Reviews

My guess is that this book would be classified as a romantic thriller. I listened to the narration by Eric G. Dove and thought he did an excellent job. I'm not sure how he does it, but whether male or female, I had no confusion about which character was speaking.

The tension and suspense in this book started out immediately and only ratcheted up with each occurrence. There were also a few mysteries that needed to be addressed and solved. Who better to do that the Blood and Payne.

The friction between these two characters was intense and initially there was nothing romantic about it. I liked the way the romance blossomed and the respected was earned. Although Payne ran hot and cold at the beginning, that relationship became a fire that burned hotly.

There was a lot going on inside the compound TJ and his father lived in with other people. There was also a lot going on outside of the compound with HRT and the negotiators as the tried to figure out who was responsible for what and what was really going on within the walls of the compound.

The description of the location and weather had me feeling cold through most of the book. I would say this book covered pretty much everything: action, adventure, danger, murder, mystery, suspense, twists and turns, surprising revelations, romance, Alpha males, strong independent females, and a bit of steam.

This book was a lot to take in, but it was well worth the read.

theredcatlady's review

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

jje121579's review against another edition

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5.0

A stand-off between a mysterious group in a heavily fortified bunker and the FBI brings together two agents that appear as different as night and day. Charlotte Blood and Payne Novak go into this operation with preconceived opinions of each other. Not of the good kind. Forced to work together the tension and angst these two generate is at first witty and then smoking. But their priority has to be the case, and they prove to us and each other they are both qualified and capable. With clues coming one little bit at a time the suspense is palpable. The breakneck pace of the story keeps us entranced from beginning to end. And the end is one sweet sexy HEA, sigh

nat_rose123's review against another edition

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3.0

3.45 Stars.

I actually did like this book, despite some of the criticism that I have for it. I thought the storyline was interesting and the romance was pretty much what to expect from a book like this. I just wanted to mention some things that kind of annoyed me while I was reading.

I find that even though this book (and a lot of books in this specific genre) are formatted and shown in a way that is pretty empowering to bad ass women, I feel like this book just has a lot of disguised sexism and underlining double standards. I’m not saying this is from the author, but there were multiple instances where I just felt really frustrated by some of the actions of the characters, namely the male ones.

The mmc in the very beginning was very dismissive of the FMC’s decisions, this combined with the fact that later on he admits to himself that she wasn’t completely wrong and some of her points and opinions were sound, it was just annoying. I will admit that this did kind of trickle into the FMC's opinions of the mmc but i feel like it was exacerbated a bit more by the mmc.

The whole reason for the main characters’ 'forced proximity' in the first place was such a stupid call in my opinion. Their boss knows practically nothing about them in their lives outside of their jobs, he doesn't know about childhood traumas

Spoiler

(that they both have, FMC with being attacked as a teen and MMC with an abusive parent)

and I think it was just pretty irresponsible and short sighted to basically handcuff them together until they make nice. It felt like they were being treated like children in a way, instead of them being 30 year old's.

The thing that annoyed me the most was

Spoiler

after the FMC and MMC sleep together, her coworker (I’m pretty sure she's actually his superior)pulls her aside and basically treats her like a stupid little girl that's falling for any man that pays her any lick of attention. We were under the impression that he was having 'relationship issues' himself but I really don't think that excuses anything. It's massively unprofessional, not to mention the fact that he instigated a brawl with the MMC? They literally rolled on the ground for a second, it was pretty annoying and if I was her I would be beyond pissed.
Also the fact that the FMC was worried about facing her coworkers, her team that she leads, because of the fact that she likes/has a crush on/has slept with a man they are all working with, is pretty shit in my opinion. I will admit I haven't read the other books in this series so I don't fully understand the overall scope of their relationships, professional and personal, but I will argue in any setting it is pretty demeaning to be berated, as a 32 year old woman, for having sex with a man especially by someone you have respect for in your personal life and your professional one.

Also a thing that i noticed a lot happen is every couple chapters or so, when something happened where more likely than no the MMC would do something (mostly it was just him acting pretty hot and cold with the FMC), the chapter would open up with “Novak fucked up,” or “he knew he messed up.” this isn't really a criticism but, I feel like the hot and cold got boring after a while. It just seemed super repetitive. What also pretty boring after a while was the MMC constantly mentioning him being bad with women or bad at relationships. He mentioned (not to the FMC, but to himself) his ex-wife like five times, and how she broke his heart and squashed his trust in relationships. We know nothing about this ex other than she left him a year after they were married and she did it in the middle of a deployment he was on. This wasn't particularly an issue for me, he didn't have feelings for her, but it just felt pointless to have—or at least it felt, again—very repetitive.

laurenjodi's review against another edition

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4.0

Cold Wicked Lies
4 Stars

Hostage negotiator Charlotte Blood and HRT operative Payne Novak must put aside their personal animosity if they are to uncover the truth surrounding a young woman's death and end a potentially deadly standoff.

The setup involving the murder of an environmental activist leading to an armed standoff between law enforcement and a group of Doomsday Preppers living in a fortified bunker is intense and exciting. The portrayal of the relationships within and between the various parties is accurate and realistic.

The murder mystery is engaging and it is fun following along as Charlotte and Novak uncover clues and reveal suspects and motives. Some of the twists are obvious while others are surprising. Kudos to Andersen for keeping me guessing.

Charlotte and Novak's love/hate relationship is entertaining. They get off on the wrong foot immediately as they allow their prejudices to overcome their common sense. Nevertheless, they manage to maintain some level of professionalism as they snipe at each other. Once they give in to their attraction, their chemistry is tangible although their communication skills leave much to be desired. For a skilled negotiator, Charlotte really needs to work on using her words :)

Overall, this installment hits all the buttons that the previous book missed, and I look forward to the next book focusing on the sexy former British SAS officer.

marysebcalderon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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