Thanks to Netgalley for providing this book for an honest review. T.R. Ragan is an author that I love to ready. The book had a steady action. At the beginning of the book Tinsley goes missing on her first day of Kindergarten. It is heartbreaking as a mom to relate to what her mother, Dani is going through. We follow Dani on her journey as a private investigator to search for other missing persons, while still searching for her daughter. There is another abduction five years later and somehow the stories are intertwined. It is a search until the end to find out what has happened with the missing characters.

Bravo TR Ragan ! This novel is nothing short of incredible and has left me mind blown ! I can not wait to recommend Count to Three, to pretty much anyone who will listen !

The early introduction provides clues to us, the reader, that the investigation did not have. We then got to watch as the investigation tries to solve the case. As so often happens the world at large, especially those who want to do good are divided, not on what needs to be done, solve the case, but in how to go about it. No one should be surprised that the investigation latches on to a suspect right away, and brushes aside details, evidence, that might disprove the first lead .

This was a novel filled with twists, turns and unseen developments . I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and highly recommend it to all my fellow crime loving book enthusiasts!

This is an A+ thriller by T.R. Ragan and a must read! Dani Callahan is a private investigator who's been called to investigate the case of a kidnapped teenager, Ali Cross. The only problem is that there were no witnesses.
That is, until a young boy steps forward and states he saw the kidnapping. Because he comes from a troubled home, his story is not considered credible. But her assistant, Quinn, is very persistent and pushes forward to follow up on the story.

Dani is dealing with her own demons from the past. Her own daughter, Tinsley, disappeared 5 years ago and has never been found. With this kidnapping on the forefront, it brings back a lot of bad memories and she's not sure if she can continue the investigation. But her cheerleaders (Quinn and the young boy) lead her on.

And now it's your turn! Read it and you're going to enjoy the read! Thank you #NetGalley and the author for allowing me AC of the book!

This book from page one had me. I didn’t want to put it down. What a wild ride. I read it in one day.

There was so much going on and I needed to know what happened. This author can really tell a story that puts you on the edge of your seat. I haven’t read a stand alone in a long while. I really enjoyed the fast paced ride.

First of all, I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me the ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
Count to Three by T. R. Ragan is about a mother, Dani Callahan, whose daughter dissappeared five years ago, in her first day of kindergarten. Dani then becomes a PI, in an effort to find her missing daughter, as well as other missing children. Five years later, when a teenager named Ali Cross dissappears, new clues about the whereabouts of Dani's daughter begin to surface.
This book was a very enyoyable read. The plot is very interesting, as well as the characters. First, we have Dani Callahan, wich is one of my favorites because she is willing to do anything to get her daughter back. There's also Quinn Sullivan, Dani's assistant, who is always caring for everyone's safety, Ali Cross, a very brave teenager who is abducted by a madman, and Ethan, the only witness of Ali's abduction.
With all its elements, the book hooks the reader from the very beginning, and is a great read for those who like a good thriller.

Riveting. Emotional. Heart-breaking. An edge-of-your-seat, stay-up-way-too-late thriller are just a few ways to describe T.R. Ragan’s Count to Three. It has been a very long time since a thriller has kept me up past midnight because I could not put it down. It was worth the three or four hours of sleep I missed.

Dani Callahan is so excited to hear everything about her daughter Tinsley’s first day of kindergarten. A flat tire makes her a few minutes late. Those few minutes change Dani’s life forever. When she gets to the school, Tinsley is no longer there.

Her never-ending search for Tinsley leads Dani to become a private investigator. She uses all she has learned in her search for Tinsley to help other families find loved ones and have the closure she never got. No matter how much time passes, Dani refuses to give up the search for Tinsley, even after an inmate confesses to Tinsley’s murder.

Quinn is Dani’s assistant. She is dealing with her own feelings of loss after her mother abandoned her and her father when Quinn was only a teen. Shortly after, Quinn’s father was diagnosed with cancer and died, leaving Quinn with only her grandmother. Quinn became obsessed with following missing persons cases while she tried to understand why her mother left her.

When Ali Cross is abducted in broad daylight, the police want to believe she is a runaway. She ran away once before, and she and her mother did have a big fight that morning before Ali left for school. Nonetheless, Alli’s mom and sister refuse to believe that Ali ran away.

When twelve-year-old Ethan comes forward and tells the police that he saw Ali getting abducted. They find absolutely no evidence of what Ethan says he saw. Ethan has had his own troubles in the past, and the police are reluctant to believe him. That’s when he decides to hire Dani to help find Ali.

The search for Ali leads Dani and Quinn to one dead end after another. At the same time, more questions arise about what really happened to Tinsley. Despite Ali’s ex-husband’s insistence that she stop searching for Tinsley, Dani will not give up.

