First off I want to say a huge thank you to the publisher MIRA-HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada) , the author ,Allison Brennan, and to NetGalley for inviting me to join the blog tour for this book as well as letting me read and review it. Just like the first book I was pulled into the story and I loved seen my favorite characters back in action, and meeting new ones as well. And I loved how the author uses a topic that we see in the news these days about greed, as well as child trafficking , she used it in a way that it brought attention to it but in a good way ,because it showed how far people will go to make a profit. It also showed how hard the FBI works to stop those people and how hard they work to build a case and make it stick.

Agent Costa and Detective Quinn are investigating an illegal dumping case. A young environmental activist has been murdered for stumbling upon the illegal waste, but when another person in town is murdered, Quinn and Costa realize there might be more to this case than just danger to the environment. With agents working undercover, including Quinn, Costa must hurry to put the many pieces of the case together, the dumping, money laundering, and even trafficking. This novel is told through multiple characters’ perspectives, and there seems to be a new plot point introduced every few chapters. They tie together in the end, but Brennan keeps readers guessing every step of the way. The case is interesting, but readers will enjoy the personal relationships between all the Mobile Response Team, especially Quinn and Costa. This is a must read for readers who enjoyed Brennan’s The Third to Die.

I was really looking forward to reading this new crime mystery. The author really captured me in her past novel with the complex layout and multiple layers in building the scene. This book also has those many levels and Brennan’s detail was right on the mark.

I was also really looking forward to having Quinn and Costa get fired up together too but that fell really flat for me. They have to potential to burn it up, but in this story, the author chose to have the crime and police procedurals be front and center with their internal fires dampened – not out though!

With so many different pieces and parts of the story coming at you from all sides, it does leave you wondering and scrambling for the answers. The character development was awesome and she keeps you on your toes following all of the leads.

While I try and not hold up one story up over another one, I do have to say this one did not fire me up like Book One did. Still a great story but I was missing the intensity and “gasp” factor that would have put this over the top.

An interesting police procedural that kept me invested! I frantically turned the pages... until I figured out where it was going. It lost me there as it became too obvious. It moved a little slow after that but I was invested in the characters. Book 2 was still an enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more in this series. My thanks to the publisher for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review.

FBI Agent Matt Costa, LA Detective Kara Quinn and the members of Matt's team are back together again to find the murderer of a young college intern seeking the answer to way wildlife is dying in the desert of Arizona. Yet what starts out as a murder investigation soon leads to so much more as activities in the town of Patagonia and its surrounding area leads to many questions of what in the heck is going on.

Following the development of the story, there are so many introductions to characters keeping them straight was at first a bit difficult. From the members of the community invited in to investigate or under suspicion to the FBI team it was confusing, but then I caught the character development and how they all meshed together. Besides there were new stories to be told that would bring the murder and mayhem and misdeeds to an end. With a better understanding of the mind set of the FBI team i look forward to reading of their further efforts to solve the mysteries their team has been formed to solved. In this case they were needed to solve the murder, human trafficking, financial dealings and environmental wrongs. But who is who and who did what will keep the action and the reader guessing.

This time .around Kara is principally working with Matt to find what the problem is affecting a small town's water. Then comes the murders. Other characters of this series come in and out but it took me awhile to remember how they connected. Because of this my involvement in the story wasn't as deep. I think if I had never read this series of would have been even more confusing I do have a day great ending.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

When a young environmental activist is killed after discovering dead birds near an illegal dumping site, the hunt is on for a reason for her murder. A local copper producer is the chief suspect, but with little to go from local law enforcement  LA detective Kara Quinn is undercover as a bartender in Patagonia, Arizona.  FBI agent Matt Costa investigates, but finds he is drawn to Kara and quite protective of her. As Kara begins to date a relative of the copper producers, she soon finds more than she was expecting, and it becomes clear that the dumping isn't the only bad thing being done in the desert.

