It was a game. It ended up being a deadly game.

This corporate game was requested by Tim DuBois, CEO of Deets PR, in order to help his board work through an upcoming managerial promotion, from Game’s On You. The original request was made to Colton York, though he and Grayson Thibodeaux, the co-owner of Game’s On You, would both need to approve the contract before it was finalized. Grayson would design the game, Colton would administer it. And Grayson’s ex-wife, Anna Belle Thibodeaux would be dead before the game was over.

There were a number of suspects, but the evidence seemed to point to one person. It would take the work of Detective Brandon Gibbons and his partner, Detective Danielle Witz, and Grayson and his assistant, Pam, to independently stumble upon the guilty party. And the discovery came almost too late.

Robin Caroll has managed to weave together a bit of mystery and faith into a captivating story. Though at least one location is shared with previous books from this author, it is unclear whether this story is a sequel to those - and reads well as a standalone book.

Though Robin Caroll is an experienced writer, this was the first book of hers that crossed my path. I was satisfied - and will look forward to reading others. It easily is a five-star book.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

I will have to say, I’ve never heard of mind-bending adventure games. So this was a new adventure for me. Grayson Thibodeaux ended up in the middle of his ex-wife’s murder, being the prime suspect. All leads ended up with Grayson. Or was someone else trying to throw the blame on Grayson and get off scott free?

The investigation was interesting, I am always amazed at how investigators end up with so many leads, and figure out the person they need. And this one seemed like a cut and dry case, but the more I read the more holes came up in the investigation. I like Grayson. He was just all around a good guy, and loving Anna Belle wasn’t an easy job! But Anna Belle’s mom was a different thing. I love her, her character was well created and she was just the sweetest lady. It warmed my heart that their relationship started and would continue

I feel like I’m jumping around with this review, but there’s a lot going on in this story. A lot of interesting issues, and some not so fun. If you enjoy a good suspense/thriller, I highly recommend Stratagem by author Robin Caroll! I have read many of Ms. Carrol’s books and love them all! I encourage you to check out her other books when you check this one out!

A copy of this book was provided by Celebration Lit Tours for me to read and review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions in this review are mine only

I really liked this book. It's not something I saw very often from this particular publisher, but the book was really good. It kept me captivated and trying hard to finish the book. It is one of those stories that you think about when you aren't reading the story.

Most of my reading was on a Kindle, so the formatting was just a bit off, but I expected that. The cover of the book I wasn't aware of until now, when I'm writing this review. That said, while I do like the staging of the text below the balcony, the rest of the scene doesn't quite make sense to me. It doesn't feel like New Orleans, outside of the over-enhanced Mardi Gras beads. Then the image on the balcony just feels forced. As a Graphic Designer, it just doesn't vibe. However, the story more than made up for the cover design.

The story is about Grayson who designs some really intense escape games. It's a type of game I hope to never be involved in. I have a hard enough time in the typical escape rooms. His ex-wife is in competition for a top spot in her PR firm, but first her firm has decided that the four people who are most likely in contention, must compete for it. Now I do have to admit, that part of the plot was perhaps a bit disturbing. Plus the set up as to how the game came into play. But, I put those aside and just enjoyed the story.

Basically, Grayson's ex-wife ends up dead and needless to say, with Grayson the executor of the game, he is the prime suspect.

The story has several points of view, and I did appreciate having Anna Belle's point of view. There were spots in the story where I did want to rush ahead in the story and see what happened. The pacing was well done and each twist and turn had me guessing.

I would definitely consider reading more stories by Robin Caroll.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Barbour Publishing.

Have you ever participated in an Escape Room? I have and oh is it fun! I could see a place for a company to put on weekends like this. Robin Caroll did a wonderful job weaving this story and making it difficult to put the book down! I’m looking forward to searching out other books she has written.

What a fantastic premise for a novel! Grayson Thibodeaux’s job—analysing game participants’ financial, medical, background, and psychological reports, then creating a game that will expose their weaknesses and strengths—was an interesting one to learn about, quite aside from the little matter of his ex-wife dying during one of his games. This, of course, meant he was in the perfect position to be framed for her murder, and the whole thing was so novel that I had no trouble keeping the pages turning.

