Although it was extremely hard for me to initially get into this book, about 1/4 of the way through I finally became absolutely hooked and with all of the twists and anxiety that this book gave me, it is one of the best books I have read in 2021. Very original story line and unlike anything I have read before.

Well I didn't see THAT coming. Becks and Brian don't really have it all. They've struggled financially for years, even as Becks worked for the FBI and Brian in computer fields. And they've struggled with each other, the extent to which becomes apparent as each tells their story. Now, though, they are united because their 19 year old daughter Kira has been kidnapped while they are on a family vacation in Europe. Barcelona seemed safe but it's not, at least not for this family. Kira is one tough and determined young woman who you will root for. Berenson has done a great job of capturing Becks, her devotion to her work, and some details of counterintelligence (although she's actually doing counterespionage work) at FBI. Then there's Brian. Oh Brian. What a classic thing he is (no spoilers from me!). I liked this for the characters - using Brian and Becks both gives you a rounded picture of the couple- and for, of course, its page turning quality. If I differ with Beck's decision and if the end is a little over the top, so be it- I'm not complaining. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is a fast entertaining read - highly recommend for thriller fans.

Brian and Rebecca have been married for twenty years. A celebration vacation to Europe with their children, Kira and Tony, was supposed to bring new life to their relationship but Kira goes missing in Barcelona. After searching the clubs and contacting the police, Rebecca calls on her connections as a Director of Counterintelligence with the FBI for help. Brian is also employed by the NSA, making them a couple that demands attention. Kira had met someone in Paris who agreed to meet her at a club in Barcelona. Their date ended when she was drugged and kidnapped. As her parents search, she watches her captors for any weaknesses that she can exploit in an effort to escape.

Between the scenes of Kira’s captivity, Rebecca and Brian each tell their versions of their meeting, their marriage and their careers. While Rebecca completes law school and establishes her career with the FBI, Brian remains home to raise the children. Long hours at work and guilt for her absence in the children’s lives take a toll and resentments begin to build. As Brian tells his story, their meeting and early years follow the same path, but it is Brian who betrays his wife’s trust. His actions lead to an ending that is jaw-dropping.

Alex Berenson is the author of the excellent John Wells series. In this stand alone story he looks at a marriage from both sides, from the highs of a first meeting to the lows that can happen in time when couples no longer work at a marriage. Both of his characters have flaws that add to the stress. It is how Rebecca and Brian handle the stress and the disappearance of their daughter that will keep you reading well into the night. I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing this book in exchange for my review.

3.5 Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for a gifted couple of The Power Couple by Alex Berenson.

Brian and Rebecca Unsworth planned a getaway to Paris and Barcelona where they hoped that the dying embers of their once vibrant marriage would be reignited. They planned to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary with their children in a city bedecked by colorful Gaudi mansions and adorned by creative masterpieces created by the likes of Miro and Picasso. Ironically, however, it is not the dramatic brushstrokes and visions of ageless masters which serve to refresh the worn canvas of their once bright union, rather Bri and Becs are drawn closer together as they both frantically hunt for clues as to the whereabouts of their missing daughter.

The high drama which is sparked by the abduction of their daughter, Kira, and the ensuing search is both riveting and entertaining. But, equally absorbing is the inner journey taken by both grieving parents as the kidnapping highlights all that was wrong in their marriage while also presenting them with a road map as to how to not only recover their child but each other as well.

I really enjoyed reading this book! The writing was so vivid, I felt like I was watching a movie and the plot had me on the edge of my seat up to the very end. The Power Couple publishes 2/9,

Thank you to both Simon & Schuster as well as Netgalley for a gifted couple of The Power Couple by Alex Berenson. This was a run of the mill, average thriller in my opinion that didn't "wow" me as much as I was hoping. I felt like I was taken out of the story when the author reverted to flashbacks to propel the story further because then it would take a few pages before my attention returned to the overall plot. The main characters also fell sort of flat for me, the only point of view I found myself most enjoying was Kira's as she found herself within a kidnapping situation. Her parents, Becks and Brian, also had POVs and I actually hated Brian the more his side of the story was portrayed, his decisions and feelings impacted his family greatly, but he worked the story around to not place the blame on himself. The younger brother, Tony, was weakly written and almost served no purpose to the plot.

I went back and forth throughout the story between a three or four star review, so I'm going in the middle with an official 3.5 star rating rounded down to 3. Maybe at this point I've read so many thrillers that it's becoming harder to truly impress me with an outstanding thriller novel. The premise was the marriage of an FBI agent and NSA employee working together to save their daughter from kidnappers in Spain, but it ended up being a one sided rescue mission. The ending was purely satisfying.

