A husband and wife who go through ups and downs while they balance jobs at the FBI and NSA with family life then their daughter is kidnapped in Barcelona on a family vacation. They find out just who they are and what motivates them to survive. The characters are well drawn including a small part of the awkward little brother that is a highlight. Action packed in a cinematic way, building suspense as the characters are exposed. A good one.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

I received a free copy from NetGalley. A family vacation in Europe goes wrong when the teenage daughter doesn't come home one night. Mom works counterterrorism for the FBI so pushes for her to be treated as missing right away and dad works in IT at the NSA and wonders if it has something to do with his work. Meanwhile, we learn about their marriage and their past and that everything is not as rosy as this trip makes it seem. A page turner with decently developed characters and a good pace.

The blurb definitely caught my eye and recently I've been trying to choose outside my usual genres. That being said, I'm not a huge fan of this book. The narrative is split between that of two parents (one of whom is an FBI agent) and their daughter who has been kidnapped. This should have been a thrilling and suspenseful read but it felt like most of it was about the parents' marriage. Like 60% of this novel was an info dump. Even with all that the characters fell a little flat for me. I wouldn't say they fit a stereotype but they don't stand out much even the superwoman mother felt plain. . Kira (the daughter) doesn't even seem real, I want to assume most kidnapped people have points at which they admit and process they're a victim of a crime. It felt like Kira never once saw herself like that, which is great, but feels unlikely from a privileged teenager on a kidnapped while on a trip in Europe. Thereu should have been more moments of "this is really happening to me" and "I'm going to be saved". Instead this teenager was basically a FBI agent trainee, doing the most to get herself out the situation.
I honestly don't know what else to say. It's like they were trying to do "Mr and Mrs Smith" and "Taken" but missed the mark. I'm one of the few that feel this way though so I'd definitely encourage you to try if espionage novels are your thing.

3 for neutral, unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was expecting more of domestic suspense, but it’s more of an espionage type thriller, imho. I couldn’t finish, will update if able to finish at a later date,

I struggled to stay engaged in this book. I thought the premise sounded incredibly interesting but couldn’t make myself read more than a few pages at a time. I feel like there was so much going on with the different family members, none of them very likable.

I enjoyed this but it wasn’t my favorite. I feel like it lagged in the beginning and the ending was fast paced which kept me engaged but I had a hard time connecting with the characters. The FBI portions were interesting to me, too!

A suspenseful political thriller involving a tech savvy ‘power couple’, their kidnapped teenage daughter and in alternating chapters, an examination of past choices that have bought them to this current day search for their daughter.

Wow! Now that is a true thriller - sex, lies and espionage!

Twenty years of marriage is something worth celebrating, and the "power couple" Brian and Rebecca, along with their two children, hope to enjoy a relaxing European vacation. They really do deserve this holiday to celebrate their anniversary. You see, work always comes first.

When their daughter Kira is kidnapped, Brian and Rebecca have to figure out who took their daughter before it's too late. Could it be because of Rebecca's job as a counterintelligence agent for the FBI? Or because of Brian's job as a coder for the National Security Agency? Or do the kidnappers want money?

With multiple viewpoints and timelines, this book is a gripping thriller and had me guessing from the first page. I couldn't put it down!

4 1/2 ⭐️‘s
Rebecca (Becks) and Brian (Bri) Unsworth haven’t always had the best of marriages. Becks counter intelligence job for the FBI often takes precedence over their family. Bri finally has a great job working for NSA. Bri has always put his family first. Trying to put there marriage back together they take a family trip to Europe for their twentieth anniversary. While in Barcelona, the unthinkable happens, their nineteen year old daughter, Kira, goes missing. Does it have something to do with their government jobs or is it a random kidnapping. In the course of the investigation we hear both Rebecca and Brian’s back stories. Both haven’t been entirely truthful, but do those lies have anything to do with their missing daughter? This book was totally engrossing from the first page. It captures the reader and doesn’t let go until the last word is spoken. With a great twist and a whopper of an ending this was a really great read from Alex Berenson!

Fast paced book and I really enjoyed it. Good story line and I think people are gonna love it. I would definitely read again and recommend

In The Power Couple, Berenson moves away from some of his typical characters and introduces us to Rebecca and Brian Unsworth. They have a nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC, two teenage children and important government jobs. Rebecca works in counterterrorism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, while Brian works as a coder for the National Security Agency. However, the Unsworths’ life and marriage isn’t what it seems. Trying to correct their strained relationship, they decide to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway.for their twentieth wedding anniversary. While in Barcelona, Kira doesn't come home from a dance club. They discover she has been abducted and over a single weekend, the Unsworths will do everything to find her while Kira works to free herself. Along the way, secrets come out that will change the Unsworths' lives forever. The Power Couple was a great book.

