Another great one by Elise Hart Kipness. This is book 3 in the series but can stand on its own, although I have read them all. I have really enjoyed getting to know these characters, and I've enjoyed the underlying mystery that has flowed through all three books. Pleas don't let that mystery discourage you from picking up and starting with this book because it is a very small part of the overall story.

I am not a big sports fan, (don't tell Elise😂) but I love the stories all the same. There are twists and turns, short chapters (the best) that are so propulsive. You can't stop reading.

This is my first book in this series and I really enjoyed it. It's fast-paced and filled with nonstop action. I was glued from the start, a kidnapping, a reporter and an FBI agent, all made this a whirlwind of a story. I will be going back to the first two books in this series. Bravo!

Many thanks for my gifted copy.

Thank you to ThrillerBookLovers The Pulse, Thomas & Mercer, #partner, for an advanced e- copy of Close Call in exchange for my honest review.

I am a big fan of this series & was thrilled to get my hands on this latest installment…& it did not disappoint. While each book in this series can be read as a stand-alone, I do recommend reading the books in order because there are a few threads that do make more sense if you start at the beginning…plus you really get a better sense of who Kate really is. ⁣
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In this latest book, we head to the US Open, & like the last book, this is a sport I’m somewhat familiar with, though having knowledge of the sport is not necessary. While this can be considered a sports thriller, it’s really a crime fiction/thriller & the tennis is just the vehicle used to tell the story.⁣
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This one really kept me on my toes & I found that there were so many suspects, each with their own reasons for the kidnapping. Everyone has secrets & the deeper Kate & the team dig, the more they uncover. ⁣

This is a fast-paced thriller & the short chapters just beg you to keep reading. While the case kept me engaged all the way through it was some new developments with our main characters that really kept me flipping the pages…& I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see what happens next!

3.5 Rounded Up

This is the third book in the Kate Green series and I couldn’t wait to read it. Once again, as a Sports Reporter, Kate finds herself in the middle of a police investigation when a tennis star that she was interviewing gets kidnapped. She becomes entangled in the investigation and plays a critical role in solving it. To help her solve the mystery, she calls upon her dad, Liam, who is an NYPD detective. Kate and her father have a rocky history and this allows for another storyline and gives Kate the opportunity to dig deeper into her father’s past to get more details about what happened.

This is a fast paced mystery that will keep you guessing, as there are plenty of possible suspects! I love that all of these books have a sports theme and each one centers around a different sport. The jealousy, lies, and competition that surrounds the players only adds to the suspense. The added element of a budding romance for Kate was also a bonus! I’m already looking forward to another sequel and wondering what sport Kate will be reporting on next!

With a hard-won Emmy now gracing her mantel, sports reporter and former Olympian Kate Green turns her energy to the action unfolding in Flushing Meadows. Working on a feature for her weekly TV show, she spotlights two of today’s biggest female tennis stars: the sunny up-and-comer and the brash veteran. But the project goes sideways when one turns up missing. Following an interview with Kate, one player receives a sinister text with a disturbing photo of the other woman, bound and gagged. Kate calls on her estranged father, an NYPD detective, for help in launching a search. Although wary he’s hiding something, she’s not sure where else to turn?! Great book and series! This book had great suspense, murder, mystery, kidnapping, intrigue, and some shocking scenes! The story was very interesting! I highly recommend reading this book and series! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for sharing this book and series with me!

The Kate Green Series is a Must-Read Thriller Gem

I was beyond excited to hear that Elise Hart Kipness released another installment in the Kate Green series—and it absolutely delivered!

This fast-paced, suspense-filled series follows Kate Green, a sharp and fearless sports reporter who somehow always finds herself at the center of the action. With every twist and turn, the story keeps you on edge, and just when you think you’ve figured it out, another surprise comes out of nowhere. It’s the kind of thriller that keeps you flipping pages late into the night.

Elise’s writing style is so vivid and immersive, it’s easy to forget you’re reading at all. She brings the world—and Kate’s character—to life with effortless energy and intensity.

If you’re a fan of thrillers packed with mystery, action, and a strong female lead, this series should be at the top of your list. I highly recommend it to all my fellow thriller lovers!

Huge thanks to Elise Hart Kipness for the incredibly generous PR box and the gifted book. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I truly can’t wait for what’s next.

