As a fan of Isabella Maldonado’s Nina Guerra and Dani Vega series, I wanted to check out her other work. I’ve never read any Deaver, but I do have some of his work on my to-read list. One of the things that I like about Maldonado’s work is that as a 20+yr veteran of law enforcement and a former agent, she brings a lot of credibility to her characters and stories. Even better though, as a Latina woman, her FMC’s are bold, brass, smart, bad@$$ women, who kick@$$ and take no $#!^ from anyone, least of all some man who thinks he can go around murdering people and causing mayhem! My fave kind of FMC’s!!!

The book summary introduces the primary storyline of Carmen basically inserting herself into the Riverside County Sherriff Department’s (RCSD) investigation of the attack on her little sister, Selina. Because of Carmen’s position as a federal agent for Homeland Security, the RCSD Sherriff extends Carmen every courtesy to their investigation, but makes it clear that it is his department’s case. The young investigating deputy, Ryan, is a little scared of her as well as a little smitten with Selina. Fortunately for Selina, she escaped the attack, thanks to all the self-defense tactics big sis, Carmen, instilled in her. She even managed to injure her attacker and steal his phone. Little sis is definitely a bad@$$ in training!

Carmen brings in Jake, an English Lit professor, as a civilian consultant. Jake also has a side gig as a security expert, who is basically and nerdy tech geek. Carmen and Jake have a “complicated” relationship stemming from an incident four years ago on Christmas Eve. In the after effect of that “incident” Carmen feels like she “owes him one”. It isn’t revealed until much later why. Anyway, Carmen and Jake tie the attacker to a murder prior to the attack of Selina that eventually leads them to more dead bodies before they realize the killer’s motives and agenda. The story flips back and forth between Carmen, Jake and the killer, Spider, because of the spider tattoo on his arm and most of the story revolves around the investigation of the murders and the pursuit of the killer.

I was amused by some of the references to the various SoCA locations, like the one that claimed Anaheim was only 30min from Santa Barbara The only way one could get from Anaheim to Santa Barbara in 30min is if they were flying low, on a completely deserted 101 freeway, at 269mph Even helicopter flights from Anaheim to Santa Barbara are longer than 30min. Yeah, former native Angeleno here (I moved to NoCA in Jan2024). Anyway, I guess they didn’t do their research or they did and just took liberties. No worries, it’s not like it had a negative impact on the story. Liberties like that are funny to me and make me chuckle. Fortunately, I’m not the kind of reader whose enjoyment of the story is contingent on the story’s level of believability. Quite the contrary, the crazier the better usually makes for a better reading experience for me.

The character development of most of the MCs throughout the story was good. The pacing was fast-paced and action packed with lots of scary and intense chase and shootout scenes. The storylines were interesting; I especially liked the one between Carmen and Jake. The writing was good and, once again, I’m not familiar with Deaver’s work, but the story seemed liked classic Maldonado! I’m looking at an overall rating of 4.1 that I will be rounding down to a 4star rating. Looking forward to the next installment. I want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#NetGalley #Thomas&Mercer #FatalIntrusion

The first of a new series, an agent from Homeland Security and a computer expert who calls himself an intrusionist get together on the hunt for a serial killer named Spider. Always a step behind the murders stack up with litter rhyme or reason until the discover the link between the victims. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next installment. Recommended for fans of Jeffery Deaver and readers who enjoy books with profilers. The intrusionist, Jake Heron has some traits reminiscent of Colter Shaw, another series by Jeffery Deaver.

As a fan of both Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado, I was immediately intrigued when I saw that these two authors had teamed up to write <i>Fatal Intrusion</i>. Having enjoyed their previous works, I had high expectations—and I’m happy to say, I wasn’t disappointed.

This book is a perfect blend of what I like about each author. The writing styles of Deaver and Maldonado mesh seamlessly, creating a narrative that is both fast-paced and intricately layered. The plot pulls you in from the start, with Homeland Security agent Carmen Sanchez diving into a personal case after her younger sister is brutally attacked. What starts as a seemingly straightforward investigation quickly spirals into a complex and gripping chase, with Sanchez enlisting the help of brilliant scientist Jake Heron, a man with whom she shares a complicated past.

One of the standout aspects of this book is the depth of its main characters. Sanchez and Heron are fascinating, multi-dimensional figures—each with their own flaws, which they fully acknowledge. Their differences make them a compelling duo, and it’s easy to see why their partnership is so effective. Their chemistry and the way they complement each other add another layer of enjoyment to the story.