The Power Couple by Alex Berenson is a page turning thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s the story of a married couple, Brian and Rebecca Unsworth, who take their kids Kira and Tony, to Europe to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. Rebecca, or Becks, is an FBI agent who moved up quickly within the agency, Brian is a computer coder who is less than motivated and spent the early part of their marriage as a stay at home Dad but now works at the NSA. What seems like a normal summer vacation quickly goes south when their daughter Kira is kidnapped.

Told from 3 perspectives, Becks, Brian, and Kira, this story is as much a story about relationships as it is about the kidnapping. Both Becks and Brian go back to when they met and we hear their version of how they got together and where their marriage went bad, and who blames who. All of this leads into the trip and the kidnapping,

But why was Kira kidnapped? It had to random didn’t it? Or was it? Even Kira doesn’t know. The story unravels and we find out the truth and the dark secrets that hide behind a seemingly happily marriage.

I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love a thriller and I also love when I can’t immediately figure out what is gong on! This book gave me both! It tells the story of Becks and Bri, two people who both work for the federal government. They are the parents of two teenage kids and one gets kidnapped on their family trip overseas. The book then gives you all the background on the parents to figure out if the kidnapping is random or if it is tied to Becks or Bri. This was a great read that I will definitely recommend to my customers at the bookstore!

"Marriage is a mirror... Then one day, you look in the mirror. And you can't recognize yourself. You can't recognize anything."

The Power Couple is one part legal thriller, complete with an international kidnapping, FBI involvement, and Russian espionage, and one part family drama, offering a deep and introspective examination of a decades-long marriage. From both sides of the narrative, things aren't what they seem...

"Pick a side, white hat or black..."

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth are celebrating their 20tth anniversary with a family trip to Europe when their teenage daughter, Kira, disappears, and the evidence suggests a kidnapping. Was it random? Is Rebecca, an FBI agent, being targeted by an enemy? Or is there another explanation that no one has considered?

"The kidnapping was random. Had to be. It had to be. Unless it wasn't."

In the midst of trying to track down and save their daughter, Brian and Rebecca reflect on their tepid marriage and the secrets that exist between them. The two of them come off as entirely unlikeable characters, and it's hard to root for either one of them - the two of them almost make you lose hope in marriage as a concept altogether! But I appreciated the honest, no-holds-barred storytelling and the way the author didn't shy away from the ugliness under the surface.

"So often their conversations now slipped into the thrust-and-parry of a swordfight. Or maybe more accurately the cape-waving of a bullfight. She wasn't sure who was the matador."

The Power Couple definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. Alex Berenson masterfully weaves together drama, intrigue, and twists you won't see coming. I managed to predict the "who" behind Kira's disappearance (sort of), but I was 180 degrees off-base when it came to guessing the "why." And the ending was just... wow. Entirely unforeseen. (Almost too much so, in my opinion, but still super suspenseful and kept me up way too late to find out how things would all play out!)

"She'd wanted the world to stop forever in that moment. But the world didn't stop, did it? It whirled like a centrifuge until it revealed every truth..."

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A huge thank-you to Alex Berenson, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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So, I was graciously given an ARC of this through NetGalley by Simon and Schuster, and I was really excited to read it. I’d been digging pretty heavily into my preferred genre - high fantasy - lately, but I’ve always got room for a Berenson-style thriller, and the description read like something out of a movie pitch. A seemingly thriving married couple who work for the FBI and NSA take their kids on a European vacation to celebrate their 20th anniversary, only to discover that when the inevitable tragedy strikes, the foundation of their marriage is about as solid as Parisian foie gras?

Count me in, baby.

Except...it doesn’t really play out that way. There are, essentially, three main players in this book, and a bunch of supporting cast. That part is fine. Give me real, three dimensional characters and I’ll make a small cast work.

Rebecca Unsworth - wife, mother, star agent of the FBI counterterrorism unit. Grew up “wealthy” in a family that lived outside its means.

Brian Unsworth - husband, father, coder in a highly secretive unit of the NSA, but not a particularly motivated dude. Happy raising the kids. Not confident in his maleness except inside the bedroom, weirdly.

Kira Unsworth - their teenage daughter, a freshman in college. We don’t know a lot about her other than she’s tough, has a strained relationship with her mom, and is attractive. That’s kind of it.

Even the family’s son and brother, Tony, is a bit player.

This is a spoiler free review, so I won’t get into specifics. But needless to say the whole story is more a parable about how closed lines of communication can poison a marriage to very extreme levels. Like really extreme.

I actually found the plot compelling thanks to how well Berenson writes tension and action, but it’s ultimately hollow. Characters make leaps of logic they haven’t earned at key moments, and ultimately we simply haven’t come to really know these people enough to care about the conclusion. One of them goes through a MAJOR trauma and there is zero follow up. None. It’s slightly maddening. So when the conclusion hits, it’s with much more whimper than bang, I’m afraid.

