This is finally coming together! We now know who is doing the bombing and Lara has been sitting on a bomb in this installment talking with him while her team is running around trying to find other bombs and not knowing she is on her own. This installment finally started to bring all the strings together so the next one can tie that bow.

**Received this ARC to review from the publisher via NetGalley**

I have been really enjoying this series but for me this book, the seventh out of the eighth went a bit slow in the middle so I left it for a while and picked it up this afternoon, I'm glad I did as it did pick up towards the end and back to the standard I'd expect and hope for but so sadly only 4 stars for this one, but I've started book eight straight away - come on Lara and Nick - you can do this!!

Explosive, suspense filled, on the edge serial novel, where four authors create a seamlessly flowing eight-part story of terror and tyranny. The constantly escalated tension from the attacks before, the attacks to come and the struggles with the team investigating the crimes sharpen the intensity to a new level.
The team members are under immense pressure that is starting to affect them all. The secret they themselves hold are about to be revealed and no one's life will be the same after this. Even the survival of the team as a functioning unit comes to question.
As the secrets about to be revealed are eating each of them, Lara makes some desperate moves to find out if the bombings are actually connected to her past, putting herself into a direct danger.
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, nearly an obsession.
~ Five Spoons

The Crisis Management Unit know Lara Grant is missing--but they have no idea just how much danger their agent is in! The lone wolf has gone rogue before, after all, and they have a suspect to catch. So while the investigation moves on, and Lara's private torment by her captor continues, she has to wonder--was she his ultimate target all along? No matter what, Lara knows one thing for sure: there's another bomb out there, somewhere. And time is running ...



* * * * *



With Lara being AWOL, the reader really gets a chance to know the rest of the team and to watch them shine. Her team is full of strong, confident people that I would love to call friend even though they can and do get cocky at times.



I have found that each episode is getting better and tighter as we are racing towards the conclusion. If you like thrillers, I highly recommend this series as each episode is short enough for consumption in one sitting and they all build up on each other so nicely.



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

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. ♥

Part 7 plays like an episode of "24 Hours". I am trying to review without spoilers, so let's just say that part 6 and 7 have redeemed this entire series. I have high hopes for part 8.

Favorite Quotes:

I’m sure if you left your house to do things other than kill people, you might have found better companionship… But let me guess, you have issues playing with others, don’t you? I’m also going to go out on a limb and say you probably are lacking something fierce in the friend department.

I’m glad I’m not the only one lost in the technical jargon… It’s like they have their own language and I’ve left my Hacker Rosetta Stone at home.

I guess friends are hard to come by when you are a rock star with technology but not even a roadie when it comes to social skills.


My Review:

Lara is MIA, but the rest of the team is too busy to notice. The team is working feverishly and finally making serious headway in unraveling The Whisper’s trail, identity, and checkered past. But Lara has been stuck in the same chair all day, with clues about her mother’s case tantalizingly flashed before her. Her rash behaviors, selfish motivations, and blind arrogance have gotten her in deep kimchee. She has to be kicking herself now…

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.

This segment has lots of action but seems the least believable due to Lara's rogue actions so this was probably my least favorite of the serial episodes and I was afraid it wouldn't get back on track for the final chapter. It did manage to right itself a bit at the end and set things up for the finale.

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 7 – Tough Justice:Countdown is a serial by four authors Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Emmy Curtis and Janie Crouch. Installment seven is written by Tyler Anne Snell and is full of drama. The team is falling apart as they all worry about their secrets being exposed. I was disappointed in Lara in this installment. I want her to be a team player. She continues to work on her own. I don’t feel that makes her a stronger female. The villain is creepy and I am fascinated by how intelligent he is. The secondary characters are interesting enough to keep the reader interested and intrigued to follow another series to learn more about them.

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

This is getting a little drawn out at this point. All I want is for the plot to end with any kind of resolution. This installment is a real drag on an otherwise good series.

Lara goes Lone Wolf and ends up in a game of cat and mouse, and Lara isn't the cat. Using Lara's obsession with her mothers unsolved murder, The Whisperer gets Lara to throw FBI protocol out the window and do what he tells her to do. In part 7 we also learn, in depth, about the Team's secrets and everyone, except Lara, comes together to support each other.

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. I found myself totally hooked. I really do like Laura. And I like Nick. But never really felt connected with the other characters.