3.5 Stars

I was excited to get to read this ARC because I've found that I have really liked every book that I have read from Ms. Maldonado so far. Unfortunately, this book starts off EXTREMELY slow. In the beginning, I actually found myself putting it down for the slightest reason and having to make myself pick it up. There wasn't anything wrong, per se, but I just wasn't invested. There are a couple of things right off the bat that didn't click for me. The characters seemed to take events that people normally would never put together and come up with sudden answers, and then the moment the good guys figured something out, the information was everywhere. It just kept pulling me out of the story because it wasn't clicking.

Then....all of a sudden something happened and BANG...it was off to the races. The action in this book picks up somewhere around the middle of the book and it is all action from there until the end. Without going into spoilers, I really can't mention what the event is that kicks everything off, but it was a doozy. I was completely along for the ride at that point and you couldn't have made me put the book down.

This is a new series and we are introduced to a new female MC Daniela. She is very similar to the other 2 female MC's that I have read in Ms. Maldonado's other series' in the fact that she is a strong woman and is in law enforcement. The character development of this female MC doesn't seem as in depth as we've gotten in the past from the other two series. With that being said, we do get to know Daniela eventually, but a lot of that comes from being told information from other people about her past. If anything, Daniela almost comes across as being too competent to be believable. She does walk that fine line.

I did enjoy this book and would like to see where this new series is going to go. Ms. Maldonado has earned quite a bit of credit with me and I'm looking forward to seeing what she has in store next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

I am beyond excited to have found Isabella Maldonado! This was the first I've read by her, and it was definitely one I couldn't put down. The story had great twists and turns and kept me guessing until the very end. And as soon as I finished, I ran to Amazon to buy more of Maldonado's books!

If you're a fan of suspense, in-depth character development, twisty plots, and well-researched attention to detail, this book is for you! Dani is the kind of strong female lead we need more of in this world, and I would love to see her return in future books.

I’ll start off by saying I tried to read this slow to make it last…

Holy Cannoli this author can write. She is a leader in writing strong, fierce, amazing women heroines.

I recently discovered her and I can’t get enough. This book started off high octane and never, ever let up. Lord love a duck…the concept was pure brilliance. So twisted, so fast paced. This is a thrill ride from start to finish and I’m looking forward to more of this cast of characters.

Dang…

WHAT. A. Book!

,My thanks to Publisher Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for pre-publication reading of this title.
Publication date appears to be 1 June 2023.
I have read several books by this Author. I have enjoyed them.
This book is perfect for people who actually enjoy getting to figure out a bit of the plot
on their own, and using their thoughts as the story progresses. In this first book of the new
Daniela. Vega series, FBI Agent Vega witnesses the murder of an influential Chief of Staff to
A US Senator. Gustavo Toro evolves from Assassin to informant and teams with Agent to wipe
his slate, but he could not have any idea what the two of them will be up against in a very exciting
well written story of a horrible conspiracy and an evil man who uses a game of his own creation to
eliminate everyone he blames for his misfortune, but Vega and Toro make discoveries that are beyond
the pale, and the body count begins,
Dani is a strong character-one of the first to serve as an Army Ranger, and a force not to be taken lightly,
or judged in error. I look forward to the next installment in the series. featuring a strong protagonist and
what will certainly be an inventive, strong storyline.
I highly recommend this book

I wanted to love this book based on the premise but the writing needed too much polish and I couldn’t get past it to finish.

Full of suspense! I was literally on the edge of my seat with this one. It starts off with a bang and doesn't let up until the final shocking conclusion. The writing was fabulous and had me completely wrapped up in the story. If you can suspend reality and want a book that will keep you riveted- this is it!

Daniela “Dani” Vega former military and is now an FBI agent with a background in cryptography. Out for coffee, Agent Vega witnesses a hit taking place and gives chase to the hitman. That’s how A Killer’s Game begins, already the action is there.
Dani Vega sees a pattern and is able to get ahead of Gustavo Toro. Once apprehended, Toro is offered a deal hard to pass off. He must bring Dani Vega undercover into the inner circle of mercenaries. The group is difficult to infiltrate but they need to sell it in order to reach the top of the conspiracy.

What they didn’t know is that an unseen game maker, Nemesis, had tricked Toro’s team. They are now in an underground maze and a game is underway.
Dani and Toro are now working together. In a game where Nemesis had made clear, only one could get out alive. A group of mercenaries having to fight for their lives. An FBI agent is held by a very high sense of ethics and responsibility. Can she justify having to take someone’s life in order to escape?

It’s a page-turner, you are in deep trying to get to the bottom of who Nemesis is. Will the FBI find their missing agent on time? What lethal puzzles will they be met with? The best part is that author Isabella Maldonado is a former agent herself. Giving Daniela Vega’s job more realism using the author’s personal experience.
A Killer’s Game took an unexpected turn for me. A page-turner and the story was so thought out. I loved the work relationships, the admiration for Dani Vega, and even her own struggle and growth. Her brother was awesome in this story. That could work very well as a spinoff or even have them work together in another book if this becomes a series.

