The bomber’s latest threat has thrown the Crisis Management Unit into chaos! As Lara Grant struggles to hold her fractured team together, she discovers a possible connection between this case and her own past--something she can’t reveal to anyone, especially now. Because when the bomber’s next target chooses to keep his secret, terror turns to an intimate form of torture, and anyone’s past can be used against them...



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Another great installment in the Tough Justice serial. I think what really impressed me was how there was a change in author yet the story flowed nicely. Ms. Snell made both Nick and Lara a touch more approachable but that was really the only change in writing style.


So far, this story has kept me on the edge of my seat and I do recommend it to any of my readers who enjoy a good, action packed thriller.


*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

The bomber is getting closer to the CMU and the heart of the unit. Victoria has received an ultimatum, tell her secret or a bomb will go off. The team does all they can to find the Whisper but to no avail and Victoria has to step down but the bomber will not be stopped. Who is next? Will he be caught? On to the next installment...

**Received an ARC copy for review from the publisher via NetGalley**

Tough Justice: Countdown is the eight-part second season in the Tough Justice series with Carla Cassidy writing the first and second episodes, Tyler Anne Snell the third and seventh, Emmy Curtis the fourth and sixth, and Janie Crouch the fifth and eighth. Going into this, I had no clue that there had been a previously released season, and the eight episodes had individual titles. After having read this second season, I’m itching to read the first one because I’m curious about FBI Special Agent Lara Grant, who is part of the Crisis Management Unit, especially since the events in the first season were alluded to more than once in this new season. I’d also like to see how the CMU was established and how her relationships with her partners and fellow agents developed.
FBI Special Agent Lara Grant and the rest of the Crisis Management Unit are called to the scene of a second bombing, this time leading to the deaths of too many police officers. In both cases, one individual was spared. This serial bomber is going after powerful individuals in the city, and with each threat he makes, he gives them an option: confess your dirty secrets to the public or remain silent and watch others die with each bomb that’s triggered. Lara and the team are on borrowed time, but what happens when Lara becomes the latest target of the serial bomber? He says he knows her deepest and darkest secret, a secret Lara would prefer to keep hidden. When she’s the one who needs to decide, will Lara’s choice set her free or will it imprison her to her fate?
I have to give credit to the first episode, which was written by Carla Cassidy, because it had me absolutely hooked from the very beginning. Cassidy established this almost palpable feeling of suspense and tension and the three other authors—Tyler Anne Snell, Emmy Curtis, Janie Crouch—did amazingly well as the proverbial baton was passed on from one to the other and back until we were left with a complete story that was still able to tease us about what Lara Grant had to look forward to in the next season. It was actually difficult to tell the four authors’ writing apart because everything just came together so seamlessly, leaving me impressed and itching for more of Lara in season three and to meet her in season one. 4.5 stars for Tough Justice: Countdown. ♥

This is really picking up the pace now and I'm really interested in seeing where the book goes and if they can get there in time (no spoilers), the characters are really developing well and the plot is thickening as it progresses. Looking forward to part four.

My Rating:

4.5

Favorite Quotes:

We have a dangerous job… Sometimes it’s not just the bad guys we have to worry about.

To put it simply, he looked awful. Sweaty and small and swollen with fear. Without knowing who he was, her first impression was lawyer. One who had a very very bad secret.

My Review:

The story is ramping up with shifts of a professional and personal nature for Lara. She is still burning the candle at both ends and feeling the drain. The blackmailing bomber is going strong and manages to inflict considerable damage on the team by taking down the most respected member with a scandal. But the most exciting aspect of this installment was getting a glimpse into the mad bomber’s head and hidden nest. The team is exhausted and still reeling from upheaval when they find themselves with a new target and a new deadline.

Romantic suspense is not my usual genre, but I do love mystery/thrillers--especially FBI and police procedurals. A bomber has struck for the second time in New York City at the book's opening and Lara and the team are trying to find the bomber(s?) before there is another strike. The two bomb sites (a smoothie shop and a police precinct) don't seem to have anything in common, but the type of bomb and other evidence make it pretty clear that they are related.

In this segment the action continues fairly seamlessly as the action continues to strike close to home. The bomber is threatening to detonate another unless the CMU chief Victoria (Lara's boss) reveals a damaging secret that could end her career as well as set a criminal free.

I am really enjoying this series but it will be hard to sell to my customers as it is written by so many authors. Customers who try to buy it in the normal stores will have a problem finding all the series before they are pulled from the shelves. Unless each customer comes in my store every month to buy the book in the series, it will be hard for me to sell the series

Tough Justice:Countdown 3 is a serial by four authors Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Emmy Curtis and Janie Crouch. Installment three is written by Tyler Anne Snell. In this installment Lara and Nick's superior, Victoria is threatened with her secret. They research how the bomber could have found the secret.
Lara gets more news in regards to researching her mother's murder. Not much action between Lara and Nick.
Jacob makes an appearance. We get a glimpse into the bomber.
Fword –8, shit 13, bstard - 1

I was so thankful to get to read all 8 parts on Netgalley as I hate cliffhangers. I read them all pretty much back to back and enjoyed them all. The switching of authors is hard for me. I didn't like the voice in this book quite as much as the first two. I found myself totally hooked. I really do like Laura. And I like Nick. But never really felt connected with the other characters.

Book 3 is leaps and bounds better than the first two. Victoria, the lead of the team, is targeted. We learn that if she doesn't confess to falsifying evidence, another bomb will go off.

By the way, I still don't like the main characters.

As the Whisperer havoc the city, the team of FBI Crisis Management Unit is trying to hold it together. The exhaustion and weariness are in the air, the danger and threat are closer to them than before. They are not only physically sleep deprived but the mentality of the team is challenged as they now fight the forces both inside and outside of the FBI.
The power balance of the team is rattled, as is the edgy tightrope balance between Nick and Lara. A desperate moment causes them to act based on their emotions and oddly that breach of conduct seems to bring results.
A new author takes the pen to continue the story, and I was fascinated by the seamless passing of the baton. It is as the story continues at same wavelength but the observer has taken a step, a little bit to the left, and the view of the tale changes just slightly, giving a new way to look at the invariable scene.
For the first time, we get a glimpse of the Whisperer and his chilling, revengeful, twisted thoughts in his mind. The fact that most of the victims of the culprit seem to be connected, one way or the other, to the FBI's CMU is not only eerie but rather alarming fact.
The darkness of the story, the horrifying results of a possible failure in the case, the strong characters alluring my mind with their determination and pure strength of will to continue and not to give up - the story has it's hook on me and I can't wait to continue the gripping tale.
~ Four Spoons with a teaspoon on the side

The pace is picking up and the action is certainly taking center stage in this Part 3 of the Countdown series. I am not getting any warm and fuzzies for the main character. I just don't care for the martyr character in any book I read, but I try to overlook that deficiency and concentrate on the really excellent mystery plot.

In this installment the bomber hit close to home, really, really close, when he targets Victoria, head of the Crisis Management Team. Victoria must reveal her secret of hundreds will die. Revealing this secret will also probably cost lives, but that is in the distant, murky future. Lara is taking this very personally as Victoria is her friend and mentor. For all their efforts and access this time around, the team comes up empty.