I really enjoyed this action packed thriller. It was dark, intense and very entertaining. This was the first book in a new series from this author and I definitely be looking out for more of her books.

Crime books are my absolute favourite to read, so when I saw that this was an FBI agent story I was in. Agent Dani Vega is a badass!! i would not want to be on her bad side. She teams up with Tora, a man she has captured after he killed a high profile political assistant. Their mission to to infiltrate a criminal group responsible for some absolutely horrendous crimes. Everyone gets more than they bargained for and the race is on to save Dani’s life.

Out today, June 1st. Thanks to Thomas and Mercer for the advanced copy to read.

An action-packed thriller that took an interesting turn.

FBI agent Dani Vega witnesses the murder of the chief of staff for a senator. The hitmen is soon identified as Gustavo Toro. But identifying and catching him is only the beginning of the whole problem, as it turns out that Toro is part of a larger criminal network led by the mysterious Colonel. Dani and Toro must work together undercover to expose a criminal network. But it soon turns out that the game may be much bigger than initially assumed and they must start fighting for their lives.

This book really surprised me. I expected something more like police procedural, after all, the main character is an FBI agent. That's why I thought that the main action would revolve around answering the question of who and why murdered the chief of staff. I was really surprised when it turned out that the plot went in a completely different direction. But surprised doesn't mean disappointed. On the contrary, it was something nice and very interesting for me while unexpected. This book is much more like a good action movie than your typical police procedural.

And it was in this format that the main character Dani Vega was able to show off all her skills that she acquired earlier when she worked in the army and later as an FBI agent. Dani is a former military codebreaker who really enjoys solving puzzles and is very good at it. But she's also great with guns and hand-to-hand combat. She also has an interesting and complicated past, which we will certainly explore in future books.

This is a very interesting and surprising thriller that I recommend especially to people who like action movies.

A Killer’s Game by Isabella Maldonado is a thrilling police procedural story. This is a well written story loaded with suspense. It is fast paced with well developed characters. This author leaves hints, like puzzle pieces and you have to try and put it together. Murder, conspiracy and tension are just a few items you will read about. Ms. Maldonado takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. This one starts on page one and does not let up until the very end. This is my first book by this very talented author and I look forward to reading more from her!

Thank you MetGalley, Thomas and Mercer and Isabella Maldonado for this captivating book to read and review. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
#netgalley #thomasandmercer. #isabellamaldonado #akillersgame. #arc

A Killer's Game begins a new series by Isabella Maldonado. Here we meet FBI Agent Daniela (Dani) Vega. Dani sees the poisoning of Nathan Costner, chief of staff to Senator Thomas Sledge, on a sidewalk in Manhattan. The assassin is one Gustavo Toro, who now becomes an informant. Dani and Toro pose as a couple to infiltrate the organization led by someone called, Nemesis. Dani and Toro go to a remote facility where they are to play a deadly game with other people where you kill or be killed, there is only one winner. This "game" is being live streamed to the FBI, the NYPD, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Dani’s sister and brother.

The author keeps the action moving at a brisk pace. There are twists and puzzles, think a deadly escape room adventure. I found this book to be entertaining and suspenseful. It is a promising start to this new series. I recommend the author's other series with Nina Guerrera and Veranda Cruz while we wait for Dani's next adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own.

Maldonado's a favorite author and her newest book doesn't disappoint. Maldonado's BIPOC characters are not only interesting and complex but incredibly likable. Once again bringing her extensive law enforcement background and experience Maldonado knows how to write a twisty, turny, action packed, non-stop story that will have you on the edge of your seat until the last page. Plus the locked room aspect to this is top notch. There are some tougher topics, so take care and check out the CWs. This is the first book in the Daniela Vega series, and I can't wait to read the next!


I received this eARC thanks to Thomas & Mercer in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

As a fan of Maldonado’s Nina Guerrera series, I thought I would check out her new series when I came across it on NetGalley. I like Isabella Maldonado; she’s a good writer and storyteller. As a former FBI agent for more than 20yrs, she adds a lot of credibility to her crime thrillers/murder mysteries. As a Latina woman, in a predominantly white, male profession, she uses her law enforcement experience to create some truly BAD@$$ female characters. My fave kind of MC’s!!!