I snagged this as a "Read Now" via NetGalley, because I really enjoyed her Nina Guerrera series and blew through them so quickly. This book is about FBI agent Daniela Vega. The story starts with a bang when a senator's chief of staff is murdered right in front of Dani. I'm glad I stuck with this book, because although it started off strong, it felt a bit slow at times and drawn out. I wanted things to move faster, but once the game play really comes to a head the book was a page-turner.

I think what bums me out is that this story felt like it was missing something for me. What I loved about Maldonado's Nina Guerrera books is that her personal history was highly influential to the storylines. There were attempts to do that in this book, but they missed the mark for me. When we learn about Vega's family, it's done in snippets, which I liked, but the ending fell flat for me. I wanted a few extra chapters to see through the shifts in the family dynamics.

All in all, I will be happily reading her next book and am extremely grateful to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granting me early access to the ARC.

I've really enjoyed Maldonado's "Cipher" series so excited to have a new kickass woman lead to root for!

Daniela Vega is an Army Ranger now FBI Agent in New York who is a witness to a shocking and sudden murder on a street corner. The victim is the Chief of Staff to a prominent U.S. Senator and his death seems to be related to the Senator's less-than-legal dealings in office.

In order to uncover just how deep the corruption goes, she will need go undercover and partner with the assassin himself. But when she lands in the middle of a twisted Hunger Games-style game with twelve other assassins, she is armed only with her instincts and her training -- and she must uncover the origin and reason for the game before being killed by any other of the other lethal players.

This book was fast-paced and thrilling until the end. Simliar to Maldonado's other books, this book is full of FBI jargon and tactical scenes that make you feel like you are standing in the JOC with the rest of the team. Excited for more of Agent Vega and the rest of the team!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review the first in what should be a great new series by Isabella Maldonado, "A Killer's Game".
When FBI 'codebreaker' Daniela 'Dani' Vega witnesses what looks like a politically-motivated murder in New York, she and her FBI team are plunged into a world of conspiracy that runs deep.
Forced by events to work with an enemy and potential threat, Vega goes undercover to get to the root of the conspiracy, but ends up in mortal danger.
Let's just say that the hits just keep on coming.
This fast-paced page turner is highly recommended.

Book Title: A Killer’s Game
Author: Isabella Maldonado
Series: Daniela Vega #1
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pub Date: May 23, 2023
My Rating: 3,5 rounded up!

Daniela ‘Dani’ Vega was a code breaker as an Army Ranger and now an FBI agent. She is now utilizing her cryptanalysis and international counterintelligence experience.
First Dani is persuaded to ‘volunteer’ to go undercover; the plan is she will infiltrate a gang and gather evidence to lead to their capture.
She does find allegiance with someone she least expected- an assassin turned informant.
We experience seeing both perspectives of what goes on inside versus outside an investigative pieces and see how they come together.
This fast paced story grabbed me at page one and continued to the very end.

Author, Isabella Maldonado is an interesting person as she wore a gun and badge in real life before becoming a crime writer. She graduated from the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in her police department; she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics.

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granted me the pleasure of reading this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 23, 2023

I picked this one up and was super excited. I had just finished reading a political thriller, so an FBI book seemed like it would flow nicely, and it delivered!

Dani Vega is an FBI agent with a background in military codebreaking. Once day she witnesses a murder on a sidewalk and the victim is the Chief of Staff for a prominent senator. She recognized the killer as a famous assassin. She ends up partnering with the assassin to bring down a conspiracy. Unfortunately for them, it’s a trap. Now she’s stuck and unsure if she’s going to survive…

This one is intense and very gripping. I didn’t want to put it down! I just wanted more and more. I have read another book by the same author and also really enjoyed as well, though it was written under a different name. This one packed a lot of twists and turns that I quickly devoured. I love how this author portrays women in law enforcement. They are written very skillfully and are always very badass in the best possible way. If I remember correctly, the author has a background in law enforcement herself. While this could lead to books being overly technical, her are not that way. Instead, the reader is introduced to new terms and phrases expertly, so you don’t feel like you’re missing a beat.

If you are looking for a fast-paced and intense police/FBI thriller, then check this one out May 23rd next year. Thank you to Thomas & Mercer, , and @netgalley for allowing me a copy of this e-ARC in exchange for this honest review.

This book was issued by NetGalley for my unbiased review.

I have read a couple of other books by Isabella Maldonado (Nina Guerrera) that were great. This is the first of the Dani Vega series for me. Very enjoyable, maybe ever more than the Guerrera books. All are fast paced and keep you up at night reading type books. A lot of twists and turns in this book. You think you have it figured out--until you don't. Great group of supporting characters also.

Isabella Maldonado has created another exceptional female lead character in Special Agent Dani Vega. The former Army Ranger has a difficult backstory, a fearsome intelligence and all of the courage and combat skills that the army could give her.

A Killer's Game starts with an assassination in New York City and moves to a mystery location. Vega and the assassin go under cover to try to penetrate the network that murdered a senator's chief of staff. But they find themselves trapped in a real life computer game, having to solve puzzles and evade traps in a fight for their lives. Meanwhile the FBI and NYPD are trying to find the pair, who have disappeared from their surveillance.

