Category: Steph Broadribb

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Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb – Review.

About The Book

A city in darkness. A building in lockdown. A score that can only be settled in blood…
Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.

An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.

When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.
And that’s just the beginning…

My Review

With thanks to the author for the copy received. After the events in the preceding book, Deep Dirty Truth I couldn’t wait to read this follow up. It would help if you knew what happened there but you could still enjoy this book by reading it as a stand-alone. 

From the opening chapters Lori is in danger despite J.T’s attempts to keep her safe. He  has health issues however and they do slow him down. But she is more than capable of looking after herself. Apart from having to learn poker. 

I have to admit that this is a game I know absolutely nothing about. I was a little concerned it would impact on my enjoyment of the novel but it only covers a couple of chapters. And those chapters were easy to follow, I just smiled at  Lori’s methods at convincing the experts she knew what she was doing.

 When the game came to an abrupt halt the tension increased dramatically. Because it is very short chapters which switch constantly between Lori and J.T’s predicament I struggled to put the book down. Each time one narrative ended I was desperate to find out what happened next. The author certainly knows how to keep a reader hooked. I liked both accounts equally but really appreciated getting to know more about J.T. 

It is a long time since I have felt so on edge reading a book. Wondering what would happen next and to whom. Wondering who was somebody who could be trusted and who fit the description by the  unknown electronic voice. And definitely who would be Herron. 

This has been my favourite book in the series, I hope we don’t have to wait too long to see what will happen next to Lori and J.T. 

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Deep Dirty Truth by Steph Broadribb – Blog Tour Review.

About The Book

A price on her head. A secret worth dying for. Just 48 hours to expose the truth…

Single-mother bounty hunter Lori Anderson has finally got her family back together, but her new-found happiness is shattered when she’s snatched by the Miami Mob – and they want her dead. Rather than a bullet, they offer her a job: find the Mob’s ‘numbers man’ – Carlton North – who’s in protective custody after being forced to turn federal witness against them. If Lori succeeds, they’ll wipe the slate clean and the price on her head – and those of her family – will be removed. If she fails, they die.
With North due in court in forty-eight hours, Lori sets off across Florida, racing against the clock to find him and save her family. Only in this race the prize is more deadly – and the secret she shares with JT more dangerous – than she ever could have imagined. In this race only the winner gets out alive…
Brimming with tension, high-stakes jeopardy and high-voltage action, and a deep, emotional core, Deep Dirty Truth is an unmissable thriller by one of the freshest and most exciting voices in crime fiction.

My Review

With thanks to Orenda Books and Steph Broadribb for the copy of the book, I was thrilled to be part of #teamlori who were all sent early copies. Deep Dirty Truth is the third full length novel in the Lori Anderson series and it is my favourite one so far. When Lori is forced into a car after dropping her daughter Dakota off at school the danger all of them are in doesn’t lessen until the end of the book. Not only do they face danger from the mob but also from the rather nasty wildlife. I’m not sure which I’d be more wary of!
Whilst most of the narrative concerns Lori you also get to see what is happening with JT, Dakota and Red. Each time it switched I was anxious to go back again, the timing is perfect. I read a lot of books that have more than one narrative and it takes a great author to get it as perfect as it is here. For this reason I read this book very quickly, I was going to read two at once but that never happened. This is definitely a book you could read in one setting.
This is a series where the storylines tend to overlap. You could read this book as a standalone novel but will get so much more if you read the books in order. All of the characters and parts of the ongoing storyline have developed strongly.
Dakota is a character I adore, if you could read a novel where a secondary character became the primary one in another novel she would be my choice. She is brave, funny and very independent.
One of the most intimidating parts was when Lori was going though the Everglades. It’s not somewhere I know, and not something I would plan on visiting after this. I could practically see the alligators swim past me.
I felt that many storylines were closed at the end of this novel, please let there be another.

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Deep Dirty Truth by Steph Broadribb – Review.

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About The Book

A price on her head. A secret worth dying for. Just 48 hours to expose the truth…

Single-mother bounty hunter Lori Anderson has finally got her family back together, but her new-found happiness is shattered when she’s snatched by the Miami Mob – and they want her dead. Rather than a bullet, they offer her a job: find the Mob’s ‘numbers man’ – Carlton North – who’s in protective custody after being forced to turn federal witness against them. If Lori succeeds, they’ll wipe the slate clean and the price on her head – and those of her family – will be removed. If she fails, they die.
With North due in court in forty-eight hours, Lori sets off across Florida, racing against the clock to find him and save her family. Only in this race the prize is more deadly – and the secret she shares with JT more dangerous – than she ever could have imagined. In this race only the winner gets out alive…
Brimming with tension, high-stakes jeopardy and high-voltage action, and a deep, emotional core, Deep Dirty Truth is an unmissable thriller by one of the freshest and most exciting voices in crime fiction.

