more she digs, the more she discovers the danger she and others are now in and wonders how much she might lose to expose the truth.

I have always loved Cara Putman’s writing style. She is a lawyer and her legal thrillers have always been top notch with so much passion, emotion and realistic content the story flies by. Lethal Intent is more of a medical thriller than legal thriller to me; the story revolves more around the sick kids and research than anything legal and I think that slowed it down for me. I didn’t feel any real tension in the story until almost halfway through. At that point though the story did fly by and was much more enjoyable, just not the usual fast paced thriller I am used to from her. The characters each had moments to shine, I enjoyed Caroline’s tenacity and commitment to follow through in finding the truth. Brandon was determined to do anything he could to help those he cared about. This is the kind of story that takes patience and the pay out at the end is good if you stick with it and don’t give up after the slow start. I recommend this to readers that enjoy medical/legal thrillers with a little romance thrown in the mix.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Airborne

airborne Author: DiAnn Mills

Publisher: Tyndale House

Release Date: April 28, 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A timely novel about a virus outbreak on a plane that threatens the lives of all aboard and puts the country on the edge of a terrorism outbreak. DiAnn Mills has outdone herself in her latest novel that readers will not want to miss!

FBI Agent Heather Lawrence has needed a vacation for a long time and when her marriage falls apart, she decides to take the vacation they never did. Only a few hours into her flight, she is awakened by a scream for help. Passengers begin showing signs of an unknown infection that spreads quickly and proves to be deadly. By the time the flight lands in New York, the passengers are quarantined at either a hospital for the sick or a secure facility for the ones showing no symptoms. Even though Heather and her husband are separated, she hasn’t wanted to tell him she is pregnant after he left her and said he never wanted to be a father since it would interfere with his medical aspirations. Dr. Chad Lawrence has tried his hardest to put everything he has into finding cures for horrific illnesses and now finds himself the prime suspect in this attack. Heather must decide if Chad is capable of something like this or if the man she married could really have changed so much and put her life in danger along with so many others. Time is not on her side as she searches to find the killer before anyone else falls ill.

DiAnn Mills has outdone herself. Airborne is by far the best book Mills has written and one of the very best I have read all year. It has been an incredibly long time since I have been sucked into the pages of a book unable to put it down until the final pages were finished. The first third of the book flew by as fast as if I were on the plane myself flying across the country. The middle took a little longer but only because I was concentrating so hard to figure out who the villain was. The research for this book shows on every page and the best part about it all is the fact that it isn’t boring. Detailed subject matter such as this it can get to be over the head of many readers with the small points that would turn it into a science class causing readers eyes would glaze over. Not here! DiAnn Mills kept me glued to the story with a vested interest in each of the characters, even the ones that didn’t have a lot of time in the story. I haven’t been so enthralled in a story in a very long time and love the way this one played out. I hate to even classify this one as romantic suspense because the romance played such a small part; this doesn’t need a classification in a genre, it is just a GOOD book to read and enjoy. Good luck to all other authors beating this one for my best of the year. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great read that will keep them on the edge of their seat and satisfied as the last page turns.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Kings Falling

Kings Falling Author: Ronie Kendig

Series: Book of the Wars #2

Publisher: Bethany House

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

The second installment in The Book of the Wars is a non-stop thrill ride that no other author could pull off as well as Ronie Kendig, especially the last few pages!!

Leif Metcalfe and his team, called Reaper, are back on their mission to recover the ancient Book of the Wars. Together they face more complications than before with a new prophecy that tells of warriors who will decimate the enemies of ARC. Iskra Todorova is working with the team and using her connections in the underworld to search for the Book of the Wars as Leif and the rest of the team try to neutralize these warriors that oppose them. Each step they take to stop these new warriors brings about a new surprise in their way to accomplishing their end goals and some of these surprises could tear the team apart.

