The second kidnapping in one high-profile family ought to tip off our heroine that something is amiss; especially since the family is her own. She has made hostage release her life's work and has become one of the world's best, yet somehow she remains startlingly naive about her own upbringing and her uber-wealthy family. Parts of the mystery are good and compelling while other parts get bogged down in characters that defy common sense. Perhaps the next books in the series will have worked out some of the kinks.

I loved this suspenseful book! I wasn't entirely sure what to expect going into it - I'm so guilty of requesting based on covers, and the fact it was a thriller, I was sold! Kidnapping, hostage negotiations, International intrigue. I'm a sucker for any kind of political or international thriller (I can probably thank my Political Science and International Relations majors in college).

We follow the fast paced life of Thea Paris. She is a high profile and world renowned kidnap specialist and negotiator. When she was 8 years old, her older brother was kidnapped and she later learned that it was supposed to have been her. Now, decades later, her worst nightmare is becoming reality again. On his 60th birthday, her father is kidnapped from his yacht and his entire crew murdered. Thea jumps into action but from there, the case only gets stranger. Unlike most abductions, there are no ransom demands, no political appeals, no prisoner release requests. Instead, the kidnapper sends foreboding quotes in Latin by text from burner phones. What does the kidnapper want?

This was an incredible debut novel! I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for more of Howe's books in the future. It was unique perspective and you don't typically see through the eyes of the negotiator. Typically we see through the eyes of the detectives working with the negotiators, or the families relying on them. It created a fast paced read and kept you on the edge of your seat!

Thank you to the publisher for granting my wish to read a copy of this book!

Thanks to Quercus and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this detective/action story. It had many of the common elements of this type of story: admirable heroine, family secrets, etc. But it was very well written, much of the time I felt like I was watching an action movie, envisioning all the players and locations. This seems like a potential movie franchise to me. Highly recommend for fans of detective/action type novels (ala Jack Reacher for example).

I thoroughly enjoyed this debut offering of the hostage negotiator, Thea Paris. This story has lots of twists and turns, enough to delight most thriller readers. I look forward to the next installment.

K&R stands for Kidnap and Rescue. K&R professionals are hired to retrieve kidnapped executives on foreign soil, they also train executives on how to remain safe. Quantum International Security works outside the standard law enforcement channels in order to infiltrate and insure the safe return of hostages whether it is overseeing the ransom exchange or a precision extraction, Quantum is able to go places local or federal authorities are incapable of.

Thea Paris is a member of this elite circle of 25 highly trained professionals. She has intimate knowledge of this world as she watched her brother being taken from her billionaire father, oil magnate, Christos Paris’s estate. She was the intended target and because of that, she has dedicated her life to rescuing others.

THE FREEDOM BROKER opens with Thea and her team extracting a hostage from a rebel camp in Nigeria where Howe deftly introduces the team and major players in the story. Each member of the team is highly trained and fearless. Thea has a secret though, she is diabetic and has kept this information from the team. As the only woman in this male dominated world, she must be twice as strong and twice as competent and, as such, she guards her secret fiercely.

Rifat Askar, the boss’s son, is skilled but reckless. Thea has known him since childhood but is wary of his disregard for protocol and nearly gets the team killed during the Nigerian operation.

When they return from their mission, Thea leaves to celebrate her father’s 60th birthday. On the day of the event, her father is kidnapped from his yacht while Thea is on a run. Her sole focus is to bring her father home safely and shield her brother from any psychological fallout from the kidnapping. She is taunted by Latin texts, but no ransom demands, from the kidnappers. Thea and Rif grudgingly accept the assistance of former CIA agent and current US Hostage Recovery agent Gabrielle Farrah and Greek Inspector Maximilian Heros, keeping them on the periphery of the investigation while pursuing their own leads.

From the island of Santorini to the oil rich fields of fictional Kanzi Africa, Thea and Rif track down clues to her father’s location while simultaneously attempting to keep open negotiations for an oil deal that could net Paris Oil billions.

Howe has done her research. Her writing is tight and the situations and her characters come to life. It’s hard to believe this is her debut novel. Howe doesn’t fall back on standard thriller tropes; the story is fresh and unique. Thea Paris is a female Rambo, strong and resilient and this reviewer appreciates that Howe doesn’t fall into the “romance” trap. The action in the story keeps you on the edge of your seat and you don’t see the twist at the end coming.

I highly recommend this novel.

