The Last Thing He Told Me

Author: Laura Dave

Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books

Release Date: March 21, 2023

A gripping page-turner that shows the ugly truth that many go through in this life making for an engrossing read.

When Hannah Hall can’t reach her husband, Owen, she fears something is wrong. They have only been married a year and when a note arrives from Owen that says, “Protect her,” Hannah knows he means his sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Owen can’t be reached and the authorities are not looking for him. Hannah has no idea what is going on and her stepdaughter wants nothing to do with her. With every hour that goes by without a word from Owen, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. Hannah and Bailey must set their differences aside in order to figure out what is going on and be able to make a future they can live with.

I got this book after seeing the preview for the apple tv series that was going to be starting Jennifer Garner, who is one of my favorite actresses. I liked the way it looked and always enjoy reading a book that will then have a movie/show based on it. Overall, it took me a little bit longer to get through the book than I expected. The story was good but little nitpicky things throughout pulled me out of the story making it a slower read. The high points had to be the mystery and suspense of it all along with the characters, especially Hannah. What the novel lacks in certain areas it makes up for in others. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes a good mystery while being able to look past the nitpicky parts that might bother others.

Facing the Enemy

Author: DiAnn Mills

Publisher: Tyndale House

Release Date: September 5, 2023

Just what I have come to expect from Diann Mills, a quick read that is enjoyable and engaging.

Risa Jacobs worked at the FBI trying to fight crimes against children when her estranged brother reaches out to meet with her. She is excited about the reunion until it ends in tragedy with his death after a hit and run. She leaves the FBI and goes back to teaching. As she tries to put the tragedy behind her, one of her students writes a paper with amazing details of how her brother’s death. Risa works with her former partner to track down her brother’s killer and hopefully keep anyone else from getting hurt.

DiAnn Mills is one of the top Christian fiction writers; she is good but unfortunately for me, her writing is becoming predictable leading to similar storylines. The story is good and clean, which I love. Readers of Christian fiction will love the fact that this is a suspense story with no bad language or gore. The characters are good, but I didn’t feel the connection between Risa and Gage, no matter how much I wanted to I just never did. The best thing I can say about this book is the female lead is a good character and it is a good suspense story that is clean.

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

3 Days to Live

Author: James Patterson

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Release Date: February 14, 2023

3 new short stories full of suspense and thrills!

3 Days to Live – When a CIA agent and her newlywed husband are poisoned on their honeymoon, she has 3 days to figure out who wants her dead.

Women and Children First – When an Army Special Ops officer is told to either execute his entire family or they will be tortured and killed, he is torn between saving them or having to kill them himself.

The Housekeepers – A doctor finds out someone is targeting end of life patients and the Russians are involved. When the doctor ends up murdered, those that work for her end up trying to find those responsible and staying alive.

In usual James Patterson fashion, these stories read fast and take very little effort. James Patterson is the Number 1 selling author in the world for a reason, his books are fast reads that don’t take a lot of thought. These stories are each suspenseful in their own way with good characters and storylines. None of the stories tie in with the others and can be read independently of the others, so if you are looking for a story that flows through to the next this is not it. If you are a fan of James Patterson these will be fun reads for you.

Bad Blood

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Series: The Naturals #4

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Release Date: November 21, 2017

The final book in The Natural series ties it all together and left me smiling at a job well done but sad for the series to end!

Cassie Hobbes has been a part of the FBI’s Natural program long enough to experience some crazy events and even work on uncovering the truth about what happened to her mother. She thought she knew what happened the night her mother was murdered but now everything she thought she knew turned out to not be true. Her mother is alive and the people that have her are more dangerous than she could have imagined. Cassie must work carefully with the rest of the team to try and uncover the secrets of the mysterious group before anyone else winds up in their crosshairs.

