This thriller reminds me a lot of the movie Salt. It definitely portrays the strong female character who would do anything to help keep her children safe from the spy world she had been a part of. This was my first time reading one of Michael Ebner's books. But I definitely can't wait to read more from him. If you like fast-paced action packed books this one is for you. I did the audio and loved the different accents that came through for various characters.

A great start to this new series! Ebner’s characters continually provide surprises as the story unfolds as each one deals with their strengths and weaknesses. The author’s wonderfully developed characters that you will love or otherwise love to hate make this a riveting read. This is a well-written, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave you breathless at times in anticipation of the next twist in the plot. Don’t start reading this book if you are not prepared to stay up all night. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen and Picture Publishing who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

2.5 rounded up to 3
In the first in a new series, Michael Ebner show what one women will go through to protect those she loves:

Teagan is an expert at getting people to talk, which she needs as a celebrity journalist and she not only has a knack for getting people to talk to her but also finding them. But she is finding that she needs to do more, and when she a story of women and girls in the Middle East being stolen and traded among terrorist group known as KIL she knows she wants to help. She creates Project Rebound to raise money to send a team to rescue the women and girls. But the project hits a major setback and Teagan travels to Paris to deal with it, her hotel is under siege from a KIL. Was it just a coincident or was Teagan the intended target? What happens next changes Teagan life forever.

Overall, this book was okay, it wasn’t quite the action adventure / spy thriller that i thought/wanted it to be. I will say that the beginning (Teagan on a fight for her life from a terrorist group assaulting her hotel) and ending were quite well done, but Ebner did loose me a bit in the middle of the book as things slowed down. The overall globetrotting and spy aspect of the book are underwhelming overall. It really is just Teagan trying to remember pervious conversations with Roman and trying to piece together where he may be in the world, so it runs a bit slow and frustrating at times.

I found the beginning of the book a little bit convoluted and was missing the aspects that told you what point in time in the story we are at. Ebner does add this in later on, but I questions why it is not there at the beginning of the book.

Teagan is an interesting character and we do get a bit of back story and character development for her, with her first marriage and her past in Japan. Though I do wonder if there is more in her past that makes her the way that she is. I like that Ebner really sets Teagan up as an anti-hero by the end of the book with the things that she is forced to do.

I do have a question for Ebner about what happened to KIL? I thought that they were going to have more impact on the story instead of being on the fringe of the story. I understand why they were part of the story at the beginning with the attack in Paris but I do not know what KIL I was brought up several times throughout the book, but served no purpose in the book past the first event and for some Teagan's motivations.

I did the audiobook version of this book and at first, I was not sure about the narrator but he totally grew on me the further I got into the book and I enjoyed his voice and the voices he used for each character.

This book was okay, and in the end did enjoy the book overall and I would be interested in reading the second book in the series just based on how this one ended and the character development and change that Teagan goes through.

Enjoy!!!!

This was my first Michael Ebner novel and it really pulled me in. Great fast paced thriller! Can't wait for more. The beginning of the audiobook was a touch hard to follow but it all fell in to place as I listened.

“A reporter confronts terrorists, the mafia and fertility issues in Ebner’s new series starter” (Kirkus Reviews). Teagan is successful in her own right but she’s not the crusader journalist she aspired to be back in college. She needs a personal distraction and decides to make a difference in the world to help others. When a foreign news story shocks her to the core, she takes matters into her own hands and starts a special project. But not everybody will be happy about her illegally funded venture. When Teagan travels to Paris to deal with a project setback, she wakes up in a luxury hotel in the middle of a terrorist siege. Or is it a planned attack on her life?

Like other survivors from the siege, she is taken to a local police station. Routine questioning turns to intense interrogation by an American–a European Counterterrorism agent–Robert Lexington. She is the only one in custody who has seen Roman in the last ten years. Teagan is persuaded by Lexington to help locate him–a high priority person of interest–and in return she will avoid the courts and military prison back home. What follows is a challenging personal journey for Teagan across Europe and America. She must draw on her experience as a skilled interviewer, improviser and investigator to find the ghost-like Roman for her family's survival.

Very well written book, keep my attention with alot of action. I enjoyed listening/reading this book. I will also be reading the next book.

The New Bad Thing is a refreshing take on the espionage genre. I enjoyed the main character, Teagan. She is written and characterized realistically enough that I felt she was someone I knew personally by the time the book ended. Maybe because we’re both women, but her big personal “win” meant a lot to me after hearing about her struggle to get to that point. I hate reviews with spoilers so I won’t go in to detail about it! The plot is fast-paced and engaging; the action reads like a film. Ebner is an incredible author and I’m looking forward to reading the next book!

