Once again, Isabella Maldonado gives us a great story for Nina Guerra - the Warrior Girl. As Nina and her team investigate a set of abductions on a university campus, the suspense grows as once again, it gets personal between Nina and her target. The primary character continues to grow through this 3rd installment in the series, and we are able to imagine where future storylines might emerge. The writing is crisp and detailed, but not overly verbose, with good depictions of the action as well as the internal struggles.

I read the Cipher and couldn't put it down so I jumped at the chance to read The Falcon. The Falcon was the perfect thriller as it put the thrill into Thriller. I found myself on the edge of my seat. The Falcon is perfect for fans of thrillers set on a campus and with humor. Go in blind into this book because you will love it more. Loved it!

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher and all opinions expressed are entirely my own

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book. This is the third in an excellent series.

When a university is being stalked by a predator and 5 women are missing presumed dead, FBI special agent Nina Guerrera and her team are called in to investigate.

There’s no trace of the woman and no sign of how they disappeared. Then someone close to the team disappears and it’s a race to the end.

This book gives some back story of Nina and just why Bianca is so special to her.

There’s also a lot of relationships in this book, from family to team members to different law enforcement agencies.

The thing I enjoy most is how strong Nina is. We know what she’s been through and yet she’s a great role model for how she loves her life.

I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend. A page turner from start to finish.

(4.5) Looking over my shoulder at every sound, all the lights on. Then I laugh, thank goodness I am not this creepy psychos type. Yes, I know this is a book psychopath. Sometimes being old and fat comes in handy. I had no flipping clue who the serial killer was. Normally I guess 8 out of 10. Not here, this one threw me. Love, Love watching Nina grow within herself and her team. Family. I am so hoping there is another book. Bianca is a pistol, smart, courageous and her snark made me laugh. I want to see what the changes will mean to the team and how determined Nina is to accept the pain and self deprecation she shared. Future possibilities are endless. I use to live in Scottsdale, and as this took place in Phoenix it was like going home. Isabella Maldonado shows her life experience with her police back ground and just knock this out of the park. Thank you Thomas and Mercer and thank you NetGalley for the arc. Thank you Isabella for sharing your writing passion!

A Very Elusive Killer Stalks University Coeds

The novel opens with two introductory chapters. The first chapter starts five years earlier with Nina Guerrera as a Fairfax County police officer. She is chasing a thirteen-year-old girl, named Bianca. Nina discovers that she is an abused foster child. Nina, who has personal experience when younger, takes Bianca to Nina’s apartment to stay until child services could find a place for Bianca. Nina’s next-door neighbor, Mrs. Gomez, takes a liking to Bianca and, eventually, becomes her foster mother. The main storyline shifts to the present day, when a coed freshman is walking back to her dorm with a male friend on the campus of the Arizona Institute of Technology (AIT). He leaves her to walk the last leg by herself. A campus police officer finds her to walk her to the dorm, but they duck into a building because of the rain. She is not seen again. She was the sixth missing coed. As the Chief of Campus Police was ex-Phoenix police detective but has a bad taste in his mouth about his former employer, calls the FBI for assistance. The novel starts from here.

The main storyline consists of three threads. First is the major thread, the investigation into the coeds. Second is Bianca’s visit to the AIT campus to interview with a professor concerning her postgraduate studies. Last is the perpetrator’s point of view that includes flashbacks and his current time activities. It is this last thread that cranks up the tension and darkness as the reader and characters learn what he does. The main thread supported by the other two threads provides many twists, turns, misdirection that captured and maintained my interest all the way to the end. There even is what I call a literary grenade that in a few words changed my understanding entirely.

Besides the usual private thoughts, actions and conversations of Nina, the B-storyline is supported by two threads. The first is her interaction with Bianca, and the second is Nina’s interaction with her newly discovered family. These aspects portray a very rich character but not perfect character. Nina has some large flaws. Seeing how her complex personality affects and drives her actions both professional and private enriched my reading enjoyment of this novel.

