Customer Reviews

Cutting Edge (FBI Trilogy)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Allison Brennan has been one of my favorite mystery writers since she started. I have all her books and I think I have reviewed most of them, but this one was a letdown. Most have a good romance and a good story this one however was just not as good. Yes, there is gore. Yes, there is a mystery. Yes, this is Duke Rogan's story. Was I disappoointed? Yes!!! First of all the story starts out twenty yrs ago with a couple of revolutionaries who were blowing up buildings. The daughter turns her mom and stepdad into the FBI. The daughter, Nora, falls in love with her FBI contact, who is murdered by her stepdad. Her mom is sent to prison and Nora and her sister to child services. Now twenty years later she is an FBI Agent and her sister Quin is a Fire Marshall.

Once again terrorists are targeting Biotech firms. The latest one is protected by Duke Rogan's security. There is a body this time and it is the owner of the firm who was a friend of Duke's. Duke is immediately attracted to Nora, but although she likes him she clings to the memory of Andy from 20 years ago. As the mystery unfolds it turns out that the deaths from 20 years ago have not been forgotten and now someone is out for vengence.

I really expected a better romance. I was bored by the constant back and forth revelations. When it finally hit the fan you already knew what would happen and it was disappointing. At the end of the book she says she is going to write a new series with a supernatural slant. I think she has reached the end of this type of story and needs to branch out. I will be looking forward to her next novel ORIGINAL SIN which will be out in March of 2010.

"Cutting Edge" joins the other Brennan books in being absolutely awesome. It was not her best, but, with Brennan, it's awfully hard to not be good. I finished this book in a day, I enjoyed it so much. Like most of her books, Brennan presents suspension, drama, and a crime with a twist that will shake you so hard you'll have the book dropping from your fingertips. It's romantic and sexy, but still incredible with the crime and the characters.

I think my favorite thing about the books Brennan writes is that she continues her stories, set in the same world, but switching character focus. It's brilliant. She has mastered the art of suspense and continues to keep me on the end of my chair, turning page after page.

When she was eighteen years old, Nora English betrayed her deadly anarchist mom by turning her in to the FBI. She did it to save her younger sister Quin. Twenty years later mom still lingers behind bars psychotically outraged at her two ungrateful daughters especially the older one, who besides her treachery has become a FBI agent; her younger one is almost as evil becoming an arson investigator. To her glee, they are somewhat estranged.

Nora investigates arsons of the biotech industry by an apparent internal terrorist gang. This time they breach security expert Duke Rogan's computer system protecting a biotech company, but the inferno is different as the charred remains of a corpse are found. The autopsy reveals the starling revelation that the deceased actually bled to death. Norah and Duke realize something new and lethal has entered the equation, but what and who remains elusive as both investigate as a team.

Although having teammates working a dangerous inquiry fall in love is quite common as romantic suspense is hot, Allison Brennan adds a refreshing profound psychological look at the dependency of relationships and of a need to belong. Quin needed Nora back then and Nora needed to be needed by Quin back then. Thus Duke has quite a task to win Nora's heart. Fans will relish this terrific thriller as Nora realizes she is a prime target not because of her inquiry, but because of her lineage and begins to fear Quin is behind the assaults. CUTTING EDGE is a winner.

Harriet Klausner

I realize that Allison Brennan is a romance writer which I'm not too keen on (they usually have stupid and weak women) but her story lines are terrific and intriquing. I actually get caught up in the mystery of the subject matter and until I get to the page where they're smooching and hugging, I'm pretty much interested in how it's all going to turn out. I'm tempted, at times, just to read the end, but I stop and tell myself that there are possible new words to

learn here so I continue reading on. If you like adventure and romance, these are your books!

The third book of the trilogy was definitely the weakest. The attraction between the main characters had apparently started years ago, so you felt like you were walking into the middle of something and didn't have a clue what was going on. I also didn't like knowing from the start who the culprit was, especially since their whole back story was extremely easy to figure out.

I'm not a fan of the supernatural, so I'll wait until Lucy Kincaid's story comes out next fall to read another book by this author.

Book arrived quickly, a real steal for the money! Great reading! Thumbs up!

I read this trilogy and these books have noting in common. You can read the last one first or second. It doesn't matter.

About the book: Is fast paced but it has parts where it goes out of reality. That doesn't mean is a bad book but the best of this "trilogy" was the second book, which I read first. "Fatal Secrets"

If Nora was a real person I would call her a drama queen. The story was a different take in the "who done it" tale, which was good, but I got a little tired of everybody's angst. It's pretty bad when intelligent (?) adults have to go through a mental check list of how everyone in their life had hurt them somehow before they can say hello to a new person. First time I read this author and probably the last.