Allison Brennan's Tell No Lies has human trafficking, illegal dumping, and murder.  If you're looking for something to take the edge off the continued pandemic, or just in need of a good mystery, grab a copy and take a seat my friends.  Kara Quinn is a fun character, and tough as nails. Matt Costa is a little less enjoyable to me, but overall you're here for the story and maybe a brief something-something with the characters, right?

Tell No Lies is available March 30, 2021.

Tell No Lies
A Novel
by Allison Brennan
HARLEQUIN – Trade Publishing (U.S. & Canada)
MIRA
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 30 Mar 2021 | Archive Date 30 Apr 2021

Allison Brennan has a lot of followers at our library. It was great to read this one before they got their hands on it. :)
Great mystery/Thriller. I had some difficulty getting into this one. I think the language detracted from the story.
Thanks to Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC.

4 star

Book: Tell No Lies
Author: Allison Brennan
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for providing me with an ARC.

This one was a hard one. I really enjoyed Third to Die and was excited to come back to these characters. No, you don’t have to read the first one before you pick up the second one. However, unlike Third to Die, I really felt that Tell No Lies was lacking. In general, this book did a lot of things that I just don’t like in any book and that really hurt the story for me.

I really do enjoy the characters in this series. I like how we get to see them at their jobs, but we also get to see their personal lives. To me, this adds a bit of a human element to the characters. We get to see what life is like when they aren’t wearing the badge and get to experience these human moments with the characters. It just really adds something to the story and allows us to really connect with the characters. We get to see them with the guard down and it kind of makes us not see them as just being cops. I really like getting to see these. To me, by doing it this way, it really allows for some character growth, as well as an easy way to develop your characters. By giving us all aspects of life, we get to see all of the layers and elements that there is to a character instead of just getting your typical cop character. I think Allison does a great job with this.

The writing as decent. We get to go along with the characters to try and figure out who is behind all of these murders in this small town that has no crime. We start out with this great hook with mountain and one of them disappearing. This action packed opener is what really hooked me. We had a very strong start, which is something that you need if you are going to hook your readers. However, yes, here is comes, I felt like the beginning was enough to save the book. I honestly found the middle and end to be lacking-which is such a shame. I felt the ending was rushed and needed to be fleshed out.

The ending didn’t come as a surprise either, because the author did something that I hate in thrillers. She had the bad guys reveal their plan to the other characters. Guys, I don’t know about you, but I just simply hate it when books do this. I just think it’s a lazy way to get out of explaining or showing your reader what is happening or going to happen. It also makes the book very predictable. Whenever I am reading a thriller, I like to be given clues throughout the book and try to piece what happened myself Then, I like having a big reveal at the end. By having the bad guys tell their plan to certain characters, it felt like I didn’t get the chance to figure it out for myself. Anyway, that’s just a personal thing.

This book comes out on March 30, 2021.

Very Entertaining!!

This second book in the Quinn and Costa series makes a powerful statement about the world we live in.
Quinn and his team are sent in to investigate the murder of a activist and discover more than they bargained for.
I am an looking forward to seeing how the relationship between Kara and Matt develops in future books.

“I’m so screwed,” Matt said. “Oh?” Now Tim was smiling. “Keep this to yourself. It’s…complicated.” “You fell hard, didn’t you. For someone on your squad.” “She wasn’t on my squad when I fell for her.”

This took me longer than normal to get into. Usually when I read one of ms. Brennans books I am hooked from the first two chapters. This went back and forth a lot and the technical ecological stuff kinda went right over my head. But the mystery was solid and I eventually got into it!

Another fast-paced thriller from Allison Brennan, Tell No Lies is the second book in the Kara Quinn/Matt Costa series. In her first assignment with the FBI, Kara goes undercover as a bartender to help uncover if a nearby refinery is responsible for illegal dumping. Lots of multiple threads intertwine in this one, and make for a great read! Thanks to Harlequin for access to a digital ARC via NetGalley.