The pacing of the book is exactly what you’d expect from a top-tier thriller—relentless and full of twists that keep you on your toes. Fans of Deaver’s signature style will appreciate the multi-layered plot that only fully reveals itself in the final moments, while Maldonado’s influence is also clear, especially if you’ve read her previous work like <i>A Killer’s Game</i>. The ending is both satisfying and promising. It wraps up the story well, but also hints at more to come, leaving me eager for the next installment. Sanchez and Heron are definitely a pair I’m excited to revisit.

I would highly recommend this book not only to fans of Deaver and Maldonado, but to anyone who enjoys a fast-paced thriller with a complex plot and well-developed characters. This author duo has proven they’re a force to be reckoned with, and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Co-authored by Jeffery Deaver & Isabella Maldonado, Fatal Intrusion (2024) is the first book in a new crime mystery series. Carmen Sanchez is a former FBI agent, now Special Agent for Homeland Security who teams up with a history professor and private security expert, Jake Heron. Due to a previous encounter, the pair have a frosty relationship and contrasting styles of following investigative protocols. They are on the hunt for a potential serial killer, with two murders linked, despite having different methodologies and victims’ identities. Their suspect is a man with a spider tattoo and links to a revenge website, yet the team is always a step behind. It's a fast-paced tale of the cyber-savvy crime-fighting duo whose unusual teamwork makes for a four stars read rating. With thanks to Thomas & Mercer and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.

This was a good thriller, but it lacked some suspense in the cat and mouse style game between the villain and heroes. The story starts off with a strong hook. It wasn't amazing, and I found myself struggling to become immersed into this story. The pacing of the story felt off. Where I wanted the book to ramp up the tension it slowed, and where I didn't need background detail it was given, which resulted in a book that felt lopsided. I honestly don't know how else to explain it. There was something missing in the balance of this story.

What I did like is the use of hackers to drive a more techno thriller vibe. The thing about Deaver is he will try something new with most things he writes. Sometimes they don't pan out that well, but I think the techno thriller vibe was strong. I would have liked it to delve more deeply into that world because what we're given is fairly shallow. But the book is aimed at a general audience. More detail is probably going to discourage readers when this book receives a sequel.

Thinking now on the two protagonists, and I can't yet say I buy into Sanchez's character. I don't find her relatable nor do I feel she's particularly well written. Heron, on the other hand, I do like. I'd be happy for his character to drive the story. I'm going to say outright that the only reason one character is male and one is female is because the authors want to introduce the will they/won't they trope into the series at some stage. There are already hints, so I'd say it's safe to assume book two may drive that trope home stronger.

Overall, not the strongest beginning to a series, especially when Deaver is one of the authors. But it's not a terrible story and I can see this having wide appeal. I admit I don't know anything about Isabella Maldonado. I may need to remedy that, just so I can unravel what influence her writing has on this story.

Jeffery Weaver and Isabella Maldonado have teamed up to write a great thriller. This book is fast paced and relevant to events in today's world. I look forward to future books with Carmen Sanchez; she is an exceptional character.

This is co-written by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado, so you can expect a serial killer whose motivation is buried under layers of twists, as well as a hard-as-nails female cop who's willing to bend the rules. So, in one sense, this was exactly what I expected, but that didn't take away at all from my enjoyment. Expecting twists was one thing but figuring them out was completely separate. And Carmen was a fantastic character who was really fun to root for. I really enjoyed this and look forward to the rest of the series!

I’m a massive Jeffery Deaver fan so I was super excited to read this. This is my first book by Isabella Maldonado. I was expecting great things with this collaboration and I’m happy to say I really enjoyed this book. There was a lot going on as there were a fair few characters and plots going on at the same time. It did take me a while to get my head round who was who and where they fit in but once I had it straight in my head it was great. The story was interesting and pretty fast paced and I liked the main characters. This has the potential to be a brilliant series so I hope these two authors do write more books together. All in all a solid read, thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to book 2!

Very good!

Solid, well-crafted mystery read. The majority of the book is focused on finding and stopping Spider, a serial killer targeting people who are successful. It appears that he is working with someone with technical knowledge, but the identity of that person isn't exposed until almost the end of the book, and boy was I shocked! There's another minor storyline that is lightly threaded throughout the book, can't say more there without spoilers.

I liked the interactions between Sanchez and Heron, and look forward to future books in this series.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Thank you Thomas and Mercer for early access to Fatal Intrusion. It's been a while since I read a Deaver procedural, I was a big fan of his Kathryn Dance books, and it was fun to get back to his action filled procedural plots. This book has the hallmarks of a Deaver read, strong and engaging lead characters with interesting backgrounds and good chemistry, and a plot filled with twists and turns that jump out! The struggle with this and any start to a new series of finding a balance with introducing new characters, particularly when there are two main leads and their relationship to develop, and here merging writing with two, not one, author... for me this lead to some pacing issues at times and places with a lot of detail that interrupted the flow for me. I chalk this up to the struggles of any start to a new series and will look forward to the next book with Sanchez and Heron.

