A Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi is an action-packed spy thriller. Featuring FBI, CIA, Interpol and MI5/M16, just to name a few of the alphabet soup of agencies involved. It's got bombs, nuclear bombs, spies, espionage, chase scenes, Les Catacombes, and more.

Our protagonist, Alex Martel, is a former sniper turned spy. I love the that novel features a strong female main character, and that, apart from a few flashback memories, doesn't center on any romantic interests. This was a quick, engaging read, and I finished it in one day.

A Perfect Shot almost feels as though it were written to be a movie. I can see the plot fitting into an under-two-hour action movie nicely. The characters are interesting, but except for Alex, they are very one dimensional. For example, Caleb shows up everywhere but at the end, we still know next to nothing about him. I suppose this is to be expected since he's a spook?

If you like spy thrillers, and want a quick, fun read, then I highly recommend this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.

PERFECT SHOT is the impressive debut novel from author Steve Urszenyi and the first book in the Special Agent Alexandra Martel series. I'll admit to being a bit skeptical about a male author's ability to accurately portray an authentic female point of view in a lead character role in a foreign/domestic terrorist style thriller where men normally reign supreme. I'm excited to say my fears were unwarranted as Urszenyi stepped up to the plate and gifted readers with a strong, lethal, intelligent, highly skilled, legendary former army sniper now FBI Agent heroine with a keen sense of justice skirting the world, saving the day leaving dead bodies in her wake. Alex is a great character who comes across as a highly trained professional holding her own in a male dominated world. Readers are going to love her!

Special Agent Alex Martel stepped down from her stressful role as one of the most renowned, accurate Army snipers to ever serve to accept a position with the FBI where she can still serve her country in a less demanding role. While on loan to Interpol, she’s disturbed to learn an old friend, M15 Agent Krysten, was killed in what's being called a tragic accident just after sending Alex a warning in the form of an encrypted message. Alex travels to London to conduct her own investigation, quickly realizing she's being tailed by unscrupulous characters who subsequently attack her. Although the numbers and odds are against her, she fights them off until she finds herself at the wrong end of a gun barrel when Caleb, whom she suspects is a CIA agent, steps in shooting the man. Caleb tries to recruit Alex to join his team of highly skilled operatives conducting missions around the world, but she repeatedly refuses to be pressured back through that closed door. When her superiors send her to Turkey in search of a stolen nuclear warhead, she has no choice but to team up with Caleb to stop terrorists before it's too late. The more the pair investigates, the more obvious it becomes that the death of Alex's friend is connected to the missing Warhead, and clues to the who, when and where are hidden within the encrypted message from Krysten. With stakes this high and the world in imminent danger, Alex has no choice but to fall back on her Special Op skills as a sniper. The countdown to doomsday has begun.

PERFECT SHOT is a thrilling, tightly plotted thriller with action burning up the pages nonstop from cover to cover. The tone is dire, the plot insane and the delivery pure gold. Author Steve Urszenyi has rendered a high-octane story of subterfuge centered around spies, terrorists, special operatives and a race against time to save the world. From the streets of London to the markets and military bases in Turkey to the catacombs under the city in Paris, the action is swift, the characters larger than life and the outcome questionable right up to the cinematic end. The inclusion of every agency, foreign and domestic, with their many acronyms and official lingoes require readers to stay on their toes with minds engaged less they get a bit lost in this one; however, the payoff is worth it as it's nigh on impossible to put this book down. The author's background as a paramedic and police tactical medic is evident in the authenticity of terms and events as they play out.

PERFECT SHOT is a breath of fresh air in the male dominated genre of military style thrillers. Urszenyi's rendering of this story through a female's point of view is brilliant and spot-on with Alex coming across as a highly intelligent, take no prisoners heroine with admirable skills seldom seen in female leads in the genre. By allowing her to narrate this story, readers also get to know the woman behind the gun, and she's smart, authentic and highly skilled. Readers will have no issue cheering her on. I'm excited to read more about Alex and Caleb in coming books and can't wait to see where the author leads them both professionally and personally. Highly recommended to fans of high action and domestic/foreign terrorists style thrillers.

Perfect Shot is the first book in a planned series about former US army medic and sniper turned FBI Special Agent Alex Martel. I was invited to read it by the publisher, and seeing all the high-star reviews and mentions of how badass Alex is, thought it would be right up my alley. I would normally finish this type of thriller within two days, sometimes less, but unfortunately this has taken 16, and even that involved a determined effort to push on to the end, one chapter at a time.

Alex Martel has been seconded to Europe to work with Interpol, and finds herself drawn into a political storm, when a mission to intercept a terrorist plot goes wrong. Aided and pursued by the annoyingly charming Caleb of the CIA, who wants her to work for him, she discovers a coded message from an old friend, pointing her towards an even bigger conspiracy.

