Fatal Intrusion: A Novel (Sanchez & Heron Book 1)
As a wave of murders grips Southern California, an unlikely pair must untangle the mysterious patterns of an elusive killer. A propulsive new series by New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado.
Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator.
With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who, unlike Sanchez, believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor and she's cashing in. They team up to catch the assailant, who, mystifyingly, has no discernible motive and fits no classic criminal profile. All they have to go on is a distinctive tattoo and a singular obsession that gives this chillingly efficient tactician his nickname: Spider.
Over the next seventy-two hours, Sanchez and Heron find themselves in the midst of a lethal chess match with the killer as they race to stop the carnage. As the victims mount, so do the risks. Because this spider's web of intrigue is more sinister--and goes far deeper--than anyone could possibly anticipate.
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Community Reviews
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 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