Having said that, there were other things that detracted from this story for me. The first was the fact that I worked out fairly early on who the murderer was. I don’t want to say too much and risk tipping other readers off, but there were certain things that stood out to me as a little too obvious. The villain was also perfectly sane until the big reveal, when they suddenly became an evil, cackling psychopath, which was a bit clichéd.

The second thing was that the characterisation was a little weak. Anna Belle was the quintessential narcissistic ex-wife, and Grayson was the poor bewildered and betrayed husband. Further, I had a hard time believing Grayson had been so blind to what Anna Belle was really like. He psychoanalyses people for a living, for goodness’ sake! It just didn’t seem plausible that a highly insightful psychologist such as we’re led to believe Grayson is wouldn’t have picked up on these personality traits when he first met her. And while he talks about his struggle to forgive Anna Belle, he more often came across as a little lovelorn, which made him seem insipid.

Finally, there was a tendency to explain things to the reader, particularly during the interviews conducted by Grayson’s friend, Detective Brandon Gibbons. I realise there is a science to conducting these interviews, but having everything explained and interpreted along the way really interrupted the flow for me. And speaking of interrupting the flow, although I was reading an advance copy of this novel (which often still has a round of editing to go through), there were times when it seemed this story hadn’t been edited at all. Malapropisms, mismatching verb tenses, incorrect verb usage, awkward sentence constructions . . . Hopefully these will have been corrected for the final copy, but they definitely became a distraction for me.

And now that sounds like a whole lot of negativity, but really, if you’re a plot-driven reader there will be plenty to like about this book. It just fell a little short in other areas, in my opinion.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Stratagem is a complex thriller with a slow build to completion. I really enjoyed this thriller set in New Orleans.

The thriller was so complex that I couldn't figure out the ending. I love that about this book!

I thought Caroll's character development was excellent. These characters really came to life for me and I felt like I was in the book with them.

Thank you Netgalley and Shiloh Run Press for the free review copy.

Stratagem grabbed my attention right from the start. This crime drama was set in New Orleans at an escape room designed to be unique to the players. The game was intriguing. The detectives and other characters were well-rounded. There were some subplots going on at the same time. I suspected who the murderer was halfway into the book. Even though I missed some of the clues, it all came together in the end. I enjoyed the Christian aspects of forgiveness, prayer, and faith in Jesus Christ that were an underlying theme.

Stratagem is a another great Robin Caroll mystery that takes place in New Orleans. Ms. Caroll has created realistic characters, some of which, I found likable and some were very unlikable, and an unusual plot that was quite interesting to read. Dr. Grayson Thibodeaux is a psychologist who has worked in private practice, for the police department and now with a sociologist friend, Colton York, as a co-owner of a firm specializing in game playing to help employers and employees to find their strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. Against Grayson's wishes, Colton talks him into taking a case and planning a game for the firm where Anna Belle, Grayson's ex-wife works. During the game, someone slipped cherry juice into Anna Belle's power drink and she died from a allergic reaction. Her epi-pen was not used. Even though, Grayson was out of town during the game, he is the number one suspect in her death. As the story unfolds, Grayson has many reasons to want to do harm to her but he never would. As a Christian, that would never be an option and he still cares for her. She was quite a pain, really narcissistic, and others had reason to be unhappy with her. Each person involved in the game as a participant or worker had a different element to add to unraveling the mystery that helped the detectives as they work the case. This didn't stop Grayson and his assistant Pam from trying to find answers as well. The end was an interesting twist by a diabolic and desperate mind.
This was a story that held my attention from beginning to end with suspense, danger, interesting facts, greed, addiction and also dealt with forgiveness, healing and faith.
I received a complimentary ARC from Shiloh Run Press through NetGalley. All thoughts expressed are mine only.

I think Robin Caroll did a decent job on this book but I also think she could have gone deeper with her characters to make this a standout read. I don't feel there was enough at stake for the main character; there could have been more "death," as James Scott Bell would say. What else would the main character lose if the given consequence does occur? The given consequence in and of itself just didn't seem like enough of a hook for me.

