I read the first book in this series and enjoyed it, so when given the opportunity to read an ARC of the next book I took it.
‘A Different Dawn’ picks up a few months after book 1 ‘The Cipher’. FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera and her BAU team are called back to Phoenix Arizona to investigate any links between a family that is murdered recently and a family that was killed four years earlier in New York City. The team discovers more than they bargained for with a serial killer who has been operating for over 30 years all over America. And as the team digs further into the past crimes, Nina begins to wonder if they have something to do with her own mysterious past.
I was a little shocked at the beginning with the brutality of the crimes the BAU team were investigating. You don’t often read about entire families being killed, but it’s explained in more detail as the BAU team work on their profile. The cleverness of the unsub was downright scary. Who thinks like that?
We also get answers to Nina’s unexplainable childhood. I’m really glad that the author didn’t drag out getting answers to Nina’s backstory over like 100 books. We learn what events lead up to Nina being left in a garbage bin as a baby.
This was a very suspenseful mystery/police procedural book that I enjoyed. It was filled with a few twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end.
Hope the author keeps writing more books in this series, I want to keep reading about the Warrior Girl.

A few months ago I read The Cipher, the first book in the Nina Guerrera series and it was a page-turner. I was so excited when my request for an early copy in NetGalley was approved and... wow! I got way more than I was expecting. This book is way better than the first part. The crime plot was really engaging, but more than that, I really enjoyed the development of Nina’s character. If the first book had me rooting for her, this one had me FEELING for her. I can’t say a lot more without spoilers, but if you enjoyed the first book, you will love this one. I’m not usually into following series’ but I’ll be on the look out for more in this series and hope to learn more about Bianca next.

Spoiler alert:
I am also looking forward to seeing how the relationship develops between Nina and her new found family, both personal and professional.

Loved this book. Couldn’t put the book down. The first one I have read by Isabella and will now look for others.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

No sophomore slump here! I must confess to enjoying this book more than the first in the series, The Cipher. After a couple and their newborn daughter are found dead, the FBI discovers that there have been nearly identical murders across the country over the past 30 years. As two of the crimes took place in Phoenix, Nina and the new FBI team she is part of start there. What follows is a book that is interesting, suspenseful, and unexpectedly heartwarming, all at the same time.

I very much liked Nina's character development in A Different Dawn. The depiction of Phoenix was spot on, which I appreciated, having lived there for many years.

Thanks to NetGalley, I was lucky to grab an ARC.

I started reading Isabella Maldonado's The Cipher right after Netflix announced that it was working on a feature adaption with Jennifer Lopez, and being a fan of Criminal Minds, I thoroughly enjoyed the thriller. However what put the novel a notch above its counterparts in the genre where the personal stakes, the detailed investigation and an excellent sophisticated antagonist.

While sequels usually fail to top their predecessors, Maldonado's sequel successfully manages to top it up in all departments with superb team dynamics thrown into the mix. Even though this is only second novel the main protagonist, Nina Guerrera, already feels more developed, as relies on each member of the team to help in catching a comparatively more complicated psychopath.

Personally I cant wait what Isabella Maldonado brings in next. #ADifferentDawn #NetGalley

The second book in the Nina Guerrera series finds the FBI agent and her team going up against a truly horrific criminal. After a couple and their newborn daughter are found dead in Phoenix the FBI is called in to help investigate. They find that the deaths, while set up to look like a murder-suicide case, are actually all murders. The strange part is that as they keep investigating they find similar cases (triple murders) going back twenty-eight years, with each crime occurring on February 29. As they re-examine the first case, Guerrera discovers a shocking personal connection to the case. This book is another gripping entry in the Nina Guerrera series. She continues to learn how to be part of a team. Isabella Maldonado does a great job of showing how the FBI team goes through an investigation piece by piece. I can’t wait for the third book! Thanks to NetGalley for the free advanced copy.

Isabella Maldonado did it again. Following up the cerebral thriller of The Cipher, we get a more subtle serial murderer with a connection to Nina's past. This book lets us delve into the relationships within Nina's team and allows for far more character growth than seen previously. I have high hopes that the next book will focus on Breck and allow Nina a small break from all of her trauma.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Breathtaking. Heart-pounding. Thrilling. What else can I add? Isabella Maldonado is an amazing writer. I thought “The Cipher” was an amazing book; “A Different Dawn” is a fantastic continuation of the adventures of the Warrior Girl, Nina Guerrera.

Agonizingly frustrating as the antagonist is always seemingly one step ahead, but Nina always tends to catch up. Two major plot twists in this really make this book stand out; the first one, with Nina, is kind of easier to see, but the later one, with the antagonist, is simply aw-dropping.

I’m hoping Isabella continues with this series - but keeps my hometown, Reston, VA - under the radar..

Cross-posted to Goodreads.

Fantastic! Not really much more needed to sum up my opinion of this book and and this series. Well-written, thought out plot and storyline. Love the interaction between the characters. Completely invested in the characters and their stories. Very real dialogue and situations. Chapters and story flow smoothly and coherently.

Finished this one in just a few hours. Must read!

Thank you #netgalley and #thomas&mercer for the eARC.

I liked it - Nina is a compelling and strong protagonist Forensic analysis, violent action, and a tough heroine that's easy to like. The story itself immersed me and offered plenty of violent thrills and forensic fun. I also liked the way how murder investigation collided with Nina’s past. All told, it's a good, immersive read.

It's a great crime book for someone who loves cop shows. I would like to thank netgalley for letting me review this book.

A family is murdered as they sleep. FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera and her new team are tasked with determining whether there is any link between this attack and another triple homicide from four years earlier and more than two thousand miles away. In the process, they’ll discover a serial killer so cunning that his grisly trail of death spanning nearly three decades has gone undetected. Each crime scene reminds Nina of the ghostly Latin folktale of La Llorona, which terrified her when she was an abandoned and vulnerable child. Now it’s back to haunt her.

WOW!!! What a book! I couldn't put my kindle down when reading this.
Thanks NetGalley Publisher and Author for this advance copy!
This was such an interesting read! I devoured the whole thing in one night!
The characters were great and the story telling and writing amazing!