Wow, this series went out with a bang, I loved following Cassie and the team as they worked to help the FBI solve crimes using their special skills. Each book had great suspense and characters that I couldn’t help but love. The connection I felt with these characters was strong and I felt really sad knowing the series was coming to an end even though the ending was very well done.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes has become one of my new favorite authors because she can craft a story and characters that are unique and enjoyable. The way things all came together by the end of this story and tied back through each book was great, I couldn’t read it fast enough. I recommend this book to readers that have read the first three and love good suspenseful series.

All In

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Series: The Naturals #3

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Release Date: November 3, 2015

The third book in The Naturals series has the team working on an active case and the stakes have never been higher, making the suspense the best yet!

Now that Cassie and the Naturals team are allowed to work active cases, they are called in to help with murders in Las Vegas. Just before they leave, Cassie finds out that there has been a break in her mom’s case. While her mind should be focused on helping solve the murders in Las Vegas, she can’t help but think about her mom and what the new development could mean. While in Vegas, they are trying to stop a serial killer that is using a different method every time he kills. There is a secret message in the way he kills, and it will take all the skills the Naturals possess to stop him.

I loved the new development that Cassie found out involving her mom’s case and how it affected her in all that she did. This book brought a little more depth to both Michael and Sloane. Readers get to find out a little more about them and how they came to be in the program which I enjoyed. The series focuses on Cassie, but the other characters are what bring the story alive. This is more of an ensemble than fully focused on one main character throughout. Each book takes where the previous one left off and continues the story. I’m trying to find something I didn’t like about this book and series and I can’t, I love that I’ve found another author that I enjoy everything she’s written so far. I would recommend this series to young adult readers that enjoy mystery, suspense and great characters.

Killer Instinct

Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Series: The Naturals #2

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readres

Release Date: November 4, 2014

The final book in The Natural series ties it all together and left me smiling at a job well done but sad for the series to end!

One Last Kill

Author: Robert Dugoni

Series: Tracy Crosswhite #10

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: October 3, 2023

Another Tracy Crosswhite edition that is sure to leave readers satisfied and yearning for more Tracy action!

Tracy Crosswhite oversees the cold case division for the Seattle Police department and has just been tasked with reopening the Route 99 serial killer case. It’s been three decades since the killer of thirteen women stopped killing and left no further clues. Now, Tracy is in charge of bringing closure to the families after all these years. With so many cases to investigate, she asks for help and gets it in the form of the former task force leader, her nemesis, Captain Johnny Nolasco. The two have always had a tense relationship and being forced to work together on the case he couldn’t solve makes Tracy an even deeper thorn in Nolasco’s side. As they start to investigate, a new body shows up with the same MO as the previous thirteen. Tracy and Nolasco must work together to find and stop Seattle’s old threat before he takes more lives.

This is the tenth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series and each time I enjoy seeing what case Tracy is going to have to solve and how the rest of the characters will be involved. The first book in the series is still my absolute favorite, not sure if any will ever top it. This book was fun though because we got to see a fun dynamic between Tracy and her captain who has always had it out for her. Having them work together on a case that has haunted him for years was a brilliant writing move by Dugoni. For me, Dugoni is one of the very best suspense thriller writers I have read, I know when I pick up one of his books I am going to enjoy the entire story.

Fans of the Crosswhite series will enjoy the back and forth banter between the two detectives and how they go about solving this cold case. I would highly recommend reading this series in order to get the most out of it. I will absolutely be reading as many Tracy Crosswhite stories as Dugoni will write. Job well done.

One Final Target

Author: Janice Cantore

Publisher: Tyndale

Release Date: February 13, 2023

Another fantastic romantic suspense by Janice Cantore that proves why she is one of my favorite authors!

Long Beach sergeant Jodie King takes her team to serve a warrant in San Bernardino when things go horribly wrong, and she loses her entire team in the raid. Losing her team leaves her with major guilt and grief causing her to leave the force. When she recovers, she makes her way back to the site of where it all happened and is almost killed when a sniper takes a shot at her. Detective Sam Gresham can save Jodie when he arrives seconds before the shot is fired and gets her to safety. Sam is returning to the force after recovering from his own accident and is thrown right into it as Jodie becomes the target and he must determine who is after her and why.