Maybe a little more coaching could have brought this about. Keep going Robin, I think you've got talent with room to grow.

I have enjoyed Robin Caroll’s books since I first discovered her early Love Inspired Suspense novels. I have since then made it a point to at least try to read her latest as soon as it was released. I have been fortunate to receive review copies of many of them. Stratagem was not a disappointment. In fact the author seems to have upped her game. This one left me in suspense and guessing the murderer until the very end.

Readers who are also fans of the popular escape rooms that seem to be springing up everywhere should particularly enjoy this book. A similar concept is used by a business that develops adventure games to help companies in their team-building efforts but this time things go terribly wrong and one of the team members is found dead. She just happens to be the ex-wife of Grayson Thibodeaux, one of the partners in the game development business. When investigators decide that her death was murder, Grayson becomes the primary suspect and even his detective friend cannot help him.

The plot of Stratagem was filled with twists and surprises from beginning to end. Strong characters were well-developed and all essential to the story. I felt as though I was present at the investigative sessions which helped me learn more about each character. I was not overly fond of the female detective but as the story progressed I was better able to understand why she reacted so strongly to the situation. I was fascinated by the process developed for the adventure games but would personally not want to work for a company that invaded the privacy of its employees to such a degree. A strong theme of faith and forgiveness permeates this highly emotional book which I appreciated.

I look forward to this author’s next book and can’t wait to see what twisted plot she comes up with for her readers.

This was a great cozy-ish mystery. I was super excited to find a Christian fiction book that wasn’t a romance or Amish. It is a Christian mystery but not over the top or in your face. Mostly no profanity or gore, some talk of prayer. I love mysteries and while I was able to figure out “whodunit” early on, it was an enjoyable read. I look forward to reading more by this author

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

First time reading anything by Robin Caroll, so I didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed this book. It was easy to ready and fast paced. I recommend this book.

Extremely well-written and masterfully plotted, this story is a strong example of how Christian mysteries can touch on 'worldly' issues without being 'preachy'.

Every character comes to life. While it took several pages for the story to unfold, it quickly comes full circle.

Well done, Robin!

Wow, this book was a page turner! I love suspense books, typically because I enjoy figuring everything out. But this book? It was so much more than that. Yes, it was fun to figure out the whodunit. The author masterfully crafted a string of clues that make you think you're going in one direction, only to bring up something new and make you second guess your answer. There was a point where I just kind of shook my head and decided to read for enjoyment rather then reading for sleuthing. And that is when I started connecting with the characters more. Caroll writes well rounded characters. You get to know each and every character as you read, and although you are trying to solve the case, you can almost sympathize with all of them, which in turn makes it difficult to point your finger at them.

Caroll's descriptive writing also brings you right into the story. I felt the slap that Grayson received. I felt the shock of finding out about his ex-wife. I was surprised as details of the day of the "murder" came to light. This is the best thing about reading, feeling as if you are a part of the story, not the reader of the story. Caroll managed to hook me from page one, and from there I just dove deeper and deeper into the story line. When it came to an end, I was almost sad. Sad to leave these wonderful characters, but mostly sad to read Caroll's writing. I cannot wait to read more book from her!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Grayson Thibodeaux is a game designer and psychologist whose company has been hired to design a game to test some candidates for a new job. His ex-wife Anna Belle is one of the candidates and she ends up dead. I really enjoyed figuring out who-dunit. The characters were very realistic and I loved the dialogue. Robin Caroll did an excellent job of bringing the setting to life. So pour up a glass of sweet tea and settle in for a good, suspenseful read.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley.com with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.
#StratagemNetGalley.com

Robin Carol has quickly become one of my favorite writers of Christian mystery and suspense. This storyline is quite absorbing and the solution to the mystery is not easily discerned. The setting in New Orleans adds to the intrigue. I seriously could not read this book quickly enough. Grayson, the central character in this book, is a main suspect in his ex-wife’s murder. I had empathy for his character as he is still grieving the loss of his marriage and now the death of his former wife, while still having to face the accusation of murder. His search for the truth makes this book a complex page turner. It’s a pleasure to read a clean and well-written suspenseful story like this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
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The psychology of the games Grayson's creates was very interesting, and his story kept me turning pages. From the beginning explosive encounter with his ex, the hits just kept coming and the story twisted and turned through some very interesting places.