Kate, a sports reporter, is covering the US tennis open featuring top female tennis competitors Lucy and Brynn. Lucy is 37 on the verge of aging out of the sport and determined to show she’s still got it. Brynn is a young teenager nipping at her heels.
But when Lucy goes back to her home town for the news feature Kate is covering, Lucy comes face to face with her dark past that puts not only her, but Brynn in danger.
When Kate finds out that Lucy has been kidnapped and the person threatens Brynn that she’s next, Kate teams up with her father, a law enforcement agent, to try to catch the killer and save Lucy before it’s too late.
I tore through this book in a matter of a few days. Not only did I love the idea of a kidnapping at the US open, but it created so many possible suspects. I was captivated by Elise’s writing as plot of the story unfolded but didn’t slow down for a second. You will love reading this series.

Close Call, the third book in the Kate Green series, finds Kate in the middle of another dangerous situation when the tennis player she is profiling for her tv network is kidnapped. Kate is doing a profile on tennis player Lucy Bosco as part of her network's coverage of the US Open tournament. On the morning of Lucy's scheduled match another player, Brynn Cole, is sent a message saying that Lucy is being held for ransom. Kate and the police have to work with Brynn and her family to find Lucy before it's too late. The story moves at a decent pace, but didn't always keep the tension going. Kate is an interesting character and the book is a solid entry in the series. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

🎾 Close Call by Elise Hart Kipness is another gripping entry in the Kate Green series that had me flying through the pages!
📺 With a hard-earned Emmy under her belt, former Olympian and sports reporter Kate Green heads to Flushing Meadows to cover two high-profile tennis stars: a rising sweetheart and a fiery veteran. But when one of the women goes missing after their interview—and a chilling photo of her bound and gagged surfaces—Kate dives headfirst into a dangerous investigation.
Calling on her estranged NYPD detective father, Kate navigates old wounds, buried secrets, and a web of deception as she fights to find the missing player before it's too late.
💭 My thoughts:
This is the third book in the Kate Green series. I read Lights Out but skipped Dangerous Play, and I can confidently say Close Call works perfectly as a standalone. It had everything I loved about the first:
✔️ Short, bingeable chapters
✔️ Red herrings galore
✔️ A fast-paced plot
✔️ Fierce, capable female leads
If you're into suspenseful thrillers with smart women at the helm, this one’s for you!

I really enjoyed main character Kate Green in Lights Out and Dangerous Play and this third book in the series by Elise Hart Kipness is another good one. Tennis star Lucy Bosco is kidnapped during the US Open while sports reporter Kate is working on a story about her for her TV show. Kate's story focuses on the older veteran player Lucy and young rising star Brynn Cole. Lucy is mysteriously missing and Brynn receives a text with a scary photo of her bound and beaten. Working against a ransom deadline, Kate reaches out to her estranged father Liam, an NYPD detective, for help. Kate still has her issues with her dad from the previous two books and feels he's hiding something important from her about his past. Their search for answers leads to the small town where Lucy grew up - Glenport on Long Island. There are many secrets and lies that they have to sift through to try to save Lucy. I'm enjoying the Kate Green series and hope it will continue. Thanks to #Netgalley #Thomas&Mercer and #EliseHartKipness for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Olympic soccer champion-turned-sports reporter Kate Green is back for a third thrilling installment, this time taking place at the US Open. Kate is profiling two female tennis players when one of them is kidnapped. Kate finds herself in a tangled web of secrets and lies as she and the FBI race to find the missing woman.

I’m a big fan of the Kate Green series, so I’m excited to see her back in this newest installment! This story can stand in its own, but it does refer back to threads that took place in the previous two books. The tennis aspects of the book are very well done, to say nothing of the twisty mystery. I love that there are so many potential suspects and motives, it kept me guessing the entire time. I’m also excited to see a hint of a love interest for fiercely independent Kate. I can’t wait to see what Kate might find herself in the middle of next!

Elise Hart Kipness’s third Kate Green mystery, Close Call, is a kidnapping yarn set on the big stage of the US Open tennis tournament. Kate, a former world class soccer player, is a television reporter covering the Open for TRP Sports. She’s assigned to do an “in-depth segment” about the two American players making the biggest headlines. The aging Lucy Bosco—“the most vilified woman in tennis”—and the teenage Brynn Cole, trying to prove she belongs at the top of the sport.

After spending two frustrating days with Lucy—frustrating because Lucy isn’t forthcoming and she is obviously troubled—Kate is set to interview Brynn and her parents. But things go sideways when it is publicly announced Lucy forfeited her scheduled match. Then moments later Brynn receives a text message from an unknown sender with a photograph of Lucy bound to a chair and a note warning Brynn not to call the police. Fortunately for Brynn, Kate sees the text and she calls in her father, a celebrated detective with the NYPD, to work the case under the radar.