The book summary lays out the premise for the primary storyline. Of course, there is a secondary storyline, the relationship between Dani (28) and her younger siblings, Erica (23) and Axel (21), who Dani has been helping support for 10yrs since the death of their military father and institutionalized mother. Dani has a contentious relationship with the aunt who lets Erica and Axel live with her during their college breaks, even though Dani pays her for the additional expense for Erica’s and Axel’s brief stays with her. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, suffice it to say that “Tia Manuela” is a bit of a witch!!!

Dani goes undercover with Toro and most of the story revolves around Dani and Toro trying to make it out alive from some dungeon in a completely wacked out “competition” that is more like a real-life Dungeon’s Nightmares (a really scary video game) that pitted 13 people against each other. Dani and Toro chose to become allies in order to increase their odds of surviving the competition. Things between Dani and Toro get even more complicated when “the Nemesis” (the wacko who created the competition and has been sabotaging the players survival) outs Dani as an FBI agent and places a million-dollar bounty on her head.

The ending comes in a flurry of intense, nail-biting, death-defying, heroics for Dani and her team. The final scenes were very emotional and left a lump in throat. This was a really good read, one that had me up and reading wwwaaayyy past my bedtime😊 I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #Thomas&Mercer #KillingGame

Fast paced, page turner, and full of action. This is my first book from this author and I was completely immersed. I was blown away by the author's attention to detail. I honestly felt like I was right there in the story with Dani and Toro. I loved the diversity in the characters and reading about Dani's background in the military. I'm always a fan of a badass FMC. The story could easily be adapted to a movie. It gave me Squid Game and Blacklist vibes.

Highly recommend for fans of stories with military, espionage, plot twists, survival of the fittest, and cryptography.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered freely.

After witnessing the murder of a key aide to a high profile senator, former Army Ranger and now FBI agent Dani Vega finds herself paired with an assassin turned informant to bring down the inner circle of the ring who planned the aide's death. Undercover, Dani must play a deadly game against a dozen hitmen involving puzzles and ethical dilemmas. Only the winner of the game will make it out alive.

I devoured this book in 24 hours; it's fast-paced, action-packed, heart-pounding, and completely binge-worthy! I love how this author creates kicka$$ heroines. I'm a massive fan of Isabella Maldonado's Nina Guerrera series, and Dani Vega might be next level.

This clever story will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing who the bad guys are. I can't wait to read the next installment of this new series.

A Very Fast Paced Action Police Procedural

FBI Special Agent Daniela Vega is exiting a Starbuck in New York. Across the street, she sees a man with an umbrella bump to another man who immediately collapses. She crosses the street and notices that the collapsed man is foaming at the mouth and convulsing. There was a crowd around the man, some helping him, others calling 911, and others recording everything on their cell phones. Vega decides to follow the umbrella man. Once he realizes that he is being followed, he grabs a young girl student and threatens her with his umbrella. That causes Vega to back off some and give the umbrella man an opportunity to disappear into the subway system. Vega follows and finds him. Unfortunately, he already is on a departing subway car on the opposite track. She sees him smile as he looks back at her.

The main storyline starts with the investigation of that brazen murder on the street of a Senator’s Chief of Staff. An undercover operation promises to catch the mastermind behind the killing and possibly the identity of a corrupt government official. The operation quickly goes wrong, and the thread breaks into two threads. The first is narrated by SA Daniela Vega, the agent that goes undercover. The pace of the story is fast and the tension high as the only way out of the game, in which she finds herself, is by killing everyone else. Vega is accompanied by a confidential informant and isn’t sure how much she can trust him. This thread is more an action thriller then a police procedural. The second thread is narrated by SAC Steve Wu, who is responsible for this operation and now is trying to find his missing agent and confidential informer. This thread is a police procedural with plenty of twists and turns. To add a little spice to these two threads, a third thread emerges that is narrated by gamemaster. This thread adds to the suspense. These three threads quickly captured my attention and kept it all the way to the end.

There is an extensive B-storyline, but because of the rapid nature of the novel, it seemed that there was not much. Some of it is interjected intermittently throughout the novel. Agent Vega’s actions are consistent with the B-storyline and reinforce it. For me, the B-storyline does not enhance the novel. I have found that this is typical of many novels that strong on the action side. The only side of Vega that was observed only in her actions and thoughts occurred near the end. For me, that was the only shining light in the B-storyline.