For aspects of novels that to which some readers object, the major one is intimacy and violence. For this novel, I rate it with an Orange Flag. These aspects are described as they occur and after the fact in crime scene descriptions and autopsies. While upsetting, it below my limit and did not stop me from enjoying this novel. This novel earns the caveat of let the reader beware. On a brighter side, vulgar language appears very infrequently, there is some rude language. This aspect should not be an issue. Lastly, can this third novel in the series be read first. Well, that is exactly what I did. The two introduction chapters did puzzle me for a while. Since I purchased the first two novels, I checked, and Bianca was a character in both. Keeping this in mind, I did not feel that I was missing anything from not reading them first.

I particularly liked the chapters in the voice of the perpetrator, so I felt the need to identify and stop him as soon as possible. Soon, Nina’s team and the police learn what is happening. This drove the tension through the roof for me that also helped keeping my interest all the way to the end. On the other side, the ending was just a little over the top, but this is fiction, and it kept the tension continuing to the ending. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. This author easily earned a spot on my Will-Read author list. I’m only looking forward to reading future books by this author, but also the ones that I own. I rate this novel with a very strong four stars.

I received a free e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Thomas & Mercer. My review is based only by my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

FBI agent Nina Guerrera and her team are back, hunting down another serial killer. Like the other books in this series, the killer is highly intelligent and always seems one step ahead. Yet, Nina has proven time and time again, she won't give up without a fight.

This is the first book in the series where I correctly guessed the killer based on one small detail provided. But the author did a good job of trying to throw suspicion elsewhere, making me second guess myself. However, I never could have been able to tie the mysterious kidnappings to the title of this book. Very clever.

If you are a fan of this series like me, you've probably wondered if/when Nina would ever get a love interest. Given her past, I understand why relationships aren't for her. But some close calls in this book have her rethinking the future, given the reader just the slightest bit of hope. I'm eager to see where things lead.

Pub date: 28 June 2022

For the Warrior Girl: 4.25 stars, I loved The Falcon.

I read The Cipher (book #1) and loved Nina's character. She's so badass. I bought book #2 but haven't read it yet. It isn't necessary to read either before diving into The Falcon. This stands strong as a standalone but the history of the characters I know from book #1 is nice to have.

Nina Guerrera is an FBI Agent that travels to Phoenix with her team to help investigate the case of several women that have gone missing from the AIT campus. As they learn more about this unsub and the case, they're taken down a rabbit hole of ancient Egypt and falconry.
This case was wild. Some "twists" I could see coming but I didn't suspect who the unsub was. This was like reading an episode of my favorite crime show with their team of FBI profilers and I loved every minute of it. It was on the shorter side and had short chapters so I was turning pages in a rush to find out what would happen.

Big thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy to read and review.

The Falcon is an intense and distressing thriller packed with excitement, action, investigative brilliance and stomach-churning crimes. Featuring a strong Latina female protagonist leading a manhunt to stop a vile sociopath, this novel will have you screaming at the good guys/gals to find the bad guy and end him ASAP.

A sexual predator is snatching female co-eds off the campus of a prestigious university in Phoenix and a special FBI unit is called in to help identify the culprit to put a stop to his heinous activities before more victims show up dead. For Special Agent Nina Guerrera, this case is personal in more ways than one and she will stop at nothing to bring the perpetrator to justice. But she’ll need to conquer her own fears and personal history, remaining focused and objective, in order to do her job well enough to end this psychopath’s reign of terror.

Now three books deep, this series is seriously underrated. The character development is strong, the villains are revolting and the storylines are anxiety-inducing and fist-clenching. Nina Guerrera is a tough, yet flawed protagonist that you want to root for and the FBI team she’s a part of compliments here well with their admirable skills and passion. And the way Isabella Maldonado crafts the story makes it incredibly difficult to put the book down due to the intensity and knowledge that twists are imminently incoming.

Fans of serial killer, crime thrillers and novels starring bad ass women should absolutely read The Falcon. It’s engaging, enraging and enthralling. As is the whole series. Now’s a great time to get into this series because Nina Guerrera is here to stay, both in print and in an upcoming Netflix movie featuring Jennifer Lopez. Don’t miss out!

“The Falcon” is #3 in the Agent Nina Guerrera series. Just wanted to get that out there first in case you want to grab “The Cipher” and “A Different Dawn” and read them before digging into this newest installment. Now, you absolutely don’t have to, as “The Falcon” reads pretty great as a standalone novel, but trust me on this. You want to read the whole series.