Carmine Sanchez works for Homeland Security and when her sister is attacked she goes into full protection mode. Once she is safe she goes to Palo Alto to ask for a favor from a man she arrested four years ago. Jake Herron is a computer and security expert and so much more. Where Carmine is by the book Jake does not open the book he may hack into the book and then say find me if you can. You really can’t tell if she wants to put him in cuffs again at times, you know he is thinking that. Together they work at taking down a much larger threat which keeps the story moving along until the end which is good for so many reasons. Excellent characters and a really good story, very much worth the read.

Jeffery Deaver is a longtime favorite, and Isabella Maldonado is a more recent high-quality discovery for me. Sometimes two authors can make things read awkwardly, but that was not an issue here. This collaboration shows off the strengths of both authors, with twisty plotting and compelling action.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for a digital advance review copy.

I think this is the first book I have read written by a pair of authors where I have read both authors individual works as well. Which made it a very unique reading experience. It also made it a slam dunk of a book, given how much I enjoyed their individual writing. To start, I loved the characters. Maldonado’s character building is clear in Carmen Sanchez, with her career in law enforcement, slightly loose canon tendency, and complicated family. Jake Heron can be seen more as Deaver’s, playing a more vigilante type character, with a vast knowledge of technology. Together, Maldonado and Deaver and Carmen and Jake make a phenomenal duo. As for the plot. it had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and the ending was so amazing and brilliantly executed. And it set up the future books in the series so well. The only thing I struggled with a bit was the varying perspectives of the chapters, as it had a lot of different characters getting povs and some flashback chapters. But overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it.

This is a fast paced start to a new series. Carmen Sanchez, who works for Homeland Security, enlisted the help of Professor Jake Heron to find the man who attacked her sister. You'll learn a lot about spiders as these two chase the man. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. A page turner.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

The story begins with the killing of an induvial who was photographing snakes. The killing is the just start by an unknown killer. The next section begins with Sanchez at a location where an individual has taken hostages and the area is completely covered by law enforcement. She is aware that the person holding the hostages has nothing to loose and will kill the hostages if she needs to. She decides on a plan as to how to get the individual to come out and initiates it with the expected result. The other law enforcement leaders are upset with her even though it was successful. Soon thereafter she is notified that her sister has been attacked and immediately leaves to go be with her.

Upon arriving at the hospital, she learns that her sister is okay but an individual that tried to help her is in serious condition. Her sister is in good condition and is able to provide a good description of her assailant. As time went by, Sanchez got the impression that the sheriff's dept. wasn't going to do a lot on the case, so she wound up taking a vacation to protect her sister. As luck would have it, a cell phone was recovered, but what files were in it were encoded. She was able to get a copy of the files from Ryan, the detective on the case, and then decided to see Heron and see if he could learn what the files contained. Heron took the flash drive and agreed to help. He sent the file to a person he knew for help. Once he learned what the file contained, contacted Sanchez. It was then discovered that there was more associated with this case than originally thought. It pointed to a potential serial killer.

Now her investigation took a new turn and against her wishes, Heron became involved. They soon discovered of a website where people posted individuals who somehow got lucky and where the subjects that were attacked were listed. It seems that a body of individuals selected one of the lucky people be killed. It then became Sanchez and Heron's task to try and figure who and where the next killing was going to happen with the intent of stopping the kill and capturing the killer.

Read along and discover the steps the two took in their search. Find out the real reason behind it and who was ultimately responsible. The ending sums the story up nicely and the book is well worth reading. Don't miss out!

Rounded up to 4.5 Complex, twisty, information loaded police procedural. I was intrigued and struggling all in one with information overload. There is family dynamics with a super twist. There is FBI rule follower and a Professor (his latest job) who believes rules can and should be broken for the greater good. Action packed and scary. Scary in today's digital world and the reminder of evil. I asked to read this book because of Isabella Maldonado. I am thrilled this is book 1, looking forward to more. Thank you for the opportunity to read early. I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #FatalIntrusion #Sanchez&Heron #JefferyDeaver #IsabellaMaldonado #ThomasMercer #NetGalley