My Review

With thanks to Orenda Books and Steph Broadribb for the copy of the book, I was thrilled to be part of #teamlori who were all sent early copies. Dirty Truth is the third full length novel in the Lori Anderson series and it is my favourite one so far. When Lori is forced into a car after dropping her daughter Dakota off at school the danger all of them are in doesn’t lessen until the end of the book. Not only do they face danger from the mob but also from the rather nasty wildlife. I’m not sure which I’d be more wary of!
Whilst most of the narrative concerns Lori you also get to see what is happening with JT, Dakota and Red. Each time it switched I was anxious to go back again, the timing is perfect. I read a lot of books that have more than one narrative and it takes a great author to get it as perfect as it is here. For this reason I read this book very quickly, I was going to read two at once but that never happened. This is definitely a book you could read in one setting.
This is a series where the storylines tend to overlap. You could read this book as a standalone novel but will get so much more if you read the books in order. All of the characters and parts of the ongoing storyline have developed strongly.
Dakota is a character I adore, if you could read a novel where a secondary character became the primary one in another novel she would be my choice. She is brave, funny and very independent.
One of the most intimidating parts was when Lori was going though the Everglades. It’s not somewhere I know, and not something I would plan on visiting after this. I could practically see the alligators swim past me.
I felt that many storylines were closed at the end of this novel, please let there be another.

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Deep Blue Trouble by Steph Broadribb – Blog Tour Review.

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About the Book

Her daughter Dakota is safe, but her cancer is threatening a comeback, and Lori needs JT – Dakota’s daddy and the man who taught Lori everything – alive and kicking. Problem is, he’s behind bars, and heading for death row. Desperate to save him, Lori does a deal, taking on off-the-books job from shady FBI agent Alex Monroe. Bring back on-the-run felon, Gibson ‘The Fish’ Fletcher, and JT walks free. Teaming up with local bounty hunter Dez McGregor threatens to put the whole job in danger. But this is one job she’s got to get right, or she’ll lose everything.

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received.
Deep Blue Trouble is the second full length novel to feature Lori Anderson. I recommend reading them in order, the books are closely connected and the events here occur immediately after those in Deep Down Dead.
All of the characters I loved there have reappeared but there is a difference. Lori is on her own more, JT is in prison and she has left Dakota out of harms way in a holiday camp. She hates leaving her there but she needs to know that she is safe whilst trying to clear JT’s name. She gets off to a bad start with Dez McGregor who until more is revealed about him isn’t likeable or one that I would trust. But it is also easy to see why he does react the way he does. In her panic she doesn’t show her better side.
I liked her dedication, her friendship and trust that she had with Red felt special. Some of my favourite scenes featured him. He is a character who could get stronger throughout the series, I would love a book to be based around him needing Lori’s assistance.
In this novel we get to know more about Lori and how much she is prepared to do to save the ones she cares about. She has a sympathetic streak, and is aware that there is a fine line between doing the right thing and doing the wrong. That some who kill do so out of desperation whereas some are just bad people.
I had a feeling of anxiety throughout. I was dreading something happening that would cause Lori heartache but fortunately I was wrong. There needs to be another book soon, my chin hit the floor at the last page and I need to know what happens next.
If you fancy a series that is like the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich you will love this. Fast paced whilst heart warming. Brilliant.

Deep Blue blog poster 2018

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Deep Down Dead by Steph Broadribb.

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About the Book

Lori Anderson is as tough as they come, managing to keep her career as a fearless Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills start to rack up, she has no choice but to take her daughter along on a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things start to go wrong. The fugitive she’s assigned to haul back to court is none other than JT, Lori’s former mentor – the man who taught her everything she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past.

Not only is JT fighting a child exploitation racket operating out of one of Florida’s biggest theme parks, Winter Wonderland, a place where ‘bad things never happen’, but he’s also mixed up with the powerful Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on their tails, just three days to get JT back to Florida, and her daughter to protect, Lori has her work cut out for her. When they’re ambushed at a gas station, the stakes go from high to stratospheric, and things become personal.

Breathtakingly fast-paced, both hard-boiled and heart-breaking, Deep Down Dead is a simply stunning debut from one of the most exciting new voices in crime fiction.

My Review

Deep Down Dead is a brilliant fast-paced novel. Lori has no other option than to take her daughter Dakota with her on her latest job. It’s one that she would prefer not to do but she is desperate to pay for Dakota’s medical treatment. The man she has to bring in she knows very well.
I loved this novel. I have to admit I had felt slightly dubious about reading it. I don’t really like reading novels that have a sick child in but I had no need to worry. There were no details other than the financial situation that she needed to resolve.
Lori is everything I like in a heroine, she is sassy, independent and very loyal. I had a feeling that Dakota would be just like her. JT is a loner with a heart. This becomes more evident when he reveals why he ended up being a fugitive.
The storyline could have  been quite harrowing, but one of the reasons I like this novel so much is that it isn’t gratuitous. You are aware what has been happening at the theme parks and there are some violent scenes but nothing that I felt uncomfortable reading. I was smiling to myself reading the description of the theme park. It is something I have never been to and if they are anything like portrayed I won’t be visiting anytime soon.

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received for review.

 

Steph Broadribb will be appearing at February First Monday at Goldsboro Books on Feb 6th. detail can be found here