The newest entry in to the series finds FBI Agent Nina Guerrera and her crackerjack team working a case involving the mysterious disappearance of five young female students at an Arizona university. Their unsub is several steps ahead of them, and they are racing to solve the case when a sixth young woman goes missing (I won’t spoil it here, but my one tiny gripe with this book is that this plot point was fairly obvious very early on). This isn’t your run-of-the-mill serial criminal, this one has a unique backstory that includes Egyptology and falconry (thus the title). If you love police procedurals, creepy criminal masterminds, non-stop action, and a hard-to-predict perpetrator, this is the book for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing me an advance copy of this book.

This is only the third volume in the series, but I already know the characters so well, that I can’t help but rooting for them. The author was a real-life FBI agent, and it shows in her writing. All her officers are smart, no going into a room without checking that the bad guy is not behind the door. One of the victims is also so awesome, I kept yelling at my Kindle every time there was a scare. Maldonado was the first Latina to become a captain in her district, so she must know how to work hard. This shows, especially in Nina. She is a really strong character and her flaws make her relatable. It’s nice to see how she may be learning how to feel and the secret she reveals about herself made me gasp. The plot is very suspenseful and some parts made me hyperventilate. Wherever Nina goes, I will follow.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Thomas & Mercer!

The falcon is a psychological thriller with a mixture of chilling, thrilling and riveting. This is the third book in this series and I haven't read the other two books yet but it can be read as a standalone and talking about the uniqueness about this novel would be how the killer was killing the victims it was truly shocking.

The Falcon was a page turner that I was unable to put down! Read like an episode of your favorite crime TV show. It is the third book in a series; however, I read it as a stand-alone with out taking away from the novel. If you like a fast paced crime novel this is your book!

This could probably be read as a stand-alone, but I decided to read the first two installments before delving into this one, and I’m so glad I did—what a gripping series!

In the first installment, we are introduced to FBI Agent Nina Guerrera, who’s had a pretty rough life. Abandoned in a dumpster as an infant, she bounced around foster homes, neglected and unloved, before being kidnapped and tortured by a psychopath when she was 16. At 17, she emancipated, changed her name, and used her past to fuel her drive to protect others, first as a police officer, then as an FBI agent.

The author, who worked in law enforcement herself before becoming a writer, does a great job of providing background and fleshing out her protagonist and her terrifying and heartbreaking past in the first installment. Agent Guerrera’s on-going and understandable struggle to trust others is highlighted as the author further develops her relationships with her still-new team mates in the second installment. And in this third installment, she and her team are tasked with finding a predator who has been abducting coeds from a college campus, and like the first two installments, the crime scenario is intricate, original and believable, ratcheting up the suspense throughout—I actually stayed up past my bedtime because I HAD to finish this one! I only hope that this isn’t a trilogy, because now that I’ve found this author and this series, I can’t wait to read what cases Agent Guerrera and her team investigate next!

NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer kindly provided me an ARC of this book, which I have read and reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

The Falcon by Isabella Maldonado is a solid 4-star book for me. It was a bit predictable that a particular character was going to go missing. There was a bit too much information about falconry, which pulled me from the story at times. However, what kept me interested was the storyline of the mystery, and I did NOT see that culprit coming! Overall, a good mystery.

I would read more from this author.

#TheFalcon #NetGalley @AmazonPub

This continuation of the Nina Guerrera series was yet another suspenseful page-turner! The Falcon has a taste of a Phantom of the Opera-style villain with modern, raw twists. I appreciated the depth of the character development, building on the previous books, and the twists and turns that drew out their true colors.

If you haven't read the first two, this one is excellent and can be read alone, but I HIGHLY recommend reading the first two to have Nina's backstory in detail.

Four coeds have been kidnapped from the campus of Arizona Tech, a school that Nina's protege is planning to attend. Nina and the FBI are called in to help with finding the kidnapper. At the same time Bianca, is interviewing at AIT for a scholarship placement. While she is there another coed disappears, and a task force is created with the Phoenix Police, the ATI Police and the FBI.