I wanted to like this more than I did, but I literally found myself putting my kindle down after every chapter so I could check the news or social media, then had to make myself go back to it. Had it not been an ARC I would’ve bailed. It’s a shame, because the story was fine, if predictable, but the pacing was slowed by overly frequent flashbacks and scene changes. Even the action sequences were - I hate to say this of a debut author - boring. The writing is overly descriptive - we don’t need to know every little detail of what fleeting characters are wearing, and the author drops in pretentious words like libation when he means drink or cocktail, which felt out of place in this kind of thriller. Alex was a bit too cocky for me as a heroine, so while a lot of the issues I’ve raised are fixable with better editing, I would probably pass on the sequel. 2.5 rounded up because the last quarter does speed up.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Perfect Shot is available now.

I think I am definitely in the minority here. I had a very hard time connecting with the characters in this book and felt the plot was a bit lackluster. Great action scenes though! Sounds like many folks really liked it, it just wasn’t for me.

Special Agent Martel is a dynamo of an investigator that travels through the alphabet soup of agencies in order to hunt down a missing nuclear weapon. She bounces from under the mantel of the FBI, to Interpol, to the CIA, all with their own objectives. She is following the directives of the organizations, all while being led by her intuition and her personal insights obtained by a personal relationship that she had with a double-agent. She is undervalued and underestimated, which allows her to go a little renegade in her investigation. She is one dynamo of a special agent, and this book is non-stop action like being on a high-speed Whip ride. From country to country, jurisdiction to jurisdiction, objective to objective, Martel remains focused on the end-game. Finally, the deception, subterfuge and misplaced loyalties of the players leads to an explosion that changes the landscape of peace. A fully engaging read -- I hope there is more in store for Martel!

Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi

A medic turned sniper, Alex excelled at both. When she left Afghanistan she ended up in the FBI and then on loan to Interpol. After a brush with a group of terrorists, she met Caleb. Caleb never clearly defined his affiliation. Caleb wanted Alex in an anti-terrorist group he was setting up. Alex wanted nothing to do with him. The two of them ended up in time sensitive hunt for state-sponsored terrorists.
I can’t wait for the inevitable sequel. Urszenyi crafted a winning protagonist in Alex. Caleb could have had more depth but no doubt that will be provided in the next book. There is more than sufficient intrigue, action, and deceit, along with a byzantine plot.
I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Special Agent Alexandra Martel is an experienced operator, currently on loan to Interpol and serving as Interpol's liaison to the Dutch National Police as they all seek to discover who is behind an attempt to sell nuclear material. But there is a bigger plot afoot. And Alex is smack dab in the middle of it all.

This story jumped from zero to one hundred on the first page and never slowed down. A wild ride through the forests of the Netherlands, to the streets of London and Turkey, this is a roller coaster ride of action and excitement and not a small amount of trepidation at the thought that this plot may not be far from the realm of possibility. Despite that, the real world fell away as I got lost in the story. Short chapters and rapid changes in location and focus kept the story hopping. The action continues to spiral into itself as all points meet at the explosive climax..

You don't often see a female lead character in an action thriller novel of this type, so Iwas drawn to Alexandra from the first. She is a take no prisoners operator who continually holds her own against the overload of testosterone with which she is constantly forced to contend. She never backed down, she trusted her instincts, and she was always thinking three steps ahead. She's my new hero and I can't wait to see what dangers Alexandra will be facing in the future.

Special Agent Alexandra Martel has just discovered her friend has died. Then she discovers her friend was possibly murdered. This sends Alex on a mission to find out why. This leads her around the world in pursuit of a killer and she has to fall back on her Special Ops training to survive.

This story starts out strong with Alex showing her strength right off the bat and I loved Special Agent Alexandra Martel. She is a bad A$$. I love her intelligence, her wit and her courage. Then the tale slows down just a bit or rather it may just be a bit wordy in places. The author uses every agency in the world in this thriller, CIA, FBI, Interpol, MI5 and lots of others I had never heard of. It sort of gets bogged down with all the acronyms and who is who.

Now, I am in a minority on my rating and it could be for several reasons. I was in a partial reading slump and I had put down a few books. So, if I had been in full reading mode, this might have been a 5 star for me. So, like I always say, read the book for yourself! It might just hit YOU at the right time.

Need a thriller with a fabulous character…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for the ARC of this novel.

