Not a bad book, it has deviated quite a way since the original set up in the first book - seems a bit odd having a forensic artist so involved in a spy-like law enforcement agency really.

If you can look past that oddity and the whole spy-lair-entrance-in-a-train-tunnel-trope then it's a fairly good tale of embezzlement and money laundering through government funding of refugee resettlement programs. Naturally, a terrorist sneaks through such a link for a reasonable sub-plot also.

Improvement over book 3, however I found 1 & 2 were the best ones of the series. ( )

4th in the Sydney Fitzgerald series, Syd is back in the US and trying to take a Christmas holiday in San Francisco with her family (who's starting to grow on me I think). Of course, if she was successful in having a vacation there would be no story and indeed the vacation time off gets interrupted by her former partner Tony Carillo, whose almost ex-wife gets herself into a bit of trouble via a guy named Trip (maids trying to commit murder, etc.)

At the same time Griffen and Tex from ATLAS are trying to find a terrorist who they've lost track of before something bad happens.

Needless to say the cases become emeshed (in some places at least) and Syd and Griffen are teamed up again. Not to mention Tex gets to be the one to go to Europe and Britain and do some very thriller-y stuff.

Not a lot of the book was surprising to me. The twists weren't too twisty. But as usual the characters were what kept me reading, from the 'previous', i.e. the exes (Scotty, ex of Syd and Sheila, ex of Tony) to the 'next', the very complicated relationship between Syd and Griffen.

I also thought that it was a much better book. Not so much better written, but more enjoyable. That's probably partially because more of it was set in the US than previous books, and it was much, much more of a mystery than the previous one. It did have thriller parts in it, but it wasn't just one big chase scene.

All in all I really liked the book. Solid four stars. ( )

In this book, FBI sketch artist Sydney Fitzpatrick, is asked by her friend Tony Carillo to investigate his soon to be ex-wife Sheila's boyfriend, Trip, in his case of suspected embezzlement. Sydney investigates more on the organization that Trip worked for, A.D.E., and she finds out that although this organization helps charities in aiding refugees, it may also be helping terrorists.

Sydney once again works with Zachary Griffin, James "Tex" Dalton, and the rest of the people who work black ops in ATLAS. Griffin is trying to locate a terrorist that they believe might be trying to cross into the U.S., if he hasn't already done so. Soon their different cases turn into one, and they must help find the person that wants to bring destruction possibly to the whole nation.

I love this series because the scenarios seem realistic, there is suspense and mystery, and the characters are likeable. Also, the reader does not have to read previous books in the series to understand and read each book by itself. This book has enough background information about the characters and other relevant parts of the story that were mentioned in the previous books that allows the reader to understand this book's storyline.

There are sixty-seven chapters in the book. The reader is introduced to many characters (about 70) throughout the whole book, but about 25 of the characters have main active roles. Most of the characters have appeared in previous books in the series, and some of the new characters introduced in this book are mysterious (the reader will question if the characters' actions are for good or for bad).

What I liked most about this book is that this time around, the story follows different protagonists in different situations (ex. they are all working in different locales on different leads).

There is more inclusion of other characters that have been seen in the previous book, such as Tex and Donovan. Also, there is a budding romance part in the story for Sydney and Griffin (which adds some humor sometimes to the story).

The story has mystery, suspense, car chases, fighting, and everything else typical of detective novels that will keep readers intrigued in the plot(s) of the story. This story has suspense up till the ending of the book (not kidding, the reader will be in suspense right up to the last page of the book). ( )

This is a terrific read, took me a day and a half to read as I couldnt put it down. ( )