3.5 stars. A good start to the series, though a little too much back story. Meg's history could have been more casually introduced. But an interesting premise, lots of dog time, and a story that's all too timely, even more now than when it was published.

The first book in a promising new series. Meg Jennings and her K9 FBI dog Hawk are searching for a Bomber in the US capitol. The inside look at how K9 teams work and train is fascinating. Other characters introduced are her sister Cara, and a reporter she works with to help find the bomber. Fast paced and holds your attention. Looking forward to ore books in this series.

The bond between a dog and their person is a strong one, the bond between a FBI K9 dog and their handler could mean the difference between life and death for the people they are trying to find and rescue, or finding out who perpetrated an act of violence. Lone Wolf is the debut novel by Sara Driscoll in which we meet Meg Jennings and her K9 partner Hawk. The reader goes along with them to a devastating terrorist bombing attack of a Washington DC government building and we witness the intensity with which these incredible dogs work to complete their mission.

Meg, a former police officer, finds herself in the situation where she needs to work alongside, however warily, with a reporter from the Washington Post, Clay McCord. The bomber has chosen him to be his mouthpiece and together Meg and Clay need to do what they can to help hunt him down before anyone else gets injured or worse.

The detail with which the author uses to convey the deep bond between dog and handler is vivid. The skill required to do what they do, and the wide variety of tasks be it search and rescue or recovery takes its toll on both partners but giving up isn’t an option, for both Meg and Hawk.

If you are a dog lover and want to learn more about the incredible skill it takes to train and be trained as a K9 Search and Rescue/Recovery dog, then Lone Wolf is the book for you. Looking forward to more from Sara Driscoll and from Meg and Hawk.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

Rescue dogs are featured in this suspenseful terrorism thriller. You get all the action & spy suspense while learning about the training of the dogs. Recommended read.

Kensington Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Lone Wolf. I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

FBI Special Agent Meg Jennings and Hawk, her trained search and rescue dog, are part of an elite FBI K-9 unit that use scent identification to aid in finding both the living and the dead. When a bomber destroys a government building with many people still inside, Meg and Hawk are one of the teams who search for the victims. After another bombing points to a serial criminal bent on revenge for an unknown reason, Meg becomes part of a task force to try and stop the deadly killings. When the media becomes involved, will they partner with the authorities in an effort to bring the rampage to an end?

Having read other books involving K-9 units, with the FBI in particular, I did not think that Lone Wolf was all that unique. The novel would have been better had the author shied away from the romance aspect, as I did not think that it added anything to the plot or to character development. The book was a bit repetitive, which slowed down the suspense aspects of the story. Overall, I liked the team of Meg and Hawk and would be willing to give another book with the characters a try. With the characters already established, the author would be able to commit fully to the case at hand. Readers who like police procedural thrillers and suspense, as well as those who like books with animal involvement, may like Lone Wolf.

This was an enjoyable read and a good start to a new series. Looking forward to the next book.

A story here that combines dog love and FBI work – or how working dogs – whether attack, drug finders, corpse finders or even those who help in disasters to find buried people, help the FBI and law enforcement in their work – and search and rescue.
Having followed a search episode as written in the story, I can truthfully say that the work for the dog handler, is only for those who are seriously fit. Not only do they often have to run long distances, in steel-toe capped boots, but often through different terrains, up hill and down hill, through water and bush, and generally prove that you are a long distance fell runner / marathon runner.
The dogs of course, steal this story.

I received a free copy of this book, from the publisher and author, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher, Kensington Books, the author, Sara Dricoll., and NetGalley.

I am all for a novel involving a dog and suspense. I am not a big fan of novels involving terrorism. So I am still on the fence about this novel.

With a very strong, well developed main character this novel is fast paced. At times it does lose the reader but easily gets the back. I enjoyed the telling from different characters but at times I had to go back to see who's view point I was reading from.

Unlike many other series, this has no romance to distract the reader from the real suspense. This fact I loved! It kept the fluff story telling to a minimum.

Will I read the next in this series, most likely yes. I love a novel with a dog as a main character.

A good story about tracking down a domestic bomb happy terrorist. The soul of this story is however about the life and deeds of the search and rescue dogs. This,in my opinion, largely overshadowed the actual story line. Still a good read.

Domestic terror also affects K-9 units and their dogs. This book did a super job of showing off the trainers, handlers and their amazing dogs. I appreacied that aspect of this book deeply.

Meg Jennings and Hawk, her K-9 partner are the focus of this book. Drones have been used to bomb government buildings, putting her and her labrador front and center in the action.

This book has several dog breeds, all working in various specialities, and it has a very strong real feel to this read. It's suspenseful and a reasonably fast page turner. Meg and Hawk have a killer to stop. I really liked this read. I would like more books by this author.

