Stretching the tale of deception across many countries is a story that explores human deficiencies, which sends you in to a world of exploitation, deceit and horror.
It took a while to grab, but once hooked you cant escape!

I had expected to like The New Bad Thing a lot. It has everything I usually enjoy in a novel—international settings, political intrigue, mysterious characters, and a fierce protagonist. Unfortunately, the plot lurched from one disconnected storyline to another and never coalesced into anything whole.

Teagan is a likable main character who starts off as a journalist and inadvertently becomes an asset for an Italian crime syndicate. The first third of the story features an Islamic terrorist organization but that plot is dropped and never returned to. Another long tangent featured Teagan’s backstory in Japan.

Thrown into the plot is a side story arc of Teagan and her husband Todd doing fertility treatments. The author uses the term “fell pregnant” repeatedly (as in “the first time Teagan fell pregnant”) and that irritated me. I have never heard that phrase in my life and I hope never to hear it again! Mr. Ebner, have you never had any conversations about pregnancy in your life at all?! A person gets pregnant or falls ill, never “falls pregnant.”

I’m giving this book 2.5 stars and I always round up.

Thank you NetGalley and Pen and Picture audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my opinion.

The first in a new series of thrilling and well written book. Tiegan wakes up in the middle of a terrorist assault on the hotel where she is staying, from then on things begin to take her on a deadly journey to protect her family. Braden Wright narrates this book perfectly hope he stays for the next book.
I received this audiobook from Pen & Picture and Netgalley for a review.

When the book starts Teagan is at a hotel in France and it’s being attacked by terrorists but when she calls her “friend “back in New York who she thinks is the only person who can help only to find out he was the one who sent the hit on her in the first place I thought there’s no way this book can get better Teagan doesn’t have a large family her mom left her dead after getting their life savings to a Ponzi scheme and then ran off with the man who introduced the Ponzi scheme to her so it’s just Teagan her dad her husband Todd and eventually their new baby Ellise so needless to say Teagan would do anything to protect anyone of them and eventually she’ll have to prove that. This book is toll from the past and the present and it all comes together to make for one action packed OMG filled story I didn’t give a detailed summary only because I don’t like reading reviews where they pretty much tell the whole story so I will just say if you like books with strong likable female leads then you will Love The New Bad Thing what Teagan goes through is every new mother‘s nightmare but the ending makes it worth it I truly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. I thought the narrator did a pretty good job and set a great tone for the book. I received it from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A mad-as-hell reporter determined to save her family in a murky, international espionage situation doesn’t really sum this story up. This book was a great surprise, and is the first in The New Bad Thing series by Michael Ebner. There are origin stories, double-crosses, touching moments, international scenery and peaks and troughs of refreshing action. There is darkness, light, hope and gun fights. Narrator, Braden Wright, is a good fit for the material.
My full review is on Goodreads.

Thrilling, powerful and entertaining

It’s all about the choices we make in life and this book is very much about that with our lead character Teagan and other two main characters, Roman and Lexington. This is an espionage crime thriller with lots of flashbacks to provide rich backstories of our key players. I am an avid reader of crime from Michael Connelly, Richard Price and Dennis LeHane, and this was right up my alley. I am withholding any spoilers. Thank you to Netgalley and Pen and Picture for advance copy. I will be reading the next book in this new series.

Book Title: The New Bad Thing
Author: Michael Ebner
Series: The New Bad Things Book #1
Narrator: Braden Wright
Publisher: Pen and Picture
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: May 16, 2023
Pages: 270
My Rating: 3.4 Stars

Journalist Teagan Penn and her husband Todd are in their later thirties and have wanted to start a family; so far no success. It appears nothing it wrong with either one of them` but decided to see a fertility doctor. Meds and a diet are supposed to help. Teagan has always wanted to be a mother perhaps not a stay-at-home mom but still a mother.
Trying not to stress over her personal situation a foreign news story gets her attention.
She takes matters into her own hands and starts a special project and ends up in Paris and soon finds herself in the middle of a terrorist siege. She fears this might be a planned attack on her life.
She is now forced to make a decision that may affect her and her family forever.
It is indeed ~ the new bad thing.

Story had me curious right from the beginning.
However, I have a low tolerance for profanity and was sure cruel nasty terrorist were going to be using a lot of nasty language.
Glad I hung in as the story did turn out better than I expected.

This is the first in the series with Book #2 [book: Blood Fire] in the works.

Want to thank NetGalley and Pen and Picture for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 16, 2023

The New Bad Thing is a story that just failed to grab me. From the summary of the book I expected a story about a journalist who is going to be a badass. While we did get that from our main character Teagan, there was not enough.

The first part of the book shows how desperately Teagan wants a family and goes into a lot of detail about her past and her mission of having a baby. While most of this was well written it was not what I expected.

Teagan wants to make a difference and she starts an organization to free women who are captured by a terrorist group, this is when we get a glimpse of the badass journalist but I just didn’t find it captivating.

Teagan woke up in a hotel under a terrorist attack in Paris and I found myself getting bored. I can’t explain what it was exactly but something in the back half of this story just pushed me away. This is when the action I wanted was starting and I had already lost interest.

I wanted more from this book. I want the badass journalist story. I think this is a book I will revisit down the road and try again with a different mindset but for now, I find it hard to recommend.

Tiegan is a journalist in Seattle that has allowed her to interview many superstars. However, there is one thing that Tiegan wants which is a family more than anything. To take her mind off her desire she starts an organization that has to remain off the radar because she’s saving woman and their children from terrorist. Her organization that she has started introduces her to a dangerous man and puts herself in danger. Tiegan wakes up in the middle of a terrorist attack at a Paris hotel that she’s staying at. At that moment her life starts to unravel and she has to fight for her life.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy