Scan barcode
A review by theeditorreads
48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy
3.0
Ever since I saw the trailer for the Tactical Crime Division quartet on Harlequin's website, I knew I had to read it. Though reading a book with the word 'lockdown' in its title, amid a lockdown, feels surreal. This is my third read by [a:Carla Cassidy|39470|Carla Cassidy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1214506399p2/39470.jpg], and this one's a slow burn in suspense. A story involving a hostage situation with a negotiator usually is.
Annalise Taylor is a teacher at the Sandhurst School for the Gifted and Talented in Pearson, North Carolina. Evan Duran works in the Tactical Crime Division of the FBI and he's the best hostage negotiator they have in the nearby area. His skills would be needed as some unidentified gunmen take Annalise and a couple of kids hostage at the school. With the gunmen unwilling to state their intentions, will Evan and his team be able to get them out in time safely?
The story starts with a prologue, a regular day in the school, albeit a special school. But no sooner are the surroundings described when gunmen storm the building where Annalise was also there with three of her students. With more than two people dead, and the police coming in hot, the gunmen take hostage the school and what happens next is exactly what the title says.
Even on his day off, Evan is eager to get to the school where his Annalise is. She broke off with him three years ago over a text message (ouch!) and he can't help but think about her all the time, about why she left him. While on the ground, he is in his full negotiator mode, trying to handle the hostage situation and worried about Annalise in equal measures.
The entire story is not about the lockdown but about Annalise and Evan and further rescue operations involving a smart little girl named Sadie. She had my heart from the beginning of the story and I wished there was more of her in the end. Also, I liked how even in third-person narration, the author involved Sadie in the narrative too. I felt so sad for the eight-year-old Evan and what he had to go through in his past. I wonder if he gets any closure in life (in the later books, maybe?), though life is not a bed of roses.
With all the suspense and danger around, there's hardly any time for romance. That being said, I loved how the author made the heroine a straight talker. The length, for some reason, seemed to me to be too short and I was expecting more from the ending.
Annalise Taylor is a teacher at the Sandhurst School for the Gifted and Talented in Pearson, North Carolina. Evan Duran works in the Tactical Crime Division of the FBI and he's the best hostage negotiator they have in the nearby area. His skills would be needed as some unidentified gunmen take Annalise and a couple of kids hostage at the school. With the gunmen unwilling to state their intentions, will Evan and his team be able to get them out in time safely?
The story starts with a prologue, a regular day in the school, albeit a special school. But no sooner are the surroundings described when gunmen storm the building where Annalise was also there with three of her students. With more than two people dead, and the police coming in hot, the gunmen take hostage the school and what happens next is exactly what the title says.
Even on his day off, Evan is eager to get to the school where his Annalise is. She broke off with him three years ago over a text message (ouch!) and he can't help but think about her all the time, about why she left him. While on the ground, he is in his full negotiator mode, trying to handle the hostage situation and worried about Annalise in equal measures.
The entire story is not about the lockdown but about Annalise and Evan and further rescue operations involving a smart little girl named Sadie. She had my heart from the beginning of the story and I wished there was more of her in the end. Also, I liked how even in third-person narration, the author involved Sadie in the narrative too. I felt so sad for the eight-year-old Evan and what he had to go through in his past. I wonder if he gets any closure in life (in the later books, maybe?), though life is not a bed of roses.
With all the suspense and danger around, there's hardly any time for romance. That being said, I loved how the author made the heroine a straight talker. The length, for some reason, seemed to me to be too short and I was expecting more from the ending.