For the aspects that turn some readers off, first there are not any intimate scenes. This novel is light in vulgar language and with a moderate level of rude language. As for violence, this is an action-packed novel, and all the action is edgy as it occurs. Generally, it is short, quick. and violent. Lastly, this is the first volume in the series, so there are not any issues of missing something from a previous novel.

For my personal assessment, liked the quick capture of my interest and when I had to stop reading, I really did not want to stop. For the aspect with which I had an issue is quite common of action-packed novels — action being over the top. There was one challenge that wasn’t feasible in my opinion. The novel is fiction, and this scene flowed well and contributed to the novel. This is the second novel of this author that I have read. I have purchased two previous novels to read also. The author is positioned solidly in my Will-Read category. I enjoyed reading this novel and am looking forward to the second novel in this series. If an action police procedural interests you, I do recommend reading this novel. I rate this novel with four stars.

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

Much as I wanted to like this first in what will no doubt be a popular series featuring a former US Army officer turned FBI Agent who is an expert at solving puzzles- it was a miss for me because it's completely implausible, I know others will enjoy it but I was unable to suspend belief. I DNF. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC,

I knew I simply HAD to read A Killer's Game as soon as I first heard about it. I still can't believe I hadn't come across Isabella Maldonado's writing before, but it was hook, line and sinker long before I finished reading the blurb. I love a good high speed, high-octane thriller, and add a conspiracy and lethal puzzles to the mix and it sounded like the perfect exhilarating thriller cocktail. And WHAT a ride it turned out to be!

I admit that this story isn't for everyone, and you have to be able to suspend your belief to properly enjoy it. Sometimes it's just the best feeling to sit back and simply enjoy the ride, and this is EXACTLY what A Killer's Game offers. The plot itself might seem quite typical for a high-octane conspiracy slash action thriller, but things are definitely taken to the next level along the way. This isn't just a FBI agent going undercover to uncover a conspiracy, because the main character has an extensive army background including codebreaking and cryptology. Something that will become very useful once she is trapped in a very deadly situation...

The main character Daniela Vega is definitely one of the reasons this story worked so well for me. I warmed up to her immediately, and she makes for one fierce character to follow. I love her ability to assess and overcome high risk situations, using her training and brains to solve puzzles and neutralize threats. There isn't much time for character development with such a high-octane thriller, but what was given was more than enough for me to root for her from the beginning. Toro also made for a very interesting character, and I liked what he added to the plot.

A Killer's Game uses a multiple POV structure, but mainly switches between Daniela Vega and her boss Steve Wu. While I do have to say that Dani's POV was a tad stronger with everything that was happening in the labyrinth, I did like what Wu's POV added and how it enabled us to see what was done to track Dani down. It made the story feel more balanced, and it was a great way to introduce new information naturally. I loved the incorporation of the puzzles and codes, which definitely took Dani's POV to the next level for me... The mythology angle was great too.

A Killer's Game turned out to be a fantastic story that I simply couldn't put down. It reads like one of those action-packed Hollywood conspiracy movies, and I mean that only in the best possible way. High-octane, high speed, lethal and simply exhilarating: if you like this type of thrillers, you will be in for an absolute treat.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: June 1, 2023
Former military codebreaker turned FBI agent Dani Vega witnesses a murder on a New York City sidewalk. The murder victim is the chief of staff to a New York Senator and after a brief chase through the park, Dani identifies the murderer as a paid assassin. Working with the NYPD, Dani and her team bring in the assassin, Gustavo Toro, who agrees to work with them in order to bring down the people who called in the hit. Although Dani has worked undercover before, she gets more than she bargained for when her and Toro are pulled into an underground game of cat-and-mouse, with a deranged captor hell bent on revenge.
“A Killer’s Game” by former FBI agent-turned author Isabella Maldonado is the first novel in the Dani Vega series. Maldonado is not new to the writing game however, and has written other police procedural novels focused on female agents, such as the Veranda Cruz and the Nina Guerrera series. Maldonado’s police background makes her novels uniquely realistic, and all the more enjoyable.
“Game” has an exorbitantly long list of characters. Not only Vega and her team, but all of the players within the NYPD and FBI’s various departments, who all become involved after the death of a Senator’s staffer. Luckily, only Dani and her boss, Wu, are the protagonists of the novel and readers can watch the story unfold from their perspectives. There are a few other memorable characters as well, but in general there are a lot of official titles that take some concentration to sort through.
The underground labyrinth had a “Hunger Games” vibe and I loved the billionaire-turned-psychopath behind the entire creation. Maldonado crafted a unique environment, then added stealth FBI moves, some bad guys and a lot of loaded weapons, which is everything you need for an enjoyable police series. The inclusion of some challenging puzzles (speaking to Vega’s history of codebreaking) left for Vega to solve in order to escape was delightfully fun, and added yet another creative element to the plot.
I haven’t read anything else by Maldonado (yet!) but I will anxiously be looking forward to finding out more about Vega and her team and will definitely be reading the next in this series.