Allison has wrote another intriguing book for her readers to devour. The FBI team steps in to help solve a collage student's murder and uncovers more crimes to solve. Lot of twist that will keep you turning the pages to follow all the clues.

I received a copy of this book as an advanced reading copy from NetGalley.

This book is the second in the Quinn and Costa thriller series, and I should point out that I haven't read the first book in the series. Nor have I read anything previously by this author. That being said, it worked well as a stand-alone book. There was a good balance given between providing enough background about the characters but not weighing the story down too much with details from the previous book.

I definitely liked this one. The characters are likeable and the pages kept turning. There's a good build up and the plot gets progressively more and more complex as it goes along. It starts off as a murder investigation, but it leads to bigger and bigger issues.

I also liked that it covers the human side of undercover work, such as the difficulty in keeping your cover and having to maintain a lie over a long period of time. It also covers some of the mundane, yet realistic sides of investigative work such as getting warrants (or at least I'm assuming that it's realistic - I've never been undercover myself).

A number of other reviewers have commented on the profanity. To be honest, I didn't find it in any way excessive, particularly for the genre. I felt that it also made it more realistic.

Only a few minor downsides (with minor spoilers): one is that they never explained what happened to the ATF agent. That, and I get a little tired of each of the evil characters always revealing their plans and motivations to the other characters, but it's an issue that must be difficult for authors to deal with.

Despite that, I would definitely recommend this book and I will being going out and looking for more books by the author

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

#TellNoLies #NetGalley

This is the second book in this series. I did enjoy it even though there were some slow sections. The language did detract from the story.

Familiar with the areas described in the book I really enjoyed this one. The characters were engaging and relatable. Admittedly I missed previous books with these characters, but I didn't really feel lost at any point and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the story.

Hard book to get interested in. I had to fight through the first half. Thankfully, it then became more engrossing and kept me turning the pages. I still don’t have a connection with the characters in this new series and that may be part of the problem.

Amazing story. Well developed characters that are in a twisted engrossing thriller. Highly recommended. Super suspense that comes to a satisfying end! Highly recommended . A true roller coaster thrill ride

This is the second book in the Quinn and Costa Thriller book series. The first one is The Third to Die. I have not read the first book in the series and felt that Tell No Lies did well as a stand alone book, honestly I didn't realize that this was not the first book until I looked it up.

I really enjoyed Kara Quinn and Mathias Costa. They are different main characters from what I have read of Allison Brennan's in the past. They are actually my two new favorite characters of hers and I have loved all of the Allison Brennan books I have read so far. Kara and Costa have a unique relationship in this book as Kara is on loan from the LAPD to the FBI due to her cover being blown back in LA. Costa is Kara's supervisor while she is on loan. The two have a very relatable romantic relationship. I found the relationship brought a refreshing lift to the two cases that they were working. I also enjoyed Kara's history as she is not what you would think of for your typical LAPD officer. She has a "colorful" past, is what I would call it.

The story picks up pace really quickly and draws you in. I found it very hard to put it down because I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. There are a lot of characters in the book and I feel that this helps with making the story more believable. It also makes it so that as the case unravels, their is still the mystery of how Emma Perez's murder and the possible illegal toxic dumping by Southwest Copper Refinery might be connected.

The one thing that I didn't like a little was that there were a few instances where the story deviates from the main story and you are left wondering why for several more chapters when it wraps back around. There were a few times where I found myself saying, "what ever happened to Frank Block and the investigation he was doing on his own". Even though this bothered me a little bit, it didn't detract from me enjoying the book.

Rating: 5 out of 5 because Kara Quinn and Mathias Costa are a joy to read about. The story is very relatable. I am looking forward to the next book in the series. If you are a fan of Mystery & Thrillers and police procedurals then this page turner will keep you sleepless at night because you won't be able to put the book down until you have finished it.

Tell No Lies is book 2 featuring Quinn and Costa. A nice thriller that kept me engaged throughout, I would recommend this book.