This story was intense to say the least. There was a lot of action and heartbreak and just dread. I really enjoyed it. It bounces from past and present but it’s easy to follow. I’m curious about the second book. The narrator did okay. It wasn’t my favorite audio book but the story itself made up for it.
Check triggers before reading! Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to listen

The New Bad Thing is a fast paced, non-stop, action packed, thrill ride that starts off with a terrorist attack at hotel in France where Teagan is staying.
Teagan Penn is a successful entertainment journalist and a loving wife to Todd and both are in their 30’s. She wants a baby more than anything in this world, after failed fertility treatments it still hasn’t happened for them.
Teagan starts a crowd-fundraising project to rescue women who have been kidnapped by KIL, the worlds leading terrorist group in the Middle East. She creates an operation called Project Rebound with her friend and crime lord Roman where they raise $12 million to rescue the girls. Things start to fall apart so she has to go to Paris to find out what is going on. When she gets there, KIL attacks, killing innocent people. When she reaches out to Roman for help she finds out he is the reason the attacks is happening, he sent them to murder her. I have to say For a reporter, Teagan is bad ass and people fear her.
In my opinion, I thought the book was good however, I will say I didn’t care for the narrator. His voice was too boring for the book, all the action that happened and because of his voice it took me a while to get into the book. For this reason I gave this book 3.5 stars. I just read that this is going to be a series and this is the first book in that series which explains the ending. I can’t wait for part two, I have to know what happens. I also want to add that this book cover is one of my favorite covers, y’all did a great job with it.
Thank you to Pen and Pictures, Michael Ebner, and NetGalley for a chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Frustrated and a little despondent, following a number of miscarriages, Teagan decides to set up a project seeking to rescue young girls taken from their homes as she's not sure she'll ever become a mother. While trying to set up Project Rebound, she brokers a partnership with Roman, a Mr Fixer character with a secret, dark past.

Having survived a terrorist attack while staying in a Parisian hotel (or at least an attack that KIL - the story's world renowned terrorist group - claim was carried out by them), Teagan is interrogated by Lexington, a US agent with a multitude of masters, including those who want to use Teagan's knowledge of Roman's movements to achieve their own aims.

A thrilling story which sees Teagan and her family become embroiled in a long running family feud which crosses a number of continents, I loved the multifaceted nature of the characters in this book. Having initially found Teagan a little cold, I found myself desperately hoping she could overcome all the odds faced, and regularly shared her joy and pain. Lexington too moves from being a character you think you can (and should) trust, to one you possibly should detest, albeit you can possibly understand the cause of some of his actions.

Interested to hear that there is another book in the 'series' coming later in the year, I am interested in checking it out, particularly if it has the same fast pace and interesting twists.

This story focuses on heroes are in plain sight amongst us often been made through extreme tradergy or circumstance.
Loved the narrator even when describing extreme violence his voice control and tone were spot on. Attempts at ascens were good thankfully this wasnt needed too much.. The book burb tells what you need to know .its fill of action violence a complex heorine who becomes so in the end to get home. The opening of a series whi h kept me hooked throughtout. I loved tge ending but i was crying out for more. I gueese tgats hood writing as im invested in teegan and look firwatd to book 2.
Thank you net gallery and publisher for my arc audio

I overall did enjoy this book - however, the story bounced around a lot between the past and present, and at times it was hard to follow. The story itself was full of action from the start and I never found myself bored with it. Overall a 3.5 star read for me.

This was my first audiobook. The story line was *interesting*. It started with one direction then ended up going an entirely different way. There was a couple big twists. One left me gasping out loud. The main character kicked butt and I enjoyed listening about her journey. Spoiler warning for what I am about to say so please do not continue if you have not read or finished the book so a large part of the book is not spoiled. If you read past this warning I did all the ranting I could do to prevent you from ruining the book. I do wish that there had been a conversation between the MC and Stefan(The guy who she was writing the story about) before she just killed him. It was too quick and I don’t even think she saw it coming. Most of the book lead up to that point and it just ended in less than a paragraph. I would’ve liked to have him explain himself at least.

International mystery by Michael Ebner with a very strong female protagonist at the center of the story.

