Burned Bridges is a gripping, high-stakes thriller that kicks off John Gilstrap’s new Irene Rivers series with intensity and heart. As a longtime fan of Gilstrap’s Jonathan Grave novels, I was excited to see Irene, formerly a supporting character, step into the spotlight. She does not disappoint.

The story opens with a chilling flashback and quickly shifts to present-day West Virginia, where Irene, a former FBI director, is trying to build a quieter life for her daughter and nephew. But peace is short-lived when a body is discovered on her property, unraveling a decades-old mystery and drawing Irene into a web of corruption, cover-ups, and danger that hits far too close to home.

What I appreciated most was Irene’s complexity—she’s tough, smart, and deeply human. Her fierce protectiveness over her family adds emotional weight to the relentless action. Gilstrap’s signature pacing and expertise in tactical detail are on full display, and the rural setting adds a fresh, atmospheric layer to the suspense.

While a few plot threads felt slightly rushed toward the end, the overall story was compelling, and the setup for future installments is strong. This is a must-read for fans of fast-paced thrillers with strong female leads and morally complex villains.

Thank you to Kensington Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

What a great introduction to Irene Bridges. Irene former FBI Director has settled in rural West Virginia. In an attempt to escape the press from her former position, Bridges is settling into the quiet life as an attorney when a body is discovered on her property. Bridges has taken in her young nephew, who happened upon the long dead body. Meanwhile, Bridges is hired to clear the name of a local high school student accused of murder. Before long,  Bridges and her family find themselves the target of locals that think they are above the law. Gilstrap has created a strong female lead that makes you want to cheer for her. Non stop action and a no nonsense female lead, you can't go wrong!

Thank you to Kensington Books / RB Media for the ALC. The narrator Natalia Payne was great.

Happy Publication Day! Wow, this audiobook is a wild ride. I couldn’t stop listening. While it’s the first in a new series, the character has appeared in other books by the author, and he is no stranger to writing taut, complex plots.
I give this one 5 stars because it really held my interest. I admit that it reinforces Southern stereotypes that some may find offensive, mostly related to the good-ol’-boy way things might get done in small towns. Suffice it to say I won’t be moving to one any time soon. If that doesn’t bother you, give this novel a try. It’s about a former FBI official and lawyer who is trying to outrun her public relations problem. While trying to do the right thing, she and her kids get caught up in a local corruption problem. Fine writing and excellent narration. I look forward to listening to more books in this exciting new series.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @RecordedBooks, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #BurnedBridges for review purposes.

This was a great start to a new series and a look into Irene River's new life after her time as the Director of the FBI. I will admit that I was looking forward to an appearance by Digger and Big Guy that did not happen, but this was still a great read.

Irene has left the Washington power club to start her retirement in a small town in West Virgina with her daughter and nephew. What she did not expect was for a dead body to be discovered on her property that would then collide with the case that she was working on in her new private investigation business. She soon discovers that where she may have left Washington, she then found herself in a small town with the good old boys club that has a lot to hide and does not want her to discover the truth.

This was an action packed read that had a lot going on in the plot at first but with a few twists and turns the plots collide. Also, where I kept expecting Digger and Big Guy to pop up, I liked seeing this side of Irene. This book set up for more to come from Irene and her family and I look forward to seeing what is in store for the next book of this series.

Burned Bridges is an action-packed crime thriller. Former FBI Director Irene Rivers moves her family to West Virginia after her high profile career is over. Her search for a slower pace of life is short lived when her nephew, Wyatt finds a body on their land. I really enjoyed the characters, plot and all the twists & turns.

This is the first book in the Irene Rivers Thriller series and I can’t wait for John Gilstrap to write additional books. Natalia Payne did an excellent job with the narration.

Thank you to NetGalley & RBmedia for letting me read this ARC.

🌳 Thank you RB Media, John Gilstrap & @netgalley for the advanced listener copy of Burned Bridges.

⛰️ Set in a small town in the mountains of West Virginia, former FBI Director Irene Rivers, her daughter and nephew are hoping for a quiet start to their new life after political scandal. Little did they know the small town they have moved to is full of corruption, coverups and crime. They are soon pulled into this tangled web from every direction.

🌳 What follows is an action packed fast moving thriller filled with mystery, danger, death and suspense. As a huge fan of crime fiction (think Karin Slaughter, Tess Gerristen, Patricia Cornwell & Catherine Coulter). I LOVED this one!! John Gilstrap hits all the best features of this genre and I am hooked!!