I have always loved the way Janice Cantore writes, her years in law enforcement gave her the expertise to write characters and plots that are believable and will make readers fly through the pages. I never find myself rolling my eyes at ridiculous plot points or characters in a Janice Cantore book, which is great. I would like to say that I figured out the twist early on, I thought I had but then when it was revealed I smiled at how it all turned out. The twist was great, and I loved how it all came together in the end, all the loose ends were tied up and I was satisfied with the story. I highly recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense and if you haven’t read a Janice Cantore book yet, you are missing out.

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

Shadows at Dusk

Author: Elizabeth Goddard

Series: Missing in Alaska #2

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 17, 2023

The second book in the Missing in Alaska Series is better than the first and left me aching for more! Goddard at her best!

Trevor West wants nothing more than to discover what happened to his sister who went missing while in Alaska more than a year ago. He makes his way from Montana to Alaska to continue the search that has gone cold. The only clues he must follow are a few pictures. When he arrives in Alaska, he receives help from Police Chief Autumn Long who tells him to reach out to bush pilot Carrie James to find the places in the pictures he has. Carrie is trying to work through the loss of her friend when Trevor arrives and asks for her help. She agrees to help him find what happened to his sister if he will help her find out what happened to her friend. The closer they get to answers for both, the more danger they find themselves in and their hope of making it out of Alaska alive diminishes.

Elizabeth Goddard is one of the top Christian Romantic Suspense authors for a reason, her storytelling keeps getting better and better. The setting of Shadows at Dusk is cold but inviting for readers. I loved the rugged terrain and the way it brought the main characters together as they searched for answers to what happened to their loved ones. Trevor was a big hit for me in the way he searched for answers and wasn’t going to take no for an answer. This book is a good clean read that fans of Christian romantic suspense will not want to miss. Even though this is the second in the series it can be read without having picked up the first in the series.

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

Havoc

Author: Ronie Kendig

Series: A Breed Apart Legacy #1

Publisher: Sunrise Publishing

Release Date: October 17, 2023

Ronie Kendig has blown it away with Havoc! She quickly pulls readers into the story with strong characters, both with two legs and four.

Crew Gatlin loved his time in the Army working with MWD, military working dogs, and training the stray, Havoc to be an MWD also. That is until a landmine cost him a leg and the rest of his time in the military. After rehab, he takes a job with A Breed Apart, which helps reunite him with Havoc who he thought he would never see again. Their first assignment for the company is to work as a K-9 team on a television drama. Crew wants nothing to do with the show or those involved in it, but he takes the assignment and is quickly taken in by the main stuntwoman for the show, Vienna Foxcroft. Foxcroft has a history in entertainment with her mom being a famous movie star and her father involved in politics. She has wanted to be involved in acting but not the star, so her past with MMA gives her the opportunity to do just that. When she gets her first look at Crew and Havoc, she immediately knows her life is about to get complicated. As the cast and crew head overseas for part of the shoot, things get intense when they come under attack and Crew and Havoc are put the test to try and save the woman he has just met but is already head over heels for.

Ronie Kendig has written another fantastic military thriller. I read this one without realizing it went along with a previous serious and have now added that series to my to-be-read pile. I immediately fell in love with both Crew and Havoc the second they came on the page. The connection Crew had with his four-legged friend pulled at the heartstrings and even though Havoc is a dog, the way he is written made me fall in love with him too. Ronie Kendig is a fantastic author in writing books that are very deep and full of authentic writing. Her love for military working dogs is well known and the way she writes these animals into the story makes it easy for the writer to forget they are reading about a four-legged hero and not a human. The story is a super fast read, I couldn’t put it down until I finished, and I was left thinking about the story long after the last page. I recommend this book to those that love action, suspense and a great touch of romance.

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