February 15

Before It’s Too Late – Sara Driscoll

In this powerful K-9 crime thriller, FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and her trusted search-and-rescue Labrador, Hawk, must race against the clock before a diabolical killer strikes again…
 
Somewhere in the Washington, D.C., area, a woman lies helpless in a box. Beneath the earth. Barely breathing. Buried alive. In Quantico, the FBI receives a coded message from the woman’s abductor. He wants to play a game with them: decipher the clues, find the grave, save the girl. The FBI’s top cryptanalysts crack the code and Special Agent Meg Jennings and her K-9 partner, Hawk, scramble to the scene of the crime. Cryptic clues lead them astray and by the time they solve the puzzle, it’s too late. But the killer’s game is far from over . . .

Soon another message arrives. Another victim is taken, and the deadly pattern is repeated—again and again. Each kidnapping triggers another desperate race against time, each with the possibility of another senseless death. That’s when Meg decides to try something drastic. Break the Bureau’s protocol. Bring in her brilliant sister, Cara, a genius at word games, to decipher the kidnapper’s twisted clues. Meg knows she’s risking her career to do it, but she’s determined not to let one more person die under her and Hawk’s watch. If the plan fails, it could bite them in the end. And if it leads to the killer, it could bury them forever . . .

 

My thanks to Jen Danna and Kensington Books for a review copy, received through Netgalley.

 

Last year I reviewed the first FBI K-9 novel Lone Wolf and fell in love with a fictional labrador called Hawk.   Hawk is a search and rescue dog working for the FBI in the canine unit, his handler is Special Agent Meg Jennings and together they make a formidable team.  Lone Wolf saw the duo on the track of a bomber who was targeting government buildings and it was a powerful and engaging read.

Meg and Hawk are back for a second outing in Before it’s too Late and this time the action is taking place much closer to home.

The FBI receive a coded message – a woman has been kidnapped and if the FBI can crack the code in the message then they will be able to locate the missing woman and rescue her. If they don’t solve the puzzle in good time the woman will die.  A game from the kidnapper with a deadly twist.

Meg and Hawk are involved in the chase to rescue the woman but their chances of success are slim. When a cryptic clue throws the FBI off track it is too late to save the woman. Meg takes the failure hard but the kidnapper/killer is not done yet and a second woman is abducted, the alert is raised when her dog is spotted running free.

I am avoiding plot spoilers but suffice to say Meg becomes close to the action as she blames herself for not saving the first kidnap victim and she will not rest until she sees the killer brought to justice.

The FBI K9 novels have been a welcome and refreshing addition to my kindle. I love the dynamic between Meg and Hawk (and the other dogs which appear through the stories). After the thrill of hunting the bomber in Lone Wolf, the change to a sadistic killer in Before it’s too Late was equally welcome as I love a serial killer tale.

I hope that more FBI K9 stories shall follow, not enough dogs in my crime fiction and these warm my heart.

 

Before it’s too Late is published by Kensington and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Before-Its-Late-F-B-I-Novel-ebook/dp/B01N7NZL8T/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Category: From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on Before It’s Too Late – Sara Driscoll
December 15

Lone Wolf – Sara Driscoll

lone-wolf-2Meg and Hawk are part of the FBI s elite K-9 unit. Hawk can sniff out bodies anywhere living or dead whether it s tracking a criminal or finding a missing person. When a bomb rips apart a government building on the National Mall in Washington D.C., it takes all of the team s extensive search-and-rescue training to locate and save the workers and visitors buried beneath the rubble.
But even as the duo are hailed as heroes, a mad bomber remains at large, striking terror across the Eastern seaboard in a ruthless pursuit of retribution. As more bombs are detonated and the body count escalates, Meg and Hawk are brought in to a task force dedicated to stopping the unseen killer. But when the attacks spiral wide and any number of locations could be the next target, it will come down to a battle of wits and survival skills between Meg, Hawk, and the bomber they re tracking to rescue a nation from the brink of chaos.

 

My thanks Kensington Books for my review copy which I received through Netgalley.

 

A serial bomber is a terrifying notion and Sara Driscoll paints a terrifying picture of how simple it could be to place a bomb in our midst. In Lone Wolf Government buildings are being targeted by a killer who is holding a long standing grudge.

When a bomb explodes in a busy Government building the FBI K-9 team are called into action – they are to enter the ruins of the building and search for survivors.  It is a harrowing scene and it really highlighted the importance of the work that a K-9 unit undertakes. Sara Driscoll does a fantastic job of describing the chaos and the carnage of the working conditions that the dog and its handler have to operate, the relationship between the two and the ability of the dogs to obey every command.  I was totally engrossed.

Away from the bomb sites we see how Meg and her dog, Hawk, are an inseparable unit. We learn a little of Meg’s background in law enforcement, how quit her job when an arrest went wrong and what finally brought her to the FBI. The relationship and the bond between Hawk and Meg is something rather special and their partnership one of the strongest I have read for a long time. I loved discovering their story and really hope that Lone Wolf will be the first of many FBI K-9 stories.

Sara Driscoll has brought us a chilling thriller with wonderful lead characters and a bad guy that we will all want to see brought to justice.  The story flows at a fast and exciting pace and has that important “just one more chapter” feel about it as you read.

Dog lovers will adore it. Thriller fans should grab it. Lone Wolf is highly recommended.

 

Lone Wolf was published on 29 November by Kensington Books.  You can order a copy here:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lone-Wolf-F-B-I-K-9-Novel/dp/149670441X/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480371068&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=loan+wolf+sara+driscoll

Category: 5* Reviews, From The Bookshelf | Comments Off on Lone Wolf – Sara Driscoll