"The Traitor's Pawn" by Lisa Harris

About this book:

  “When FBI agent Jack Shannon arrives in Corpus Christi, Texas, he is focused on one thing: find the man who has been selling encrypted government secrets to the Chinese through online birding chat rooms. But when a senator is shot during a hunting trip and the woman he was with is abducted, Jack agrees to join the search--especially when he discovers that the kidnapping victim is Aubrey Grayson, a woman he was once in love with.
  As the search continues, it becomes clear the senator may not have been the intended victim--and Aubrey may be connected to the other case Jack is supposed to be working on. Can Jack untangle the knots before it's too late? And when he learns the truth, will it be too painful to get past?”


Series: No, a stand-alone.


Spiritual Content- Prayers & Thanking God; Talks about God, faiths, forgiveness, trusting God, & those in the Bible; ‘H’s are not capitalized when referring to God; Mentions of God & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of churches, church going, & pastors; A couple mentions of a prayer room/chapel.

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘shoot’, two ‘shut up’s, and five ‘stupid’s; A bit of sarcasm; Being attacked/hit, fighting, pain, passing out, being drugged, & being abducted (up to semi-detailed); Gunshots/gunfire, shooting someone, seeing people shot, being shot at, injuries, blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Grenades, bombs, explosions, fires, & smoke (up to semi-detailed); Threats; All about many mentions of treason, traitors, & spies; Many mentions of shooters/murderers, bodies, & blood/bleeding (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of dead bodies (including of children) & the murderer (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a carjacking, car wrecks, & someone dying from being hit by a car (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a suicide (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of morgues & body bags; Mentions of kidnappings, being threatened, injuries, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of snipers, gunshots, being shot, injuries, blood/bleeding, & the shooter (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of hostages & guns being aimed; Mentions of bombs & explosions; Mentions of criminals & jail/prison; Mentions of robberies; Mentions of blackmail; Mentions of drugs & being drugged; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of hunting & accidents; Mentions of divorces & leaving a spouse; A few mentions of possible assassination attempts; A couple mentions of tattoos; A mention of bullies;

             *Note: Mentions of actors/actresses & movies; A few mentions of car brands; A few mentions of social media platforms.

Sexual Content- A cheek kiss and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss someone; Touches & Embraces; Noticing; Many mentions of dating, dates, girlfriends/boyfriends, break-ups, & exes; Mentions of wanting to kiss someone; A few mentions of affairs & adultery; A few mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of Aubrey’s dad marrying a girl half his age; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;

             *Note: A mention of testosterone.

-Aubrey Grayson

-Jack Shannon
                                P.O.V. switches between them
                                                        317 pages

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Pre Teens-

New Teens-

Early High School Teens-

Older High School Teens-

My personal Rating-

{ Not for those sensitive to murders/violence }

Lisa Harris is a must-read suspense author for me. I’ve read almost all of her suspense books and make it a point to get her new ones when they release. This newest book, I admit I was a little concerned about for a couple different reasons. One of them being that Aubrey and Jack knew each other prior to the story starting and that he liked her. Typically, I do not enjoy the “old flames reuniting again” plot trope, and I was pleasantly surprised that this book actually did not have that trope. Jack liked her in high school/college but never confessed his feelings. This stand-alone suspense novel had quite a few parts I enjoyed—like Jack and Aubrey not being so lovely-dovey. It can be common in romantic suspense books to have oddly placed kisses or romantic discussions between the main characters, and I’m happy to say that this book really didn’t have that (bonus points!). I liked all the faith discussions and content. It was well done.

Jack seemed to be well-informed about mental health and sometimes talked to Aubrey like a therapist, but they seemed good for each other.

With the suspense plot, however, I really couldn’t get into it. I liked that it was set in my state (well, hmm, actually, maybe a little too close to home?) and it was interesting reading about modern day spies and treason. So even though this wasn’t my favorite by this author, I did like how she has branched out in her recent stand-alone books to feature other types of crimes and I’m looking forward to learning more about her new series.  

See y’all on Friday with a new review!

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Revell) for this honest review.