“CIA analyst Brynn Taylor developed a new program to combat terrorism, and she invited members of foreign intelligence agencies to America to foster cooperation between countries. Now one of them, Egyptian spy Remon Riad, is missing.
Jack Hudson has been working for the Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency (SNAP) for almost nine years and takes the lead in hunting down the missing spy. But he isn't at all pleased to find out Brynn is involved. It's hard to trust a woman who's already betrayed you.
Every lead they follow draws them dangerously deeper into an international plot. Kidnapping, murder, explosions, poisoning--the terrorists will do anything to accomplish their goal of causing a digital blackout that will blind a strategic US military communications center and throw the world into chaos.
Can Brynn surrender control to a man who doesn't trust her? And can Jack ever get over what she did to him? The fate of the world--and their hearts--hangs in the balance.”
Series: Book #1 in “The SNAP Agency” series. Review of the prequel novella Here!
Spiritual Content- A Scripture is quoted & remembered; A couple talks about God & trusting Him; Jack’s parents raised him knowing about the Lord, but after trying events, he started to question everything (thinking that it’s “easy to believe God was on his side when thing went the way he wanted”); Brynn makes a comment on why is God doing something to her (regarding to her life seems to be on tract, but then gets derailed); Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of God, trusting Him, & peace; Mentions of having faith; A few mentions of the armor of Christ & a Bible study; A few mentions of a man being Coptic (indigenous Christianity from Egypt) & has a cross tattoo; A mention of a missionary;
*Note: Mentions of Allah; Mentions of Allah blessing someone & Seif wondering why he isn’t blessed as he’s done everything right (memorizing the tenets of the Quran, fasted for Ramadan, and never missed a call to prayer), but is working two jobs to provide for his family; A few mentions of phrases meaning “God willing” and “If God wills” (regarding to Allah); Mentions of Muslim terrorist groups & Islamic extremism; Mentions of mosques, going to one, & an imam; A couple mentions of a prayer to Allah (by Seif); A mention of an American man giving his allegiance to a terrorist group and saying that “Allah’s will won’t be stopped”; A mention of Islam; A mention of someone reading the Quran; A mention of becoming a martyr (as a suicide bomber); A mention of someone believing that religions can coexist peacefully; A mention of making a deal with the devil; A mention of a group of people being like “cybergods”; A mention of a Neanderthal; A mention of aliens.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘how in the—‘, a ‘sheesh’, a ‘shut up’, and a ‘stupid’; A few mentions of curses (said, not written); Sarcasm & Eye rolling; Being held at gunpoint, Being held hostage, Being attacked, Being stabbed, & Fighting back (semi-detailed); Explosions/Bombs, A broken bone, Injuries, & Pain (up to semi-detailed); Finding bodies (barely-above-not-detailed); A car crash & Seeing car crashes (up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone pass out (up to semi-detailed); A near panic attack (barely-above-not-detailed); Seif smokes a cigarette; All about many, many mentions of terrorists, terrorism, violent extremists, traitors, plans of attacks, threats to national security, & cyber crimes; Many mentions of suicide bombers, bombs, explosions, victims, & deaths (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of 9/11 (including mentions of Brynn’s father being a firefighter on that day and seeing extreme grief from others); Mentions of wars & war zones; Mentions of deaths, murders, how it happened, & bodies (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of heart attacks, a death, & being poisoned/drugged, & drugs (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths of loved ones & grief (Brynn for her father and mother); Mentions of human trafficking (men and women for work), illegal immigrants, & a sweatshop; Mentions of attacks, fighting, stabbings, being held at gunpoint, being held hostage, gunshots, injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of crimes, violence, & protests; Mentions of extreme hatred; Mentions of car crashes & injuries; Mentions of a missing person; Mentions of children playing in a street almost being run-over; Mentions of cigarettes, tobacco, & smoking; Mentions of tattoos; A few mentions of torture & a picture of someone tied up and beaten; A few mentions of arson; A few mentions of lies & lying; A few mentions of nightmares; A couple mentions of kidnappings & killings; A couple mentions of the smell of burning hair, flesh, and bone; A couple mentions of a man slapping a young girl and her bleeding; A couple mentions of stealing; A couple mentions of throwing up; A mention of mass shootings (at concerts, churches, and schools); A mention of a boating accident & death; A mention of a burglar; A mention of a young woman looking like she spent all night at a club; A mention of substance abuse; A mention of bullies; A mention of rumors; A mention of jealousy; A mention of flesh-eating bugs; A mention of an eyebrow piercing; A mention of urine;