My copy came from Net Galley and Kensington Book. My review is all my own, and I was under no obligation to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I am sorry to say that this title was archived before I had a chance to read it. :(

I really enjoyed reading this story about Meg Jennings, an FBI K-9 handler and her dog Hawk. They tackle many and varied cases from search and rescue to following the scent of a criminal fleeing from a crime scene.

Meg and Hawk are a formidable team and their very close bond is apparent in this book. I also enjoyed reading about the other teams and how they work. Prior to reading this book, I didn't know very much about K-9 teams but I have learned quite a bit more now and I am full of admiration about the sort of work they do - it is tough, physically and emotionally, and both handler and dog have to be in top shape to be able to handle what is thrown at them. They are so tuned in to each other, they almost know what the other is thinking. Their bond was wonderful to read about.

Trying to find a terrorist with his own agenda of death and destruction is challenging and not for the faint hearted. I can't even imagine dealing with some of the scenes that would await the teams under those circumstances but deal they do.

This was a very enjoyable book and I am already looking forward to the next book in the series!

Highly recommended from me :)

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. With thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books.

A fantastic intro to a new thriller series where you're taken on a wild, tension filled roller coaster ride from beginning to end. It's been quite sometime since I've read and enjoyed a good suspense filled thriller. The characters, K-9 included, were well developed, with genuine qualities that drew you in, creating an emotional attachment...especially with the K-9's.

From the onset, the author cemented the success of the story through imagery and dialog. Each instance, were Meg and Hawk were deployed, kept me on the edge...riding out the suspense, terror (especially at the culmination of the chase to catch a mad man), and nail biting moments of uncertainty. Graphically speaking, the blood and gore was kept to a minimum, only used to serve the purpose to drill home the severity (not for shock factor) and to put an exclamation point on the dramatic situation. Ms Driscoll is quite talented in creating a story where you are completely immersed, loosing yourself into the words. I look forward to Meg and Hawk's next installment in the series.

This book was provided by the Publisher and Netgalley, I am voluntarily providing my honest review.

Working with the FBI K9 unit, Meg and her dog use all their skills to track down and apprehend a killer. This man has a serious grudge against the government and kills a lot of government officials, as well as bystanders, using bombs delivered by drones.
Although the story was nothing special, I found the book interesting because of information about the various activities of K9 units in the FBI: tracking fleeing criminals, searching for missing or lost people, locating bodies, and searching through the wreckage at disaster sites. Techniques and terminology were explained and demonstrated in the storyline. Methods of training the dogs and how the handlers interact with them were also explained and portrayed. It was also interesting to learn how the K-9 unit works with other departments within the FBI, as well as how interagency investigations are conducted.

As I read this, I kept thinking what a great kids movie this would make. In addition to the fun of watching the dog and handler teams interact, it would be a good way to introduce how law enforcement helps people. There is some violence (bombs, gunshots, and a mention of a dead girl), but the language used is appropriate for children, and there is no sexual content.
If you like dogs, or are interested in how K-9 units operate in law enforcement, you will probably like this book. I gave it only three stars, not because it was bad. It was well written and organized, and kept me interested throughout, but, as I said, it seemed aimed at children or teens. I also wondered about the title. I'm not sure who the lone wolf was. The dogs in the story were well loved and certainly not alone. Maybe it was the villain, but that doesn't seem to fit either.

Rating 3.5 Stars

When you do search and rescue, part of you becomes attached to the person you've saved through the intensity of the moment and the intimacy of the rescue itself.

Dog lover and super woman Meg Jennings the vulnerable type with grit is a true heroine. She takes her job seriously when it comes to children being the victims of a mad man. A series of bombs and the threat of more, Meg and her dog Hawk will find and bring to justice the man who is determined to payback what he deems the government has taken.

The relationship between dog and owner makes a great team as they trust each other to get their man. Both are determined and watch the other's back. I am looking forward to more of this dynamic duo.

A Special Thank You to Kensington Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review

I really enjoyed this book. Learning about how rescue dogs operate only made the book that much better.. (Amazon reviewed).

okay - even though there are incidents that are predictable, i was still excited by their playing out in this refreshing new set of characters - when things get dangerous, we really really care - and that's the skill of the writer - I liked the set up of interplay with sister and with colleagues and especially with the animals, knowing that what they were able to do, their loyalty and fearlessness too, were authentic - it felt real and we are reassured in the opening and the comments throughout that dogs can truly track and react in the ways Driscoll, the author, says they can. If this is the start of a new series, as I think is indicated, it will be truly captivating.