Wow, what a thrill ride! On the plus side, this was a non-stop thrill ride from beginning to end, and the author really knows how to write action scenes. Also, very much found myself rooting for the protagonist Alex Martel, and I look forward to reading her next adventures. I am not familiar with this author, but I think this may be his debut novel. I felt that the chemistry between Special Agent Martel and her CIA handler was not quite there. I also felt that some of the dialogue needs some improvement. But, I nitpick as I raced through this in 2 days. Very good read and look forward to more from this character and author.

Perfect Shot by Steve Urszenyi is a very highly recommended, action packed thriller and the first book in a new series.

FBI Special Agent Alexandra Martel, a former decorated Army sniper and combat medic, is currently on loan to Interpol and in the Netherlands when she learns an old friend, Krysten, an MI5 officer, has been killed under mysterious circumstances in London. Once in London, Krysten left clues that only Alex can follow. It becomes clear that much more is going on and that Alex has a target on her back and there is a larger scheme developing. Along with CIA agent Caleb Copeland Alex is called to Turkey to recover a stolen nuclear bomb.

Action explodes through the Netherlands, London, Turkey, and Paris. Alex is an intelligent, tough, tenacious woman and a good character to feature in the first novel of a new series. Caleb is still a bit of an enigma, but is clearly more than her equal. The two verbally spar, but work well together when threatened, pursued, and the conflict is intense.

The heart-stopping action, dangerous conflicts, espionage, and skirmishes are the main purpose of this thriller and Perfect Shot certainly delivers that globally. All this action makes for an un-put-downable thriller from start to finish. If undercover, global geopolitical action grabs your attention, then Perfect Shot will deliver.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Edelweiss, X, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

In one word wow. This is my top 10 book of 2023. Absolutely spectacular.
The plot, the character development, the ending. Just wow.

This is a wonderful debut novel by Steve Urszenyi. And what a debut. I am highly anxious for more from Steve!

And, I have yet another favorite character to add to my list of thriller heros....Alex.

If you like action packed this is a book for you.
This is the kind of book that would make a popular movie. It has a lot of items that are in demand these days. Fast paste, full of action and espionage. Like many of these kinds of books the reality is a bit over the top, but I can say it was a fun read and kept me going till the end.

A strong and promising debut introduces Special Agent Alex Martel- FBI special agent, former sniper, and Army combat medic-- as as a routine raid and an unexpected email set her on the path of a deeply complex plot involving a stolen nuclear weapon, a murdered intelligence officer, and a conspiracy spanning continents. The technical details were good, and I was quite impressed reading them; there was a plot twist I did not see coming that added an entirely new angle to the game; and Alex herself was a strong and compelling character.

That said, it does feel like a debut novel. The prose sometimes felt unpolished, side characters weren't as deeply developed as I would have preferred, and the end of the novel was somewhat underwhelming. Despite being an investigator and having an espionage-mystery element, solving the mystery mostly happened through a combination of off-screen computer assistance and a series of hunches and guesses that I think could have been more satisfying.

However, I did really enjoy the novel, especially the tactical portions and the great game of spies that was being played in the process. Definitely recommending it to fans of NCIS, Don Mann, and Clive Cussler.

As a big fan of thrillers by the likes of Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Ted Bell I’m always on the lookout for something new. Well with Perfect Shot author Steve Urszenyi delivers an excellent thriller with a wonderful new character: Special Agent Alexandra Martel. She’s an ex-Army sniper, now FBI agent. Her current mission sets her off on a globetrotting adventure with nuclear threat implications. Yes at the start there is no denying there was a bit of a novelty to having a female lead since so many of these types of thrillers feature male leads, but Alex is legitimately an excellent character who can stand toe to toe with the best of them. Perfect Shot features a tight, fast paced story with serious tension and some great action. I’ll definitely be looking forward to her next mission. I’d like to thank St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Perfect Shot.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3PTJRG76JI8X9/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

2.5 hearts

Perfect Shot sounded like a great read for me from the blurb. I like strong women, fast paced action, political/ military strategy and I don't have to have romance. Normally, complex details and layers are a bonus. Somehow, this was not the book for me.

Alex Martel is a Special Agent for the FBI on loan to Interpol. She seems to throw her title up to her co-workers as well as other foreign personnel. Yes, some of them are calling her Ms. Martel to demean her. While her deductions about some aspects of the case are savvy, she is not smart in other ways. She knows she's being followed by multiple others and decides to just fight it out rather than having backup or help. It seems like she is trained in guns but a bit less in fighting.

I understand her unwillingness to trust others since many aren't trustworthy which leaves her on her own too often. The untrustworthy are only too happy to point her in the wrong direction or just kill her. She does her own thing regardless of the law or orders she is given. Alex does trust a computer analyst who provides and solves most things for her. In fact, she probably could have sat around and waited for his intel other than finding an initial clue from her dead friend and learning about the nuclear weapon.