*Note: Mentions of cancer, treatments, & recovery (*Spoiler* Jack was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma before joining SNAP *End of Spoiler*); Mentions of actual terrorist groups (ISIS); Mentions of equality in the workplace & Brynn being subject to old-fashioned opinions on it as she works in a male-dominated environment (including mentions of other women also having to prove themselves in a man’s world); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of a designer brands & brand name (Louis Vuitton, U-Haul, Colgate, Reese’s Pieces, Eddie Bauer, Tupperware &Tylenol); Mention of TV shows, movies, & characters (Gunsmoke, Grey’s Anatomy, The Love Boat, Dateline, The Princess Bride, Harry Potter, A Christmas Story, The Sound of Music, Independence Day, James Bond, Jason Bourne, & Jack Ryan); Mention of actors/public figures (Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa, Houdini, Groucho Marx, Jack Kennedy, Anna Wintour, & Will Smith); A handful of mentions of Uber; A few mentions of a sonogram showing a baby has a deformity & the doctor suggesting about abortion to the parents (the mother is distraught and the husband promises to do whatever he can); A few mentions of places/stores (Starbucks & Whole Foods); A few mentions of a baseball team; A couple mentions of Timothy McVeigh; A couple mentions of GQ & Vogue; A couple mentions of Google; A mention of someone feeling like they’re walking into the next Stephen King novel.
Sexual Content- Staring at someone’s lips (twice), two hand kisses, a chin kiss, two almost kisses (one semi-detailed), and a borderline semi-detailed // detailed kiss; Wanting to be kissed (up to semi-detailed); Discussing a kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Remembering kisses, almost kisses, & touches (up to semi-detailed); Touches, Hand holding, Electricity, Nearness, & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); Blushes; Noticing (including muscles, barely-above-not-detailed); a ‘hot’, a ‘sexy’, and two forms of ‘hunk’; Many mentions of dates, dating, girlfriends/boyfriends, exes, & break-ups; Mentions of kisses, kissing, & another’s lips; Mentions of flirting & winks; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of Jack’s parents instilling in him to date intentional (which he thinks is “a difficult task given the dating world he lived in where singles liked their dates like they liked their food—fast and unfulfilling”); A mention of someone’s boyfriend constantly having a new boyfriend; A mention of a crush; A mention of Lyla wanting to find a “McDreamy”; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: A couple mentions of guys’ muscles (noticed by Brynn); A mention of “love [knowing] no age these days” in regards to relationships; A mention of a woman’s figure.
-Brynn Taylor
-Jack Hudson
P.O.V. switches between them & others
322 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Hmmm. I love the idea of this agency and plan to continue the rest of the trilogy, but I did struggle with this book for different reasons.
A main reason would be the main characters: Brynn & Jack.
I’m not a big fan of Brynn. She’s keeping a possible clue to herself because of the implications it could have for her if it is a national security concern. Her comments about working in a man’s world—while not frequent—were a bit much.
I didn’t like that Jack was sort-of-kind-of-somewhat-just-friends dating a girl, but started to be re-attracted to Brynn at the same time. He and the other girl weren’t serious, but it still felt kind of weird to me. (I have to add that I don’t think it helps that I was unconsciously comparing him to the Jack Hudson from Sue Thomas: FBEye that my family recently binged and I much prefer that Jack Hudson.)
I was more interested in the other characters, which speaking of side characters, can there be a side story of Dr. Payne? He amused me.
Secondly, there wasn’t really any Christian faith content until pg. 164, beside a few mentions of praying earlier. I was expecting at least a bit more Christian faith content, honestly, so I’m disappointed in that. There’s some mentions of trusting God and Him being our anchor in a storm, but at one point Brynn feels like God was giving her an anchor in the chaos when she sees Jack’s gaze towards her, which kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Our anchor in a storm is God, not a handsome man you like. Later, she still feels that peace and says it’s the hope that only God could offer, but I wish the prior part had been clearer. I would be more likely to mark this as a clean read than a Christian one because of the lack of faith content.
Overall? I’m pretty bummed. I had high hopes for the start of this series, but this first book definitely did not make them.
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.
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