Ronie Kendig is absolutely amazing when it comes to writing these Military Suspense novels! No author I have previously read can put me out there with the team as well as she does. This is not a book you can skim through while paying attention to something else, your full attention is needed to follow such a tight, complex story. There are a lot of characters to follow but the most important ones, or at least the ones I connected with the most, were Leif, Iskra, Cell and Mercy. Each of these four characters really made an impact for me and kept me drawn deep into the story. A few times I felt a little lost and had to think back to the first book in the series, and even other books written by Ronie that helped bring things into perspective, which helped move the story forward. Each new book by Kenig brings readers further and further into the military world she has created but also continues to show us the human side of these characters. The very end had me floored! As I reflect, I can see some subtle hints leading up to what happened on the last page that made for the perfect ending that will leave readers aching for the next installment! I would recommend this to fans of the series as this is not one you can pick up and read as a stand-alone. Fans of Kendig’s work will not want to miss Kings Falling.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

The Last Widow

Last widow

Author: Karin Slaughter

Series: Will Trent #9

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: August 20, 2019

Rating: 4 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A kidnapping, an explosion, and the threat of a biological weapon bring together a story that is intricately laid out and hard to put down.

When a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is kidnapped in broad daylight from the parking lot of a shopping center, authorities search high and low for any clue as to who took her and why. Days and weeks go by with no sign of her and no ransom demand until bombs start going off in Atlanta’s busiest neighborhood as a statement and a distraction. As first responders rush to the scene, Will Trent, an investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, and his partner Sara Linton reach a car crash at the outskirts of the bomb radius. Not knowing they have just stumbled upon the bombers, Sara tries to help and ends up being kidnapped as well. Will works from the outside to get his partner back while Sara works from the inside to figure out who this group is and what they are really after before it is too late.

First of all, I went into reading this book not realizing it was the ninth in the series. Not totally sure if that helped or hurt my take on the story. Maybe having a little backstory on Will and Sara might have helped my enjoyment, although I did get a lot out of the chemistry between the two characters. They had a great dynamic and I had no idea this was not their first book, but it does make sense the way they were written so well together. There was A LOT going on in this book and if readers aren’t careful, they will miss key elements to the story. That being said, I felt a good hundred pages could have been cut and the story wouldn’t have lacked anything. With so much going on, it was hard to follow at times, but I will say Slaughter did a great job with tension at critical moments. The last 50-75 pages really brought the emotion out and made me care about the characters when it counted. I have seen lots of mixed reviews on this title and agree with both sides There are lots of good points in the book, but it was a little slow at times. One of the best parts for me was the different points of view, this gave me as the reader more of the story to see and understand. There is a lot of harsh language throughout, and while it does fit with the characters and how they would respond to a situation, readers need to be aware before reading. I would recommend this to an audience who love thrillers, especially ones that deal with medical issues, bombings and radical groups.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Race for the Mind

Race for the mind Author: Daniel Gerard Welch

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: December 1, 2017

Rating: 5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

Probably the most informative medical thriller that I have ever read!

As the population grows in number and the average life span continues to lengthen, the number of cases of Alzheimer’s disease continue to increase as well. As the current leading untreatable disease in America, millions are affected every year. As the mind continues to degrade over time, family and loved ones can only watch and support the best they can, often having just as negative an effect on them as the actual person diagnosed. Hopefully one day, there will be medicine that can cure or at least recede the symptoms.

BioNeura, a small medicinal start-up company in San Francisco, has just determined that a new experimental drug that they have developed shows positive signs of deferment of the disease. But they lack the capital needed to get the drug mainstreamed so that it can be reviewed by the FDA. The group begins with a quest for venture capitalist partners to begin further development of the drug. What ensues is a step by step process of how the company must begin to make this drug available to the market, as well as the time that it takes to actually put the drug through trials, funding, marketing, and eventually a successful product lunch. But there are always antagonists along the way such as rival companies, activist groups, and sometimes even our most personal relationships. Race for the Mind is destined to become a hit.

This is probably the most informative medical thriller that I have ever read! I know a little bit about the process that it takes to have a drug considered and eventually approved by the FDA for market, but this book really took it to the next level to let the reader know just how long that it can take. Another interesting part of this book was the process of growing a small start-up company into one that handles full production, manufacturing, and distribution of products. It was very interesting to see the dynamic of the leadership and watch it unfold each time the company took a new step, be it a merger, acquisition, or going public. I loved watching a cast of unlikely characters who all initially meet at a conference in Las Vegas come together to create a great story.

I highly recommend this book to people who love a good thriller and anyone who is interested in Alzheimer’s disease.

I received a compliment copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.