A fast paced, action packed story that will keep readers guessing until the very end!

When Thea Paris was a little girl she witnessed her brother being kidnapped. He was returned to the family after nine months, but that experience would shape the future for everyone in the Paris family. Thea is one of the best kidnap and ransom specialists in the world and she is the only woman in the freedom broker business. She is the team leader at Quantum Security International’s black-ops team, which goes on sensitive rescue missions to recover high value targets. On the eve of the party for her father’s sixtieth birthday party, Christos Paris is taken from his yacht, mere days before the biggest deal of his career. Everyone aboard the boat is killed and Thea waits for a ransom demand that is slow to come. Pushing aside the fact that she is too close to the case, she throws herself in to the job more determined to find her father than any case she has ever worked. The more she digs, the more the past comes to haunt them all and it becomes clear this is no ordinary case.

It is hard to believe that this is the debut novel. Howe wrote a very intriguing fast paced thriller that I very much enjoyed. One of the best aspects of the novel was the pace, it flowed easily even with chapters of different length. This actually helped because as the action intensified, the chapters got shorter making the pages fly faster and faster. The main character, Thea is the heroine, but is also very relatable with her weakness, diabetes. She is reluctant to share this information with anyone because she doesn’t want them to view her as weak because of it. I have read kidnap books before but never one where the focus is on the team that is sent in to get them back. It was a unique view of how things unfold on that side of the story. There was a fair amount of back and forth between past and present, usually this can be confusing and take the reader out of the story. Howe was able to make the transitions smoothly with the past scenes providing emotional support for the characters in the story. There were a few graphic moments of sexual content and some adult language making this only appropriate for a mature audience.

I picked this up after seeing a favorite author recommended it and I am really glad I did. I really hope there will be more to come from Thea Paris and her rescue missions. I recommend this book to lovers of suspense thrillers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

This was a fun, fast and entertaining debut of a new series featuring Thea Paris, an elite kidnap and ransom specialist. The action is non stop, the locales exotic and vividly described, and the characters an interesting mix of good and bad. Thea is, as expected, almost a superwoman with mad skills in combat and surveillance. The interesting aspect of her character is that she happens to be an insulin dependant diabetic so has to watch her diet, activity and blood glucose levels.

The daughter of a billionaire oil magnate, Thea could live a pampered life of luxury or take more interest in her father's business. But she and her brother, Nikos, have pursued other interests -- probably because Thea still feels a need to make up to her brother after he was kidnapped from her bedroom 20 years previously when they were both children. Nikos was returned to the family, but he was changed from the horrible experience. The father, Christos, is preparing to make a bid for oil rights in Africa -- his chief competition is from China -- when he is inexplicably kidnapped from his yacht in Santorini. Thea and her team kick into high gear and the adventures begin.

Of course she nearly dies a couple of times, but the reader really isn't that caught up or concerned because we know she, and certain of her people, will do what needs to be done and get out alive and save the day. Parts of the narrative are pretty grisly especially given what is learned about Nikos's time in captivity, and Thea has the requisite potential romantic interest, but overall this kept me turning the pages until I'd read cover to cover in a single sitting. I can definitely see this adapated for the big screen -- a twisty, action-packed thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Publishing for an e-book ARC to review. I am definitely looking forward to the second installment of this series.

Action and adventure is not my cup of tea. I requested this book from Net Galley because of the great reviews and the intriguing premise - international hostage negotiation. It did not disappoint. Sure, some of the main characters are underdeveloped, the romance comes at inappropriate times and without a proper build-up, the kinky scenes are more creepy than scintillating, but - again - the premise is very cool. Thea is an interesting character - I hope she is fleshed out in further books in the series (this is the first in a planned series I presume?) Her brother, Nico, is by far the most fascinating character - even her father, who's not all that he seems, deserves more paper space. Thea's partner, Rif, is all action and not very interesting, and other members of her elite squad are stock characters. But I'm giving it 4 stars because it's definitely a fun read, the action sequences are easy to follow (like a movie script, really) and I learned a lot about an industry I never knew existed.
Definitely purchasing for the library and will recommend to fans of Clive Cussler. Brad Thor, and David Baldacci.

The Freedom Broker, the first Thea Paris novel, is a fabulous debut. I really hope there are many more to come. From the first page to the last, I was on the edge of my seat. I did not want to put the book down. I highly recommend it to those of us who love thrillers. This is one of the best I have read.