🏔️ Our narrator of this audiobook, Natalia Payne brought this story and the characters to life. Phenomenal changes in pitch for a variety of characters. Not only will I be anxiously awaiting book 2 in this series, I’m excited to jump into his Jonathan Grave series as well! Highly recommend if you are a fan of this genre!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Kensington Publishing, and Recorded Books Media for gifting me an audio ARC of this first in a new series by John Gilstrap, perfectly narrated by Natalia Payne. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars rounded up!

Former FBI Director Irene Rivers was anxious to get away from DC politics and settle into a quiet life in a small town in West Viriginia with her kids. But when a dead body is found on her property, evidence points to murder and a cover up. Soon the family is the target of threats and intimidation.

This was a new-to-me author, but I was looking for an audiobook and this was available to listen before its release date. And I'm so glad that I picked it, because I was soon completely immersed in this gritty, West Virginia small town story. It's action packed and thrilling, and it's going to make a great series. Irene was such a strong woman main character, but the secondary characters, including her kids, were fleshed out and realistic. Sign me up for the next in this series - I can't wait!

There’s a special kind of chaos reserved for thrillers where the main character is smarter than everyone else in the room and also deeply over it. In "Burned Bridges," Irene Rivers isn’t just the ex–FBI Director who took down a corrupt president — she’s the kind of woman who survives a scandal, moves her kid and her nephew to a quiet farm in West Virginia, and still manages to piss off the most dangerous people in town before unpacking all her boxes. This is the start of a new series, and if this is the tone we’re getting? I’m in. Fully. Bloodstained boots and all.

Irene’s trying to start fresh, raising her teenage daughter, Kelly, and her 12-year-old nephew, Wyatt, on her grandparents’ old property. She’s burned every political bridge behind her and is hoping for peace, but instead she gets a skeleton in a cave — discovered by Wyatt and his very good dog, Ruger. The local cops want to dismiss it as ancient history. Irene, now working as a PI, knows better. Especially when the evidence starts pointing to a long history of corruption, cover-ups, and a powerful family who’d prefer their secrets stay buried.

What Gilstrap does here is brilliant. Irene isn’t just another brilliant woman with a gun. She’s tired. She’s measured. She’s a single mother who carries the weight of every decision, including the ones that cost her kids their normal life. Her relationship with Kelly is prickly and layered. Wyatt is observant and anxious and sweet in the way of a kid who’s seen too much already. Their family unit feels lived-in and real — protective, exasperated, and trying hard not to fracture.

The stakes here are personal first, then explosive. There’s a murder to solve, yes. But there’s also an innocent local teen facing a sham trial, a sheriff who plays dumb and dangerous at the same time, and a local kingpin whose legacy drips violence. Irene doesn’t have the FBI behind her anymore. She just has her training, her stubborn moral compass, and a very real sense that no one’s coming to help.

And when it all finally ignites? It’s fast, brutal, and earned. Gilstrap gives you real-world action with zero superhero gloss. Every punch has consequences. Every bullet lands hard. The final third hits like a trapdoor you didn’t know you were standing on.

If you’re into audio, Natalia Payne is pitch-perfect. She gives Irene the steel and soul she deserves, keeps the pacing tight, and makes every character feel distinct without overplaying a single note. She delivers the dread, the snark, and the devastation with absolute precision. This is how you give voice to a thriller.

For me, this is a 4.5-star firestarter. It’s grounded, fierce, deeply personal, and smart enough to trust your brain while still punching you in the heart. I hope this series keeps going, fast, because I am not emotionally equipped to say goodbye to these characters after just one book.

Huge thanks to RBmedia and NetGalley for the advance audiobook — this one came in hot and didn’t let up, and I was all in.

Burned Bridges is the first book in a new series from John Gilstrap.

"Former FBI Director Irene Rivers has left the Agency after the fallout from exposing corruption at the highest levels of government. She takes her kids to the farm that belonged to her grandparents in the panhandle of WV. The trouble starts when her 12-year-old nephew finds a body on the property. The problem is that there are people that don't want this body identified. And they're willing to do whatever it takes to keep this secret."

Gilstrap fans will recognize Irene from the Jonathan Grave series (code name - Wolverine) According to the author notes, she first appeared in At All Costs - Gilstrap's second book - as a young FBI agent. This book has the feel of a Reacher book - small town, a corrupt family in charge, no one willing to stand up to them. When they poke the bear that is Irene Rivers they get more than they bargained for. Irene has resources they can't imagine and she will do everything to protect her family. There are many wild moments and lots of story tension. There's an explosive ending. And one big twist at the end that lets you know we'll see more of Irene Rivers.

Natalia Payne does a great job with the audio, especially with the corrupt characters.

Great action-thriller from Gilstrap. Great book for an escape to the beach.