The more Ethan thinks about the abduction, the more he begins to remember details about what he saw. To say “the devil is in the details” would be an understatement. Ali’s abductor is the devil. The absolute horrors he imposes on Ali are unimaginable. There are times she wishes he would go ahead and kill her to stop the torture and mind games. All the while, he is telling her how much he loves her and how happy they are going to be. She tries her best to play along in the hope he will not find a reason to punish her again before she can figure out how to get away. Bars on the windows, multiple locks that require keys on the doors, and a shock collar that sends excruciating pain through Ali’s body when she gets too close to an exit make it difficult to hold on to hope.

Count to Three is more than just a thriller about an abduction. It is about a mother’s eternal love and never-ending search for her daughter. This is also a story about a girl abandoned by her mother, losing her father, and the pain and guilt that follows. In addition, the author shows the evolution of a troubled child and how the right influences can change his life for the better just because they believe in him.

Twelve-year-old Ethan reminded me a great deal of Mark Sway from John Grisham’s The Client. Ethan knows what he saw, and he refuses to give up on finding Ali. The only thing he sees when he thinks of Ali is the look in her eyes as she was being shoved into the back of the white cargo van. He is haunted by what he saw and feels it is his fault she was taken. He froze and did nothing to stop her abductor.

T.R. Ragan delivers a thriller about every parent’s worst nightmare. The reader cannot help but ache for Dani, Quinn, Ethan, Ali’s mother and sister, and especially Ali. The atrocities described in Count to Three are gut-wrenching and at times difficult to read. The twist the story takes in the end brings a whole new meaning to “shock and awe.” Any reader who enjoys thrillers should add Count to Three to his or her library.

This was a solid book. If you are already a T.R. Ragan fan, you will like this and if she is new to you, you still should.

I liked how the main characters connected/bonded through their shared experiences. There was a fair amount of twists that worked.

The bad guy had a disturbing background and you understood why he was the way he was.

Oh wow. This book blew me away. I have read other books by this author so I was really happy I got this ARC from #Netgalley.

It starts off with a kidnapping - first day of Kindergarten, Tinsley goes missing. Her mother is besides herself. She decides to become a private investigator searching for other missing persons, but at the same time never giving up hope of finding her daughter.

And so five years later, we find Dani Callahan and her assistant looking for another missing girl, Ali Cross. This is a real page turner, loved how others got involved in the search, and of course how both stories intertwine. I was literally sitting at the edge of my seat trying to finish this book while waiting for hubby getting a haircut. This book will be released in December 2021 - put it on your TBR list today!

#fivestars #netgalley #TRRagan

I really enjoyed this book. Well written, well put together storyline, It held my interest and I couldn’t stop reading. Part suspense/thriller with a personal human factor to it. Have always loved this author and this one is my favorite so far.

Thank you to Thomas Mercer and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Count to Three by T. R. Ragan is an exciting thriller about a private investigator searching for her missing daughter while also searching for a missing teenager. The story revolves around Dani and Quinn, a private investigating team trying to solve multiple cases at once. Dani became a private investigator after her daughter Tinsley disappeared. A convicted man confessed to her murder, but Dani doesn't believe he did it. At the same time, Ali, a teenager disappears, and the police are convinced that she ran away from home. Interspersed between Dani and Quinn's chapters are chilling chapters from the Ali's kidnapper's perspective.

Here is an excerpt from the Prologue, when Dani's daughter first goes missing:

"Have you called the police?"
"We need to follow protocol," Principal Sprague said. "Did you ask anyone to pick up your daughter for you?
"No," Dani said, reining in her frustration.
"We have security cameras in place, and I've pulled up a video that shows a woman picking up Tinsley approximately ten minutes before you arrived."
Danie tried to breathe. "A woman?"
Principal Sprague nodded. "Ms. Helm tells me she thought the woman was you."

After I read that excerpt, I knew that I had to keep reading to find out what happened to Tinsley. I always enjoy thrillers where the main characters decide to investigate the case themselves, and Dani is definitely a strong protagonist. I took 1 star because the first half was relatively boring compared to the exciting second half. I took off another star because I found some parts of the book, particularly the backstory of the kidnapper, to be extremely disturbing. I don't typically do this, but I added content warnings at the bottom of this review. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, you can check out this book when it comes out in December!

