I really tried to get into this series, it's very well written and the plot is well thought out but there seemed to be a disconnect between me and the heroine, so while not for me I could not discourage others from reading this story.

Everyone has secrets. Everyone is vulnerable.
As tensions mount within the Crisis Management Unit, Special Agent Lara Grant's relationships with her fellow agents fray as they race to find a hostage taken by the bomber. But as the next high-profile target rejects the bomber's demands, it seems like nothing can save the innocent victim. A chance bit of evidence leads the CMU to a warehouse Lara knows all too well from her last case. But will they arrive in time to prevent another murder.



* * * * *



This has to be my favorite episode yet! Ms. Curtis has done a wonderful job of balancing the tensions that the agents are working under while giving us readers a chance to get to know them better. These episodes are not meant to stand alone but they do work together very nicely.



I do think that any of my readers who enjoy thrillers with a lot of tension, action and character development would enjoy this series.



*** 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 suspense is mounting and the bomber is not following the script he was in the previous installments. Now he has kidnapped "selfie guy" and strapped a bomb to him and sent a note to someone. Hours pass before the CMU is brought in. Oh, and Nick and Lara are no co-SAC and trying to cope with that. The team is trying to build the trust they need to complete this mission and everyone is working against the clock.

There was something that didn't flow about this installment as the others did. Hopefully it will pick up in the rest of the serial.

**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. ♥

Another solid part of the story, really enjoying this story already. Looking forward to part five to see where the story is going, so pleased there are still four parts to go!

Favorite Quotes:

Look. We can’t both be pessimistic at the same time. One of us has to be a glass-half-full, otherwise we’ll both just spend the day in the bar lamenting all the wrongs in the world.

Secrets don’t hurt people. Everyone has secrets…It’s the guilt that kills you, not really the secrets. If you’ve got a conscience, of course. Too many people don’t have a conscience… It’d certainly make our job easier if murderers just dropped dead of their own accord, wouldn’t it?

Everyone in the world has secrets they don’t want people to know. They don’t have to be earth-shattering secrets, just things that could cause a divorce, or being ostracized from your family, or losing your job. Just little things that can escalate. We all have to be careful.

What was wrong with her? She wanted to be friends, but it had been so long since she’d had one, she didn’t recognize any signs of friendship. I have no friends. The thought echoed around her head as if she’d said the words out loud… She wondered who she’d call if she was in trouble.

My Review:

The level of tension and excitement continues to climb as the team finally catches a break and makes a bit of headway. I was riveted by the gripping storyline. The writing for this section was first-rate. The story was cleverly cunning, well-paced, observantly detailed, and emotive. The new victim was identified and researched while the team was racing the clock find him and save his life. Old and new secrets, memories, and epiphanies were weighing heavily on several members. Part 4 has been the best installment yet and I am dancing in my chair with eagerness to devour Part 5 as the deadline has ticked down to mere minutes with hope in sight.

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, Lara Grant and fellow Special Agent Nick have been made temporary co-heads of the CMU unit. The bomber has taken a hostage and an attorney with ties to Nick's father is the latest recipient of the bomber's "confess or others will pay the price" demands. The action and tension are ratcheting up.

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 4 – Tough Justice:Countdown is a serial by four authors Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Emmy Curtis and Janie Crouch. Installment four is written by Emmy Curtis. The bomber has kidnapped Selfie Guy. The suspense and action are at full throttle. Will they find Selfie guy before the bomb detonates? Can the team work together without their leader. Each member has their own issues they are trying to overcome. Just when you think that Nick is going to give up on Lara, we have a small ray of hope. There is one physical scene between Nick and Lara although very few details are given.
Fword – 2, shit – 6, 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 author voices is so hard for me. But I did like the voice in this one a little better than the previous one. I found myself totally hooked. I really do like Laura. And I like Nick. But never really felt connected with the other characters.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

As the tension mounts, the middle of this Installment Series keeps the pressure on. You are getting to know and emphasize with the CMU Team and the victims, even those whose heinous secrets have been exposed. The plot takes some twists and turns and the authors are making this work flow without any hitches. I realize this would have been one really long mystery book, but it reads just like one work. Kudos to the writers for that.

Special Agent Lara Grant and Special Agent Nick Delano are acting co-heads of the CMU unit and now must form new relationships with their fellow agents as they race to find a hostage taken by the bomber. The hostage is Selfie Guy and as unsympatric a hostage as he is, they still have to find him before he is blown up. This high-profile target is a defense attorney with lots of dark secrets and he rejects the bomber’s demands. He wants the CMU to save this victim, but isn't helping them.

All previous commitments to the weekend are now officially called off, I am so hooked and addicted to this story I need to find out what is going to happen and I have to binge on the rest of the novellas to do that. I need to find out that they will catch the Whisperer. I have to make sure no more people are going to die. But mostly, at the moment, I am concerned about the team members since the troops are crumbling and the pressure they are under is starting to affect them all. Will they survive as a team throughout the investigation? Are the secrets they are holding themselves going to eat them inside out? Is the fear of being targeted by the culprit going to give them more nightmares? Is Lara's past actually connected to the bomber?
The intensity of the story has been high since the first words of the serial novel. At Harlequin website, you can watch a video where the authors take turns to read the beginning of the first novella. As I watched it I had chills, literal chills going down my spine. And that has been the feeling as I have been reading the first four parts, the fervor of the investigation is immense. And it takes even deeper turn with the part four, as the team members begun to be affected personally by the case, and the confrontations are unavoidable.
We get a indebt look at Nick in this part and with his personal revelations I actually felt the sadness of his heart, and the hopelessness his self-discovery brought on. The relationship between Nick and Lara is beyond 'complicated', the new unsteady balance of power with the team chipping away from the previously weak foundation they had managed to built.
Most of the time as I read a novel I get deeply invested in the story, but the hook this serial has on me, the fixation I have with the characters, and the palpable danger, desperation, despair I sense from the novel is rare. I feel obsessed to continue reading the next novella
~ Five Spoons

Book 4: Long story short - more bombings. More not liking the main characters. More cliffhanger ending -- do we now know who the bomber is?

I'm guessing not. After tall, there are 4 more books to go. But who know, maybe the next four focus on capture.