While I’ve been a fan of Jeffrey Deaver for numerous decades, until now I’d never read anything by Isabella Maldonado. Now having read Fatal Intrusion, I’ll be adding Isabella’s books to my ever expanding TBR list. In Fatal Intrusion (which is hopefully only the first of many adventures) we meet Carmen Sanchez, a straight-laced homeland security agent, but when her sister gets attacked she realizes her usual investigative tacts aren’t going to work so she calls in a favor from Jake Heron, a private security expert from her past. This is a classic odd couple-type team up, and I really enjoyed the interaction between the duo. As expected from Deaver the story is excellent, with plenty of twists and turns. (only a few of which I figured out ahead of time, but not that last one!) I really hope this series catches on. I could definitely see this as a streaming series. I’d like to thank Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an eARC of Fatal Intrusion.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R1MRS18J01H2MN/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado is a fast-moving mystery fueled by power-seeking individuals.

Will Carmen and Jacoby find out why Lina was targeted?

Carmen Sanchez
Carmen is a Homeland Security Investigations special agent stationed in Southern California. She is also a former FBI cyber crimes agent. Lina is Carmen's younger sister. Both of their parents are deceased, so the girls only have each other, not that they are getting along right now.

I like Carmen. She is down to earth and works hard to keep up with all aspects of a special agent's life. However, Carmen doesn't allow her career to consume her life. She has a beautiful home and manages to keep her refrigerator stocked.

Jacoby Heron
Jake, as Carmen calls him, is an Intrusionist who provides Personal, Corporate, and Governmental Security Solutions. He has found a way to turn hacking into a paid venture without hurting his clients. Jake is one of the country's elite hackers. Carmen arrested him a few years back, and he did time for hacking into the IRS. Let's say that she doesn't like him, and he is still holding a grudge. But they trust each other.

I like Jake, but he is sneaky. Don't leave any of your computers or phones out when he is around.

The Mystery
Why is this serial killer all of a sudden picking random people to kill? What is his trigger, and how can they stop him? Why is an elite hacker working with him? A beautiful mom and her weird, overweight young adult kid involved?

The plot twists in this story are crazy. I absolutely love that. Just when you think you have it figured out, "Plot Twist," and now you don't. It goes for everything from the serial killer to our agent/hacker duo.

Five Stars
My rating for Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado is five stars. I truly enjoyed the story, writing style, and the banter between our investigators. It's brilliant.

I look forward to reading the next installment. Yes, I am recommending it to all crime thriller readers.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado.

Until the next time,
~Jen

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

WARNING: it's an unexpected stop of the unpopular opinion train!!

I honestly never expected this to happen. I'm probably in the minority, but I requested this book mainly because I've become a big fan of Isabella Maldonado's writing in recent years. I was curious about this collaboration with Jeffery Deaver, and of course I can never resist a serial killer blurb... I fully expected to have a great time reading it, but to my surprise the completely opposite ended up happening. Oh yes, Fatal Intrusion and me most definitely didn't get along.

Don't get me wrong, the premise of Fatal Intrusion is definitely right up my alley. I like my thrillers on the dark and twisted side, and this serial killer thriller without doubt fits the bill. Give me an usual serial killer character, and I'm usually over the moon... But in this particular case, there were other elements that prevented me from properly enjoying this story. I'll try to explain what did and didn't work for me personally below.

I think one of the main issues I had with Fatal Intrusion has everything to do with the fact that I STRONGLY disliked one of the main characters. I'm not sure why, but I started to resent Heron more and more as we got to know him better, and he never redeemed himself for me. The constant repetition of his intrusion theories and his personality in general put a major damper on things, and since Heron is half of the duo featured in this new series, this was really hard to overcome. I could see Isabella Maldonado's influence in the other half of the duo, Carmen Sanchez, and I would have much preferred this series to be solely focused on her instead.

I also struggled considerably with the pace, which was surprisingly slow for a serial killer thriller. I think this had a lot to do with the use of a multiple POV structure, with POV switches that weren't always as fluid. The main issue had more to do with the fact that the plot of Fatal Intrusion has an overdose of descriptions though, with background information that is more than enough to make your head spin. I caught myself skimreading more than once, as the story simply wasn't able to keep my attention. Some of the information was quite repetitive as well; especially everything involving that intrusion theory.

I can't deny that I still like the premise and Carmen Sanchez makes for a great main character. There were parts that were more engaging, and there were a couple of twists I didn't expect. Sadly, there were also too many other elements that didn't work for me though, and Fatal Intrusion ended up being an unexpected miss for me. As you might have already guessed, I won't be continuing this series... I simply cannot bring myself to spend one more minute with Heron.

Love love loved! So twisty! There was one twist that actually shocked me! The intrusion concept was interesting too! Great characters.