Stratagem was my first book by Robin Caroll, and it certainly won't be my last. This is the story of an escape game mystery weekend gone wrong. Grayson Thibodeaux is a psychologist who designs escape rooms for a living, but when his ex-wife's boss asks to design a weekend escape room like game that would test the mettle of the employees to see who was worthy of a promotion. When Grayson's ex-wife is murdered, he becomes the prime suspect, and works to clear his name. Not much more can be said about the plot because you should rush to your local library or bookstore and pick up this book. You won't be disappointed as it is a well-crafted mystery filled with red herrings and twists and turns!

Stratagem by Robin Caroll

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Story Notes

Escape rooms and reality distortion games are all the rage now and while many are rushing to try them out, I’ve not joined in yet. However, after reading this book, I may have to try it as I’m a logical person who enjoys a good puzzle. This book provided a wonderful puzzle for my mind as I carefully looked at the clues to find the culprit before they were revealed. I figured it out about 2 chapters before the revelation and still didn’t know all the whys until I read the confession. This was a wonderful way to write the story and keep the tension strong and I will definitely be looking for more stories from Ms. Caroll. She began her story with phychologist Grayson Thibodeaux returning home from a weekend away. He is met by his long-time friend and New Orleans Police Detective, Brandon Gibbons and his partner who inform Grayson that his ex-wife Anna Belle has died. Her death is suspicious given it was anaphylactic shock, but Grayson refuses to believe it was an accident. Anna Belle might not have been the nicest person but she was hyper vigilant about carrying an Epi-pen on her person at all times. But Grayson is the number one suspect, given their recent, ugly divorce and the fact that Anna Belle died during the play out of a reality distortion game that Grayson personally helped build. He knows he is innocent but with all the evidence pointing his way, Grayson will have a hard time proving his claims. Deciding to take the matter into his own hands, Grayson and his assistant Pam will go back over everything that happened during the play out of the game and see if they can discover what really happened. But the more clues they uncover, the deeper the mystery becomes, until finding Anna Belle’s killer will require them to look beyond who they think people are to who is really underneath. Its hard to really give a good review of this book without giving away any clues as to the mystery. This was so well written and so very life-like in its telling that I felt truly frustrated and determined alongside Grayson in his quest for justice. I loved the details that were included as well as the ones that were left out to keep everything from becoming too technical. “Behind the scenes look” is one of my favorite type of stories, and this book gave you a good look at what it takes to create a personalized game that tests the skills and fears of people. I was very interested in the complexity that went into each game as a whole and the tests for each person within the game. That Grayson hoped to use his games to inspire people to face their fears and overcome them was a great addition to the book as well. Grayson’s faith journey was another well-crafted part of the story. For a man who had lost everything he loved on earth, he seemed fairly put together to most people who saw him. His personal struggles with anger, resentment, guilt and unforgiveness could only be seen by those truly close to him. But Ms. Caroll showed how God can take all the awful, terrible things in our lives and bring beauty and glory out that we never imagined could found. Grayson’s eventual willingness to lay it all aside would finally give him the freedom he’d been looking for for so long. I will most certainly recommend this book to others and have already made plans to purchase this book for my personal shelves. This book could certainly be re-read and more clues found with each read. I will also be looking for other works by Ms. Caroll as her style of writing is most excellent.

I received this E-book free of charge from Shiloh Run Press/Barbour Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation from either company for this review and the opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.

I was quickly page turning to find the answers here, and find out who committed the murder and why. The author was great a keeping me guessing and it wasn’t until about three fourths of the book was finished that I thought I had the answer, but did I?
I recommend this book for a clean, interesting murder mystery that will keep you guessing, shaking your head and changing your mind.

I received this book through Celebrate Lit, and was not required to give a positive review.