<http://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=61817>

This is a brilliant action packed novel.
A real page turner that I just could not put down until I had finished it.
Left me wanting to read more about the characters and especially the dogs.

I received this ARC from Net Galley and I really liked that they had an excerpt on the website to give you a preview of the story as well as the writer's writing style. I really liked the excerpt and was glad that I was approved for this book.

I really liked the premise of this book and I was immediately drawn in with the search for a killer with S&R dogs and their handlers at the beginning of the story. This was an introduction to Meg and her dog Hawk and it worked for me. This quickly segued into Meg's involvement with going into a bombed building looking for survivors. A domestic terrorist is bombing government buildings and doesn't care about the collateral damage of innocent people. The bomber plot was really good and I thought the back story on the bomber was realistic.

We see the bombing and investigation primarily from Meg's viewpoint as the FBI searches for the bomber. We also get the viewpoint of the bomber/domestic terrorist. We don't know who he is but we see his side and why he has started his actions. The plot and the characters are good and this is the type of story I like to read.

Meg is given a solid back story with her prior occupation of being a cop with a canine partner and I like the family set-up with her sister and parents and their efforts on dog rescue and training. The story introduces a reporter and a fireman who are possible relationship opportunities for her and/or her sister, but this first book does not provide much in the relationship department which may disappoint RS readers. Aside from Meg, most of the other characters aren't fleshed out that much and need a little more depth and page time.

Even though I really liked the plot there were a lot of points that pulled me out of the story. Some of my issues were with the premise of "who" was doing "what" within the FBI.

Sometimes it's the little details that create stumbling blocks and pulls a reader out of a story. While reading I kept questioning why she was working out of FBI HQ in the Hoover building. It's a little thing, but the Hoover building was mentioned a lot. I kept thinking an S&R group might be a part of CIRG (Critical Incidence Response Group) which I think is located out of Quantico. I may have missed something.

The other set-up issue I couldn't understand was who and where the bomb task force was. I wondered where the DC Field Office was during all the investigation. Wouldn't it have been their case? We see very little of the bomb task force and their investigation. In an effort to have Meg be a key player in the investigation, there seemed to be some contrived plot points that I couldn't buy into. I think one of the weak points of the story is that we don't get to see the investigation from the perspective of the team investigating the bombing only from Meg's perspective. We don't know who they are and apparently the task force that is set to investigate the bombing is pretty slow and incompetent because Meg plays the wildcard persona who takes matters in her hands.

[Spoler Alert provided]. She's given a very small support role to go through files and pass information onto the task force coordinators, but she doesn't do this. She secretly meets up with a reporter (whose info has already been passed to the task force/her superiors), she steals case files (the files she went through as well as other people's) from FBI HQ and brings them home, she shares confidential information with her sister and the reporter. I was wondering if she reviewed these files and found issues, why did she still have them? Did she not pass the information onto a data analyst for data mining? But she gathers files, takes them home and her and her sister put them in a spreadsheet? Really? But it's cool because her low level boss can protect her from being written up and having her security clearance revoked. She hooks up with past cops to find out info on missing military grade C4. And we're told that due to bureaucracy, the agents who investigate cases all the time (probably CIRG) can't make these connections as quick. It wasn't believable. Meg tends to jump to conclusions with knee jerk reactions so it was hard for me to see her solve this case as quickly as the investigative task force with so many more resources at their disposal. My snarky side was thinking that based on her actions, Meg's career in the FBI would have probably been short lived to just this one book.

In addition to the thin investigative plot, some of the other clues in the story were a little too convenient. A shirt left out so they can find the bomber's scent. His pick-up left where it can be found and they can find his trail. After bombing his home to leave no evidence, I don't think he would have left a shirt outside. For a get-away vehicle, it would be more believable that he ditched his pickup (which would be a known vehicle) and purchased something new via cash that couldn't be as easily tracked. [End spoiler alert.]

I'm probably being too hard on this, but it just didn't work for me.

The author has a good writing voice and a lot of potential with this storyline. She does a really good job with the rescue scenes with Meg and her dog Hawk and I'm huge into S&R stories. I just needed more of a reality check on the investigation procedures and in particular Meg's involvement of the procedures. I think readers who read a lot of crime/investigation novels will probably take issue with some points but readers who read stories with only sub plots of crime may not take issue. There were points where I skimmed because I didn't feel like the scene was advancing the plot - like the run in DC. I really didn't need the tour guide version.

There were so many times I was pulled out of the story because it just didn't seem likely. Yes it's a story, but what makes stories come alive is when they seem plausible. In this situation it needs to be grounded in a reality people know so that you feel it could happen…is happening. I don't want to suspend disbelief in areas that just don't seem logical.

2.5 Stars rounded up