CW: sexual assault, child molesting, kidnapping, body dissection, physical torture

Count to Three by T.R. Ragan, published by Thomas & Mercer, is an absolutely gripping, heart-wrenching mystery/thriller of its finest.
Dani Callahan's life was changed in the blink of an eye. Her 5 year old daughter was kidnapped. How can one manage to move on? You simpy don't. Dani becomes a PI, never gives up on finding her daughter and she took me with her on a journey. This is one of these rare books that stay with you for a long time, that I'll never forget.
I started reading and this new to me author had me from chapter one. I couldn't read fast enough, I simply had to know what happens to the characters. Not only the maincharacters are very easily to connect with, so are the secondary ones too.
The story had me in suspense fresh from the start, I never expected the twists and turns the story took and the end - oh my - I never ever saw that coming.
Count to Three is one of my very few favorite books in 21.

Thank you NetGalley / Thomas & Mercer for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Count to Three is an awesome and well detailed thriller. Dani becomes a PI after the kidnapping of her 5 year old daughter and works on missing person cases. With the help of her young assistant and a troubled 12 year old boy, this trio solves the case of a missing 17 year old girl, Ali, who's being held captive by a disturbed and abusive psychopath. This book kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it. I sat down for hours and completed it from start to finish in one sitting. I love how Ragan laid out the plot, gave each character realistic pasts and personalities, and how satisfying the ending was. You definitely want to pick this one up.

TW: abuse, kidnapping, murder.

Despite it being an easy and interesting read I wasn’t engrossed as I had hoped.

The premise of ‘victim’ turned investigator was interesting but the story felt rather simplistic and unlikely - it all got rather easy I felt.

The denouement was signposted quite early on and did not particularly surprise me I’m afraid.

Nonetheless I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Read in 1 day! I did not want to put the book down. No romance! Just want I want in a mystery/thriller. Loved the characters, except the bad guys and or girls. I recommended reading this immediately!

Count to Three throws you right into the action. Dani, a private investigator, is the mother of a missing daughter who was taken from school five years ago and Quinn is her trusty sidekick in this harrowing story of another girl gone missing. Part fsmily drama, part suspense, part mystery this book glances off all the modern genres and is an easy read. Rooting for all the women and a teenage boy.

To say I loved this book is a huge understatement!! I devoured it, hanging on every word, loving every character even the bad ones. So we’ll written and just amazing all around. Will definitely be looking for more books by T.R. Ragan!

Dani Callahan became a private investigator after own five-year-old daughter disappeared. She continues to search for her daughter, but she also works to help others find their loved ones.
I like Dani, Quinn, and Ethan, and Count to Three appears to be the first in a new series by Ragan. I haven't read her other series. I plan on reading the next one, but hope there are no characters like Carlin Reed--a serious nutcase if there ever was one. It was not the plot, but the main characters and the growing relationships between them that kept me involved.

As for the plot, the kidnapped young woman trope is so over done, but twelve-year-old Ethan's determination to do something about what he saw the day of the kidnapping really appealed to me.

Read in June.

NetGalley/Thomas & Mercer

P.I./Mystery. Dec. 14, 2021.

Count to Three is an action packed suspense novel with an all star cast of characters. Dani Callahan became a private investigator when her daughter disappeared on the first day of school. A local teenaged girl is missing and the police believe she is a runaways. A young boy who is known for causing trouble insists he watched the girl being abducted and wants to hire Dani to find her. Dani and her assistant, Quinn are in a race with the clock to find the truth and recover the missing girl. While ew information in Dani's daughters case comes to light, leaving Dani working two case instead of one. Full of twists and turns, the pages fly by for a suspense full roller coaster ride that always makes T.R. Ragan a must read. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Count to Three is a good mystery/suspense. The multiple mysteries worked well together and kept up the tension. There were some good twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.

There were a few times when the PI and her assistant seemed to miss the obvious. I also had trouble confusing the PI with her assistant. They were very similar characters and didn't have their own voice.

Still, I enjoyed the story, the suspense, and the resolution. I will read more by this author.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

The premise is very good.

Here you have a mother who had her child kidnaped and somehow turned into a PI. My constructive crit is that it needed more details of their life BEFORE the kidnap and more of how it all came to happen. What we had was a very washed off started to then have her already years later on a new life still trying to find her daughter.
It gets hard to connect with the protagonist when you don't know her that well or her past to understand what changed to the present, so I really wished it had a better start. The second storyline is also good, you get a person who is kidnapping teenagers and you get to read that person's side or kind of, which I also expected more. You get the backstory but not much just to explain why the person's is that way but again you can't hate or sympatize with something you barely know because you didn't read.

The author writing style is good, it is fluid and you can see the ideas but it needs better forming and more easy paced moments so you can read and understand better all these characters we are introduced to. The plost twist at the end could have been better written because you barely see this character to have any kind of idea it will lead this way the end, for it to be a thriller you need to make it more suspensful(?), more worth grabbing your lunch and read at the same time. I see potential but it left me wanting more.