Close Call is a shaky thriller. The pacing is uneven (especially in the first half of the book) and it starts slow enough for paint to dry and weeds to grow. But the second half is better than the first. Kate’s interview with Lucy, which feels like it is never going to end and so it is probably realistic of how those things work, is littered with repetition: Lucy’s not saying anything! What is Lucy hiding? Why isn’t Lucy saying anything? ad nauseam. The book picks up at the halfway mark when the news breaks about Lucy’s mysterious forfeit and story questions start popping: Why was Lucy kidnapped? What is Brynn’s connection to the kidnapping? The US Open setting is cool and Kate—who is something of a caretaker to everyone around her—is interesting enough to keep me reading until the last page.

This review will be posted on Aug. 18, 2025, at gravetapping.blogspot.com and drackcityunderground.blogspot.com

Thank you Thomas & Mercer for a digital copy of this book. The opinions are my own and freely given.

Kate Green is assigned to the US Open to interview Lucy, who doesn't have the best reputation with the public, twice divorced maybe soon to be three. She agrees to this exclusive to rebrand herself. And Brynn, the teenage phenom and social media star. But then one of them is abducted and other receives the text showing her the victims current state.

With the warning to tell NO ONE, Kate secretly brings in her dad with NYPD and the FBI. It's a race against the clock as the random demand window keeps shrinking.

This is fast-paced and kept me turning the page.

📚 E-ARC BOOK REVIEW 📚

Close Call By Elise Hart Kipness
Publication Date: August 19, 2025
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

A huge thank you to Amazon Publishing and NetGalley for this #gifted e-copy of this book! Everyone (including me!) at Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse is SUCH a fan of this series -- and this is my honest review!

📚MY REVIEW:

Kate Green, our favorite former-Olympian-turned-sports-reporter, is back for more amateur sleuthing in the world of sports! In Close Call, Elise Hart Kipness brings us a third installment of Kate's tenacious reporting from the sports world, where she somehow always seems to find herself in the midst of tension-filled mysteries while reporting on the biggest sports events of the day.

With its short chapters and fast-paced story-telling, this was a quick read that immersed me into the world of women's professional tennis and the US Open. This third installment seemed a little more sports-heavy and a little less mystery/thriller to me, but it may have just been the amount of interview dialogue between Kate and all those involved in the tight-knit circles of these tennis pros. Once the thriller storyline began, the pace picked up and my heart was pounding with the book's race against time.

Since each book's storyline is unique, I think you could read this book as a standalone. Given that this is the third book in the series, however, there are references to previous storylines that you won't fully understand without reading the first two books first. And honestly, it's such a great series that I highly recommend reading all of the books anyway, so you might as well start with Book One!!

Personally, I love Kate's amateur sleuthing skills and the way the author writes the police & FBI procedural portions of the book! The backdrop of sporting events in each book is a fun change from your typical thriller, and Kate's personality always shines in this series. If you haven't yet acquainted yourself with this crime fiction series, I highly recommend adding these books to your TBR!

#CloseCall #EliseHartKipness #AmazonPublishing #thrillerbookloversthepulse #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #eARC #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #crimefiction #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #bookrecs

I became attached to the main character, Kate Green, in Dangerous Play, and I was thrilled to see another book in the series. Kate isn’t exactly an amateur sleuth by now, but I love how her tenacious personality lands her in danger in pursuit of answers. The plotting is well paced, and I enjoyed how it all played out.

A sports reporter, Kate, is doing a story with two tennis champs- Lucy and Brynn when the former is kidnapped right before the US Open. Now she has to team up with her father, a former cop, and the FBI to find Lucy before it's too late.

I like the sports aspect of this mystery. This is my first book of this series but I can't help but admire Kate. Not only because of her own sports background but because she is a hard hitter and very smart. There are some twists that I didn't see and it was interesting trying to figure out who had it out for Lucy. This was a smaller read and chapters were an okay length so I read it in a few hours.

Book 3 in the Kate Green series might be my favorite yet.
I love how these stories are rooted in the world of sports; this time, it’s all about tennis. Twisty, fast-paced, and full of strong female characters. A total page-turner!

The third book in the series is fast paced and really engaging. At about 30% things start moving so fast that I ended up reading it in one sitting. Definitely one of my favourite detective series

My rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫

Kate Green is back and is as amazing as book one! This book had me hooked from the first chapter! Kate is fun and her logic is as strong as the coffee she lives off off. Usually a series drops off with each book....but not these! Thrilling, fun, witty, and twisty!

Former Olympic soccer star turned sports reporter, Kate Green, is back! She is at the US Open interviewing two tennis stars for a feature story when one of the stars goes missing. The story opens with a countdown to the kidnapping, which added tension. Kate is a very relatable character and I love reading about her. Filled with action and twists, this is a must read!