In Burned Bridges, John Gilstrap crafts a taut, suspense-driven narrative where buried secrets and long-standing deceptions unravel in a seemingly quiet town. What begins as a hopeful attempt at a fresh start quickly spirals into a dangerous quest for truth, as the protagonist realizes that the safe haven she envisioned for her family is anything but secure.

Gilstrap masterfully layers tension throughout the novel, steadily revealing betrayals, hidden motives, and a complex web of lies that keeps the reader guessing. As the search for the guilty party intensifies, so does the emotional weight of the story, with stakes that feel both personal and perilous.

With sharp pacing and a palpable sense of unease, Burned Bridges is a gripping thriller that explores the fragility of trust and the cost of uncovering the truth. Gilstrap delivers yet another compelling read that pulls you in and doesn’t let go.

This is a review of the audio version of John Gilstrap's Burned Bridges, well narrated by Natalia Payne. It is the debut of a new series featuring former FBI Director irene Rivers, although she is also a character in his Jonathan Grave series, which I will now have to read. Because Gilstrap sure can spin a great story. Irene, her younger daughter, Kelly and the nephew she is raising, Wyatt have moved to Jenkins County, West Virginia to recover from the notoriety that came from her termination as the head of the FBI as she exposed and ultimately caused the end of a presidency due to corruption. Her older daughter Ashley stayed behind to start her new career as a paralegal.

Early in the story, Wyatt, a 12 year old middle school student, is riding his ATV with his Labrador retriever at his side and the dog finds a dead body. There are some clothes remaining on the skeletal remains, an orange shirt and jeans. The local sheriff continuously tries to keep Irene out of his way, but shows some deference to her as well. Meanwhile, Irene is also a lawyer. She has secured a PI license and she is hired to help a family who wants her to uncover evidence that a practically ironclad case against their sixteen year old son for a gruesome murder is innocent of the charges.

Jenkins County is the home of the Rutledge family. They are "connected" and brutal although with the original head of the family in jail, it is unclear whether things have calmed down a bit. They are rich, powerful and still fully capable of heinous behavior and make their money illegally, carrying their trade on outside of the town limits. As Irene follows the case involving the body found on her property and pursues the evidence against the teenager accused of murder, she bumps up against various members of the Rutledge family in an array of settings. Kelly is being harassed by one of their sons. Wyatt and Kelly are pretty miserable.

In the course of the novel, we begin to sort out the good guys from the bad-- and they are all guys -- and to get a sense of the little family unit Irene is trying to protect in their new rural setting. There is corruption that comes to light at higher levels than Jenkins County, evidence of widespread inappropriate behavior within the community, violent encounters and murders and confrontations and the dogged persistence of Irene and her children and the few other good guys. The novel and the plot and the resolution were all very engaging and well written and the audio book was great!

Evidently this is a spinoff of John Gilstrap's Jonathan Graves series and that Irene Rivers is a key character from that series. The characters are well developed, and the action is quick and tense with escalating pacing. Good thing I received the audio so that I could get things done in the house without missing a thing in this unputdownable book!
I requested and received a temporary recorded audio file from RBmedia | Recorded Books via NetGalley.
#BurnedBridges by #johngilstrap7558 #IreneRiversBk1 #kensingtonbooks #recordedbooks narrated by voice artist #Natalia Payne #WestVirginia #thriller #suspense #corruption #riveting #newseries

4.5 Stars

I am already a huge fan of Mr. Gilstrap and his Jonathan Grave Series, so I was excited to see that there was going to be an Irene Rivers spinoff. Former FBI Director Rivers recently left her position after pretty much blowing up the Washington establishment by bringing to light all the corruption, including implicating the sitting President. To 50% of the population, she is a hero, to the other 50%, she is a traitor.

Irene has moved out of DC to a small town in West Virginia with her two children (her 17 year old daughter and her 12 year old nephew that she is raising as her own). She mistakenly thought she could just kind of fade away into private life - but that doesn't seem to be the way things happen.

To start things off, the town that she chose has been ruled by a large family whose corruption has its tenacles in every branch of the government - the police department, the mayor's office, the prosecutor's office.....and they do NOT like someone coming in and ruffling feathers.

Things start off with a bang - they find a body on her land and then the action just picks up speed with all kinds of crazy events. I really enjoyed this book and felt the level of tension just build and build until a pretty dramatic climax. Irene had already established herself as an interesting character with Mr. Gilstrap, but we really get to meet her and see what she is made of in this initial book. I also really enjoyed the kids -especially her nephew - he was the surprise character for me and boy oh boy did he surprise me.....in a good way.

This book was narrated by Natalia Payne and I felt she did a fine job.

So, yes. I am definitely on board with this new series and looking forward to the next book in this series. Can't wait.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia | Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book will be out for publication on May 27, 2025.