This thriller takes off from page one and does not release you until the very end, this story includes espionage, FBI agents, and betrayal. A 19 year old is kidnapped on vacation in Barcelona, with no seeming motive. Her mother, an FBI counterintelligence agent works to find her with the help of Spanish police and her husband. Try this; it’ll capture you.

The Power Couple takes us on a journey into the world of a couple whose marriage is on the rocks yet they are about to realize just how much they will need and depend on the other. Rebecca and Brian Unsworth both have very important jobs that in reality will keep them focused on things other than each other. Rebecca, working for the FBI and Brian, the NSA, there is little time to spend working on a marriage that contains secrets and lies. While on a vacation to Barcelona, their college aged daughter Kira, goes missing after leaving a party. Rebecca and Brian must decide how far they will go to get their daughter back and what will Kira do if given the chance to escape the trap set for her. This author has put together characters that are flawed with real issues that make you feel as though they could be you or your best friend. I found myself rooting for Rebecca and Brian’s marriage while also hoping Kira would be found. This is full of suspense, lies and secrets that will keep you engrossed from the first page to the last.

Thank you to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

While this was, at times, a fast-paced espionage thriller with an unexpected twist, I had trouble connecting with the characters. I found the "power couple" to be unlikeable and the habit of using the nicknames, "Becks" and "Bri", to be quite grating.

Rebecca and Brian are the parents of Kira, who is kidnapped while on a trip with her parents to Spain. The family also include the couple's son, Tony, but we are giving little insight into his character. The story mostly gives us the background on Rebecca and Brian's marriage while Kira is dealing with her desperate situation. This takes up about two thirds of the book with the remainder of the book dealing with the aftermath.

I haven't read this author before and, based on reviews of his other books, I was looking forward to reading this book. I understand that this was a departure from his other books but I have to admit to being a little disappointed. Still, it was an easy read and I'm sure many others enjoyed it tremendously.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for this ARC.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book sucked me in from the first pages and it was hard to put down. Great storyline. Well developed characters. Twisty, unexpected ending. Highly recommend it to others.

I (DS Kane, the ten book Spies Lie series) write thrillers so in my downtime I read those written by other thriller writers.

Berenson is new to me and I found the book's description compelling, so I read it. The story starts out with an excellent hook, while on a European vacation, a couple's teenaged daughtet is kidnapped.

But after about a quarter of the book, the next third of the book is a flashback that can't compare with the tension created through the beginning of the story. I almost dropped it into the heap of books I wouldn't ever finish but I plodded on and was rewarded by a couple of unexpected twists that made for a satisfying story.

My opinion is that the reader should expect the story to slowly unfold and the backstory be taken as if it was placed at the beginning of the book. It works better as a sequential piece.

One problem with an e-copy of a book is that it is hard to easily tell how long it is. This seemed very long, but I don't know what I would cut. The book starts out with a college student being kidnapped on a family trip to Europe. It alternates between her, her mother, who is a highly accomplished FBI agent, and her father, now a successful computer expert but once an underachiever. It seemed like it took forever for me to finish, but now that I am done, I wish I still had more to read. It was very well-written, with believable, flawed characters and a great plot. I am e-mailing some friends an having them put it on their "must read" list.

What a great read! Told by multiple viewpoints and no one is who they seem. I thought the story was going one way and then it took a hard left turn.

I was so stoked on this book and getting early access to it, however I felt pretty let down.


I think this would make an epic movie, but for a book it felt like way too many details to even begin to try to keep track of. Unfortunately I felt like I had to skim to finish. The ending was satisfying and although I saw it coming, again I think this would make en epic movie!

I thought overall this was an okay read. Slow in the beginning, with a lot focusing on the Becks, then on Brian, some parts a little repetitive. Thankfully the pace picked up towards the end.

Becks works for the FBI, brilliant, smart and loves her job more than her family. Brian works for the NSA, kept the household together and seemed to love being a househusband more than anything. They have two children, Kira and Tony. The family decided it was time to plan a big getaway, an excuse to celebrate the couple’s 20th anniversary. Spain was their choice. Their holiday turned out to be their nightmare when theirs 19yo daughter Kira was kidnapped. How do you find your daughter and get her back in a foreign country? Will they ever find her? Who were these kidnappers and what do they want with Kira? Or them? Was she a random target? As the case unraveled, the couple faced the inevitable - the ugly secrets of their marriage and how by uncovering them revealed all the skeletons that had been hidden in plain sight.

For me, what I enjoyed most was the last quarter of the book when the story took off. I thought Becks part in the beginning dragged a bit too long. And to me, all the characters were unlikeable except maybe for Tony.

If you’re a big fan of political thrillers and espionage, you might enjoy this.