Lots of style, not as much substance as I wanted. 2 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy for review.

This one surprised me. It was, on the surface, a thriller about a power couple (hence the title) who must work together to figure out what happened to their teenage daughter after she disappears on a vacation. What happens next is a thrill ride, yes, but also so much more. We get to see the lives of these characters, who are so fleshed out that throughout the reading it felt like they truly were real people. I cannot recommend this book enough, and would highly encourage those who love mystery, suspense, and just really well written stories to give this a shot because it will be worth it.

Very good read! Rebecca and Brian both work for the government in positions of secrecy. On their 20th anniversary trip to Europe, their daughter disappears. Did she leave of her own free will or was she taken? Was it random or did it have to do with their positions?

The story is told from the characters themselves in a way that you can secretly cheer on each one at times and yet wonder, did one of them do something to cause this?

I read to escape and this helped me escape for hours and for that I thank the author and will look for more books of his as the writing style was so comfortable. Not exactly the on the edge of your seat book, but it made me want to get back to it at whenever I could.

Thank you NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. A very good read, worth 4.5 stars

I will be upfront and admit that I thought I was requesting an audiobook copy of this book to review. The narrators are among my favorites (Steven Weber and Marin Ireland). So, I was disappointed at first when I realized that it was the ebook. That being said, I loved the book so now I get to experience it again in audio format when it’s released to the public. Win, win!!
I was hooked from the start with Rebecca and Brian’s relationship. I went in blind so I didn’t realize what was going to happen on their family trip. The dynamics in this family were all over the place and it kept me guessing how things were going to wind up until the very end! I didn’t always like the characters or their actions but I was always invested in their stories so that is the Mark of a great book!

Review date: February 3, 2021
Publication date: February 9, 2021
*Thank you to the author, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for providing an ebook copy of this book for review.

“Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

This latest novel by Alex Berenson is a real winner! It’s not just deception that we encounter from both our leading characters, but greed, callousness and total disregard for those they purport to love and respect. Whew!

Rebecca would step on anyone to achieve her goal to be an FBI Special Agent in Charge. Brian would go to any lengths to keep Rebecca from knowing how he was achieving his successes. She was smart. She was driven. He was patient and content to live in her shadow. And they were both deceptive.

The character development was outstanding. The plot development, in spite of lengthy back stories slowing it down, was straight forward and moved energetically. The ending was just simply - OMG!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Really enjoyed this book. It is always good when a series writer writes a stand alone novel. Once again, you see how well he develops characters, and writes a driving, exciting story. Family drama too.

Wow! This is an amazing book! Kira is kidnapped when on a vacation with her parents. Both her parents work for the United States Government. Could the kidnapping be related? This summary does not even give this book justice. If you enjoy thrillers then read this book!

I have mixed feelings on this book. I enjoyed parts of it, but others I didn’t. I ended up putting it down halfway through because it was moving too slow for my liking and I got bored. I enjoyed how the story was told through each characters perspectives and I enjoyed how the author gave flashbacks to build up to the present time.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Schuster for providing me an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. At first glance the perfect family on the perfect vacation, but what really goes on under the surface? This book hooked me in early and was hard to put down. The details and back story were amazing. This is my first book by Alex Berenson but won’t be my last. A great thriller with a lot of espionage and intrigue.

Right away this story gave me Taken Vibes. On a family vacation in Europe, a young beautiful daughter meets a boy and decides to go out on an adventure.

The story is told from multiple points of view. Kira, the daughter, Rebecca the FBI agent and mom, and Brian the father.

The story travels from present to past a couple of times as well. I’d say there is a heavy focus on the character developments of Rebecca and Brian and the progression of their relationship as a couple. During those flashbacks, there were times I felt it became slow.

There was a good story behind this book. The twist with Brian’s character I wasn’t expecting.

The ending was the most exciting part of the story. The middle lost a lot of its appeal for me. It felt a little slow in parts of setting the scene between Rebecca and Brian's tumultuous relationship.

The twist of Brian’s character development and the ending is what was most exciting. I wish there was also a little more to the epilogue as well. After such detail throughout the rest of the story and the dramatic turn, in the end, I wanted more closure.

Definitely an edge of your seat thriller that keeps you guessing.
Good book. It had a few twists and turns I didn't see coming. The Power Couple is a domestic thriller.
Told through 3 different characters; The daughter, the father, and the mother. Very well written, believable, smart.

This book literally kept me up all night. A first rate thriller that starts the ride early and keeps you gripping the grab bar until your fingers cramp. This was my first Alex Berenson book, but it won't be my last.