What you can expect:
Italian mafia/CIA crossover.
Fast pacing.
Short chapters.
Fantastic narration.
Global crisscrossing.
Excellent reviews.

Thank you, Pen and Paper, for access to this compelling audiobook via the NetGalley app ahead of its August 15th publishing day. I'm excited to see a second book in this series is already in the works.

Braden Wright did a masterful job bringing these characters to life. His voice is gold.

WHEW! Talk about a fast-paced thriller! The New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner is action packed from the start. I loved the attempted portrayal the author went for and, for the most part, it was well executed. KIL was a great aspect, and I enjoyed Teagan’s development.

The first part of the book was fantastic, but from maybe the middle on there seemed to be some fluff in there that lost me a bit. However, the narration was fantastic! This book is probably perfect for action movie lovers, but it was missing something for me.

Thank you for the ARC opportunity!

I loved this book, It took you on a whirlwind tour through various countrysides and twisted around to completely boggle my mind at the end. It is a quick read.

Just enough thrill and mystery, very well written but beware this is the first of a series so make sure you want to invest.

I will definitely be reading the next one. I completely enjoyed this book.

This story starts off with Teagan in France when she is attacked. Someone put out a hit on her, and she needs to figure out who's trying to kill her. Teagan works as a journalist and was trying to make a true difference by traveling the world to find important stories. But she accidentally becomes entangled with the Italian mafia. Teagan is also trying to have a baby with her husband and doing fertility treatments.

Usually I love books like this but this really just never hooked me in the way I wanted it to.

Thank you Pen and Picture for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I seriously loved this! This would make an amazing movie! It kept me constantly on my toes. I listened to the audiobook, and the story telling was great. It had the perfect amount, in my opinion, of action and emotions that make a thriller type book an enjoyable read. The narrator kept reminding me of the lead actor in the series You. Now, I’m sitting here just wanting to know what happens next to Ellis & his momma, ugh!

🎧Audio Book Review🎧

The New Bad Thing
Michael Ebner

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Wow!! This was a super fast-paced, around the world adventure full of action, conspiracy and excitement.

Teagan is a US journalist - one of the best! and has travelled the world interviewing superstars and gaining worldly knowledge throughout her career.
But all she and husband Todd want a is a baby. To make her family whole.

To take her mind off her main desire, she starts on a mission to save women and children from terrorist organisations.
While hosting a meeting for this organisation in a Paris hotel, they become the target of an attack by the terrorists and Teagan begins a whole journey that will again put her and her whole family at risk.

I wasn't sure about Teagan at first. The way she managed to act fast when attacked, made me wonder what she was hiding and why. Plus the fact that she'd lied to her husband about where she was going - so he didn't worry I guess - but made me somehow doubt her.

As the story develops we are given the background bit by bit and Teagan's past traumas help us to see why she acts the way she does.

She is a brilliant main character. Seemingly a reluctant heroine but is she really?
She's strong, determined, creative and certainly capable in many different situations - but will the final twist be too much.!?

There was so much happening in this the whole time that I literally couldn't put it down! Every time I needed to stop there's be another twist or another revaluation that meant I had to just read on.

The plot was really clever and I loved the slow release of information which meant that I was still forming opinions on characters right to the last page.

I think this is going to be one a series of books and I'm really excited to see where the journey takes us next.....




💕Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my ARC copy - this is my honest review 💕

The New Bad Thing is a past paced thriller filled with action. This is my first book by Michael Ebner so I went into this one not knowing what to expect. The plot was honestly a bit confusing. It seemed to jump from one storyline to another without much warning. The fast pacing made it feel chaotic and hard to follow. This story followed Teagan, a journalist struggling with infertility who tries to take down a terrorist organization and gets involved with the mafia. I prefer a level of realism in thrillers and this just didn't have it. That being said, I'm sure some people will love this one. It just wasn't for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pen and Picture for letting me listen to an ARC of this audiobook.
I had no idea what to expect from this book. It opens with a terrorist attack on a hotel where Teagan, who turns out to be "our here' is staying. It is written from her POV which immediately makes it different from other thrillers when we are never inside the brain of one of the characters. She is rounded up along with a few other survivors and is recruited to locate Roman, the instigator of the attack. Teagan is an investigative reporter, newly married, with a young son and an adoring husband. She's no longer a crusader but to save her family, she must do as asked.
There are twists and turns and the ending was both a shocker and didn't feel like an ending. I liked Teagan. Ebner gave her brains and wit and she uses them.
It's an enjoyable book but not one of my favorites.