Dangerous Games by Tess DiamondDangerous Games on March 28, 2017
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
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four-stars

In Tess Diamond’s gripping debut, when an elite negotiator and a security expert team up to solve a kidnapping, the only thing higher than the tension is the heat . . .

Maggie Kincaid left the FBI two years ago and didn’t look back . . . until now. A senator’s daughter has been abducted, and the nightmare set in motion isn’t just familiar to Maggie, it’s personal. She’ll need all the help she can get to bring Kayla Thebes home alive—even if that help comes from a hot-as-hell ex-soldier who plays by his own rules. . .

For Jake O’Connor, negotiation equals weakness. But he’s immediately drawn to the sexy former agent who epitomizes strength. It isn’t long before he and Maggie are working together 24/7, learning to read each other’s signals and wanting much more.

But for Maggie and Jake, letting their guard down—even around each other—may be dangerous. Now, as they close in on a kidnapper with nothing to lose, their first mistake could shatter a young girl’s last chance…

This may be a Romantic Suspense, but it’s much more of a Thriller. I think the investigation and kidnapping were so well done.

Maggie Kincaid is a washed up FBI agent. At least that’s how she sees herself. She’s a hostage negotiator who had a situation go wrong 2 years ago. She walked out of the FBI and didn’t return. Her mentor and boss cleaned up the fallout and handled everything. Meanwhile, the FBI’s best negotiator (that’s Maggie) just…left.

Frank, her mentor, finds her during her morning run and reminds her that she owes him. He wants her to come in as a consultant because a senator’s daughter was kidnapped and they’re already behind since no one knew she’d been missing for 12 hours. He wants the best. He wants Maggie.

Maggie reluctantly agrees and the second she walks into the senator’s house, she takes command. And she’s very good.

Jake O’Connor was a Ranger, but now he’s a security consultant. I think. I was never really clear was his actual position was. But he was brought in by a general who has a team of men like Jake who do off-the-books stuff. The first time he and Maggie meet they butt heads. But Jake sees instantly that she knows her stuff and is usually right. The two of them work well together, and Jake respects her mind and her process so he wants to join forces.

I was a bit frustrated with how many times Maggie doubted herself. I mean, I know that was part of the plot, her coming back from a bad case, but the amount of self-doubt was distracting. I was disappointed that Jake never got to use his extraction skills. That was literally what he does and he…didn’t get to do it. I feel like he was underused. But on the whole, this was an exciting and well-paced Romantic Suspense. I will definitely read more by Tess Diamond.

***Review copy provided by Avon Books

four-stars