This is a fast paced thriller with a wide story arc and a compelling narrative. The puzzles are clever and the reader is pulled into a very different world, willing Dani to survive. A top class read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

I initially requested this book because I’ve loved the special agent Nina Guerrera series by the author. I’ll admit I didn’t read the blurb so had no idea what the book was really about. I read it once I was committed to the book and knew I was in for a good book!


When she catches a murderer, ex military now FBI agent Dani Vega is persuaded to ‘volunteer’ to go undercover. The plan is she will infiltrate a gang and gather evidence to lead to their capture.

Nemesis doesn’t know off this plan and double crosses the gang. Dani is now trapped in what is essentially a deadly underground escape room. With different levels, weapons and everything under the control of Nemesis. There are 12 other people wanting to escape and the only way to do so is to be the last person standing.

Wow this was intense. I enjoyed every single page. The final reveal was unexpected.

Absolutely can’t wait until there is another instalment!

Thank you kindly to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the eARC!

WOW. THIS. WAS. INCREDIBLE. 👏👏👏

Maldonado’s 𝑨 𝑲𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆 is one of the best crime thrillers I’ve ever read. Dripping with tension and suspense, this was fast-paced, edge of your seat writing at its finest. The intricacies of the plot were so well developed, the prose captivating, and the characters were humanized in all the best ways. I simply could not read this thing fast enough (and yes, that means I binged it all in one evening and stayed up well past my bedtime).

𝑨 𝑲𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆 is out May 23, 2023!

For me this was a very different book. Twelve killers and FBI agent Daniela Vega are trapped in a maze and the killer only wants one survivor. Most of the book was spent with Vega trying to find her way out. I didn’t want to put the book down. I needed to see what was around the next corner. I’ll be anxious to read the next book in the series.

This is my second book by Isabella Maldonado, the first being The Falcon from her Nina Guerrero series. As the first book in the Daniela Vega series, there was none of the issues with trying to market the previous book in the series. It's pretty much a joint taskforce scenario between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the New York Police Department (NYPD). See how I wrote things out in full there? The author could learn something about not making the foreign reader work with abbreviations of law enforcement services that are not our own: "Most field offices were headed by special agents in charge like Wu, but the NYFO was one of only three overseen by an ADIC." NYFO is a New York Field Office (I had to look it up) and AIDC is Assistant Director In Charge. It's annoying and unnecessary to make the reader do this work.

So the premise of this one is our heroine, Vega, going undercover to bust a terror attack that seems to have been initiated internally by a corrupt politician. This work requires her to join up with a killer, and fight another killer. Vega is a former Ranger, and this gives her game-like skills and an inability to give up, which turns out to be just what she needs when she lands in an underground game scenario from which only one player will walk out alive: "Nemesis had forced her into a position where she would dredge up all her previous training.

"Strategies differed depending on specific circumstances, but hers was to lull Nemesis into a false sense of security and act defeated, then rain holy hell down on him at the first opportunity." Yes, it's tab A into slot B formulaic thriller, with at times very glib writing: "The couple that slays together stays together" and "How long have you been doing hard drugs, because you're high if you think I'm going along with this suicidal mission." But it does the job, and moves along before you get bored with how thin and one-dimensional the character writing is. Once again, not likely to delve into the back catalogue...

The book focuses on the new special agent to the FBI, Dani Vega. She served in the military under special forces, joined the rangers and had one of the top marks on her platoon. On her way to work one morning she witnesses a murder and goes in pursuit of the assassin until she looses him thru the subway. After meeting with her supervisor, SAC Wu, and conducting an investigation they are able to track down the assassin, Toro, and capture him. While interviewing him and gathering evidence the FBI realize that this was no ordinary murder, but a cover up. Now, Dani needs to infiltrate this team of mercenaries to gather the evidence they need to bring everyone to justice. An undercover sting that goes from gathering intel to a game of kill or be killed.
This was one of the first book I've read by this author and definitely not the last one. The story has multiple points of view that provides you with a perspective of where everyones state mind is due to the different situations happening throughout the story. The storyline flows easily, there's plenty of action and suspense from the beginning of the story, and the author keeps you guessing until the end. This story feels almost real with how the author gives you a view into law enforcenment procedures during investigations and the steps they have to take in order to gather the evidence. For example, the waits on the warrants from the assistant attorney. I really enjoyed the authenticity of the scenes. The character of agent Dani was definitely a favorite and with each chapter you learned more about her. You learned what made her a great soldier, why SAC Wu hired her, about her family, and what made her the way she is.

In “A Killer’s Game” (Daniela Vega #1) by Isabella Maldonado we are introduced to FBI agent Dani Vega. After she witnesses a murder on a Manhattan sidewalk and turns the for-hire assassin, Toro, into an informant her whole world gets turned upside down. Dani must fight for her life and try to keep the oath she took when she became an agent. But nothing is what it seems as she weaves her way through someone else’s game – where their can only be one survivor.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book, and this is my honest voluntary review.