I did not connect with the main character Alex or the other characters. I didn't like them. Things Alex did just felt like a bunch of details, and I mostly didn't care. She did manage to kill a lot of enemy agents trying to kill her, and find a US traitor.

I was excited to read Perfect Shot and wanted to love it. Others may enjoy it more than me.

Although I don't read as many political thrillers (Clancy, Thor, Flynn) as I used to because they seem repetitive, Perfect Shot was a great book to scratch that itch. This debut novel stars a fantastic female protagonist Alexandra Martel, a former Army sniper who is an FBI agent, who must travel around the world to prevent a nuclear incident. I wasn't a fan of her travel companion Caleb. I hope that in future books, he becomes a more layered character rather than simply a jerk.
I found the writing and storyline extremely propulsive. I look forward to the next book in the series.
Thanks to #StMartinsPress #MinotaurBooks for this ARC through #NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

FBI Special agent Alexandria Martel is tasked with stopping the terrorist from getting a hold of nuclear material. She is one that will not back down on any occasion. She is great at what she does but unfortunately there is dead bodies a lot of the time. She is the male Jack Ryan. Then in comes Caleb to help her and he is low keyed and it was fun with the banter in between those two.

This book has so much action and plots that it will definitely keep you wanting to see what happens next.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The action starts off at full speed from the very beginning and does not let up at all as the story progresses. It's the kind of book that you pick up and can't put down because not only do you need to know what happens, but you're so into the story that you don't realize just how much time has gone by. The blurb uses the word unrelenting, and it's the perfect adjective for the action and intrigue in this book. It's one thing after another in a way that pulls you in and doesn't let go.
Special Agent Alexandra Martel has training and experience that make her one of the best agents at whatever agency she's working for or with. She's smart and capable hidden under a layer of charming and disarming. She's asked to look into the supposedly accidental death of a friend just after she's seemingly randomly attacked on the street, so she takes some days off and heads to London. Except danger is now following her every step and things quickly start to get more complicated.
It's a truly international story as Alex travels from one major city to another in search of answers that only beg more questions. The way that Urszenyi writes makes it feel like it's all plausible and you're following along with an actual agent, which is honestly nerve-wracking if you really think about it.
I am hooked on this author and his character and can't wait to see what could possibly be next for Special Agent Alexandra Martel.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the pulse-pounding read!

4.5 stars

Oh, this is the kind of book that makes you so glad it's the start of a series and that - of course - there is more to come!

Alex is a compelling protagonist, and this book (refreshingly) passes the Bechdel test. This lead is not in the world saving business just to pass the time until she finds some man to save her (rolls eyes forever). She kicks butts happily, she's smart, and most interestingly to me, she's in part on the hunt to discover what happened to another woman and to provide a voice to the otherwise voiceless. Though this latter element is not an overtly featured goal, it still felt like a thoughtful choice to me. This isn't an anomalously smart or capable woman. In this universe, women are expected to be useful, skilled, and effective, and they prove that they are over and over again.

I was fortunate to receive the audiobook and listened to it almost straight through on a long day of chores and meal prep. It held my attention throughout, and I am already looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble Alex can resolve next!

I have to be perfectly honest. I do not ordinarily gravitate toward this type of book. However, I am so glad that I went with my gut and read this one. I was more than pleasantly surprised. Apparently this is Steve Urszenyi's debut novel and, in my opinion, is destined for the best seller list. I loved the characters in this story, especially the main character, Alexandra Martel. Alexandra Martel can be your best friend or your worse enemy. She is a former army sniper, who is highly skilled and highly decorated. She was actually a legend in the ranks of those who knew about her skills. She is now working as an FBI agent on loan to Interpol. Her keen observation skills, as well as her other talents have made her an indispensable part of their team. When a nuclear warhead goes missing, there is no better person for the job. She is not only talented, but she is tenacious and aggressive in her quest for setting things right. This is made even more evident when she gets a tragic message about a friend from her past that sets her spidey senses tingling.

You will be carried into the underbelly of many places I would never dream of being. There is loads of intrigue and suspense which will keep you on your toes. Alex does not know who she can trust, and you will not know who to trust either, but I knew that I would definitely want Alex on my side in the event of a catastrophe. Steve Urszenyi's bio shows a background that is interesting and multi-faceted, and has given him knowledge about things that shine through in his writing. I was hooked from the first couple of chapters. Alex Martel is a fantastic character who is a hero that needs no accolades. She is just doing her job. It indicated that this book #1. This makes me hopeful that we will be seeing more of Alexandra Martel. Even if you do not ordinarily enjoy an international thriller, do not hesitate to buy this book. I promise you will not not be disappointed.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.