I have read the Nina Guerrera series and like the first book, not so much the next two. The premise of this one sounded interesting and it was. There is a murder mystery, the equivalent of a life-or-death escape room (puzzles included), definite bad guys, and a bad guy you’ll end up liking quite a bit. Once you got the background of what everyone has in common, I was able to figure out the mastermind, but there was still a twist to be had there too. I am excited to see what other cases Dani gets to work on.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Isabell Maldonado for the eARC.

“Before leaving the Army, Vega had served in their most elite combat unit, where she had smashed through closed doors, glass ceilings, and preconceived notions. Wu had no doubt she was more than qualified for this assignment. Her only challenge would be dealing with Toro, whose loyalty was only to himself.”

I am a big fan of Maldonado’s Nina Guerrero series so I knew I had to read her newest book, A Killer’s Game.

The book started off a bit slow as it laid the groundwork for the rest of the book, but the pace picked up and Maldonado created, yet again, a suspenseful story with a tough and heroic female protagonist and a formidable opponent.

If you can get past the alphabet soup of organizations and abbreviations, you’ll really enjoy this high-stakes game of survival.


The basic premise is:

After capturing a hired assassin, Toro, who just killed (using a toxin) the right-hand man to a high profile politician the FBI/NYPD joint task force gets him to turn state’s evidence.

In order to take down the highest player in this mysterious ring they get Toro to bring FBI agent Daniela Vega into the group undercover. But things go south quickly and Toro and Vega are off-grid….

Until they show up in a ‘VR’ game on the dark-web— a contained, modern version of The Hunger Games— where this band of hired mercenaries have been led into a trap: a fight to the death in an underground bunker of mazes and puzzles where only one survives.

Can Vega’s team track her down before she becomes the next victim? Can she trust Toro to help her outsmart Nemesis, the game-maker?

With some of the puzzles it reminded me of Maldonado’s book, The Cipher. I enjoy plots that involve puzzles and riddles. Some of the puzzles in this book were good and I was even able to solve a few of them. I liked in the beginning when they cracked the cipher using the date-shift-code which would be easy enough to replicate on your own but still complicated to solve.

But then there were a few that were too simple: the one with the color circles is meant to be some sort of complicated logic puzzle but the clue they are given gives the answer away too easily and all you really need is one line to solve it - Ignore caution and go. Boom. Choose the green one. Simple. But even the way she wrote the characters thinking through it didn’t jive with how brilliant Vega was written to be.

I would have liked to see some more complex puzzles for her to solve.



A couple other plot points that I wish would have gotten an upgrade in the editing process were:

The parking garage fiasco. I feel like if you’re tailing a car and they go into an underground parking garage, you just expect that there could be a vehicle change but they seemed caught off guard that they followed the wrong car and never even anticipated a switch. It’s par for the course in literally every movie so I wish that would have been a little different.

And just the overall perception the FBI had of the bad guys as if they were surprised by the sophistication and covertness of their operation when in reality pretty much everything they did seemed pretty by-the-book when it comes to bad guys.

But those are just a few nit-picky things. I like really intelligent characters in books, but then I have high expectations for the complexity they take on and want the case to fully reflect their brilliance in how they perceive and solve things.

Even still, this book was still well-written and action-packed.


I’m looking forward to the next book in this series. We got a little background to Vega’s character and a brief look into her family, but I’m hoping to see more of that in the next one. Perhaps her brother will become a bigger player in the next one.

I was able to figure out who Nemesis was fairly early on, but it seems like a lot of readers couldn’t so I think the mystery will keep most people engaged until the last few pages.

Even though I knew who the killer was I still didn’t know how the ‘game’ was going to end or if they would be able to capture Nemesis so I appreciated that the suspense was action-based not just information-based.



I would definitely recommend this book— or any Maldonado book for that matter. Her experience in the FBI and law enforcement gives a lot of authenticity to the characters, plot, and dialogue. Plus her books are generally pretty clean with minimal swearing which I always appreciate as well.