There is an all out hunt for the latest girl who has been abducted. They get a call from their hot line that some one has mad a discovery of a cave with four bodies inside. Each of the bodies has been prepared like a mummy and is wrapped in cloth. The task force realizes that these are ritual murders and begin a frantic search for the last girl. When her body is found (unwrapped the kidnapper didn't have time for the ritual) it means they are getting closer to the kidnapper.

While searching the campus for where the bodies could be hidden during their their time at the hands of the kidnapper. While looking at an older copy of the campus, they find that the area under the campus is riddled with old underground tunnels. While searching the tunnels they find a room where the kidnapper has been hiding the girls. Then Bianca disappears and they realize they don't have much time to find her alive.

This is the 3rd book in the series, and even though I haven't read the first two, this one read nicely enough as a standalone. I enjoyed the book and will continue reading the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

In The Falcon, Special Agent Nina Guerrera is tasked with catching a serial killer terrorizing female college students at an elite university. Cunning, cruel, and a master manipulator, this serial killer and Nina are locked in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse— one from which only one of them can survive.

Wow, I’d heard about Isabella Maldonado in my library but had never read her work before myself. After reading The Falcon, I can see why she is so popular with our patrons! This book had me on the edge of my seat from the opening chapter and didn’t let up until the final page. In addition to this gripping mystery, I also loved getting to know a bit more about Nina’s backstory, her family, her relationships, and her colleagues. Now that I’ve read my first Nina Guerrera mystery, I definitely plan to keep up with the series so that I can follow these characters’ stories. This book will make an excellent addition to our library’s digital and physical collections. 4.5 stars.

The Falcon – Isabella Maldonado

FBI Agent Nina Guerrera and her eclectic teammates, Breck, Kent & Wade, have arrived in Phoenix, Arizona, to investigate the disappearance of several female coeds from the local tech college, the Arizona Institute of Technology - all seemingly disappearing from the campus without a trace. With them is teenaged prodigy Bianca, a former, runaway foster child that Nina rescued from the streets of Virginia years earlier. Bianca has expressed an interest in completing her master’s work at AIT and has plans to meet with the nanotech researcher on site for a tour.

As Nina and her team meet with the local campus officers, they learn that five women are missing, and interestingly, no footage is available from campus cameras - they seem to have been tampered with – corrupted images are all that remain for the timeframes the girls are believed to have gone missing. Victimology indicates similar appearances to the missing girls, and no bodies, ransom notes or communications have been discovered. As the meeting concludes, they receive a call that another student has gone missing.

As the investigation kicks into high gear, a chance find in the desert has Nina and her team staring in horror at the mummified remains of several of the missing victims, each clutching a black feather – but what does the feather signify? Why, mummification? Is the remaining victim still alive? As Nina and her team explore the significance of their findings, computer guru Breck is working her magic to restore footage from campus cameras…and what they find is stunning…

As the investigation heads in a different direction, the killer, in desperation, takes another girl…but this time the victim is Bianca… As Nina and her team frantically search for the killer, Bianca is just as determined to thwart her captor…but can she survive long enough for the team to find her??

This was my first novel with Nina Guerrera and her team, and I couldn’t put it down! I was partially drawn to the story because Nina and one of my childhood friends share the same first/last name, so I felt it was an omen. I was hooked a page or two in, read late into the night and was overjoyed at its end to learn that this is just one of a series! While easily read and enjoyed as a standalone, Nina’s references to her past in areas of the novel have me anxious to start the series from the start – so more to add to my must read list!

A great book – you won’t be disappointed!

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley & Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an objective review. Do you love to read?? Visit netgalley.com and start reviewing books today!!

Wow! I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did. Admittedly, thrillers aren’t my typical go-to but I was absolutely hooked on this book. I didn't realize until like halfway into the story that this is the 3rd in a series about Nina Guerrera, but I had no problems following along which really shows the excellent writing.

Nina’s character was engaging, interesting and empowering. She was a strong female protagonist and I thoroughly enjoyed her story. I found myself racing to finish this to find out all of the details of the story and the crime. I will definitely be going back to read the other Nina Guerrera books in the series!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, Isabella Maldonado, and NetGalley for the eARC!