Her books are good examples of how you can write a good thriller without a lot of unnecessary content.



Also, if you like the concept of characters stuck in a ‘game’ where they have to escape deadly traps and puzzles, you may enjoy these books (which I guess are mostly Ted Dekker books…)_:

House by Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti (this and Skin are somewhat similar, they also have a supernatural aspect)

Skin by Ted Dekker

Play Dead by Ted Dekker (this one has an virtual game aspect)

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (It’s on my TBR; looks like this involves a mansion with secret passageways and puzzles/riddles)



[Content Advisory: 11 f-words, 19 s-words; no sexual content]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

A good police procedural: gripping, twisty and entertaining.
It kept me guessing and I liked the storytelling.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Great writing, great protagonist and great plot...A Killer's Game keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. What started out as a murder mystery turns into an "escape room" thriller. FBI Agent and former Ranger/military code breaker, Dani Vega is a total bad-ass who gets it done....one of my favorites!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for this ARC!

I have enjoyed this authors other books (not all) but unfortunately this is just not for me.

I thought I would like the fast paced spy game but I am finding myself skimming pages and trying to get through it as quick as possible. It is very repetitive.

I am not going to continue because I am not enjoying it. This though is going to be highly popular the author is an ex-FBI agent and you can tell she knows her stuff.

I don’t like the MC she is arrogant and a know all so far and it’s grating on me.

To be fair to the author and the book I am giving this three stars

Thank you to Thomas and Mercer, NetGalley and the author.

A KILLER'S GAME was an action-packed thriller starring Danielle Vega, a former Army Ranger turned FBI Agent. The case begins with the death of a Senator's Chief of Staff and ends in a former missile silo.

Vega sees a man kill the Chief of Staff and chases him. He eludes her. When a friend of the Chief of Staff comes with a letter he was to bring to the FBI if anything happened to his friend, the case becomes more complex. From a band of hired killers run by a former Army Colonel to a tech billionaire with a grudge to a corrupt Senator, the story is packed with a variety of characters.

Vega herself seems too good to be true. She's an elite soldier; she's a master strategist with the ability to solve all sorts of puzzles. She's also only been with the FBI for a matter of months. Yet she's the one for is assigned to go undercover with to find evidence to arrest the Senator.

If the reader is ready to suspend belief, the story was engaging and it certainly was packed with action. Fans of thrillers will enjoy it.

This is an absolutely insane read. It started with action right on the first page and only got more and more intense as the story went on. Toro could have been caught earlier, but the chase was fun. I adored the main character Dani. She has so many fun skills and is incredibly tough, and responded well to every situation in the book. She also has so much empathy and compassion, making her a very well rounded character. She did not have a lot of development, but it was only her first book. And I definitely cannot wait to read more of her. As for the plot, it was fantastic. The VR escape room killer game set up was brilliant and so well executed. It was high stakes and clever. I loved all the puzzles and riddles, and cheered for Dani the entire time. I struggled a bit with the contrast between the game situation Dani was trapped in and the outside investigation. However, I did like that we got to see both sides. I did figure out the villain fairly easily, however, that did not detract from the story. Overall, I highly recommend this book.

Having read and enjoyed this author's Nina Guerrera series, I selected this one without reading the synopsis. This isn't a police procedural like the other series, although it starts out that way. Instead, it is just as the title suggests, a game.

One thing that is similar to the other series, it features a badass female protagonist, Daniela Vega. Other than being whip-smart, she is very good at anticipating the actions of others, something that becomes critical for her case, and her very survival.

At the heart of the story is determining who hired a hitman to kill a Senator's staff member and why. The focus of the FBI's investigation is clear, but proving their case isn't so easy. And Vega is selected to go undercover. Things go sideways with the FBI's plan and put Vega at a severe disadvantage. That's when her training and intellect come in handy. While probably unrealistic, she does a phenomenal job of solving puzzles to stay alive. I cheered for her the whole way.

While most of the story centers on the game Vega finds herself involved in, under the name of Nicola "Nikki" Corazon, there is another plotline as the FBI searches not only for their agent, but who is behind the game. Their tactics to find out the information were clever and ultimately gave Vega the best chance for survival.

Overall, this was a highly entertaining read. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story leads. Hopefully the next installments aren't as harrowing for this super-agent.