Linda Ladd

The Vanishing Angle by Linda Ladd
Will Novak #5

Will finds himself helping a damsel in distress...again...and not by design. He is to meet up with his girlfriend, Lori, at a steakhouse and then head off for some time together doing this, that, and one another. Well, that early arrival and Lori’s delay put him in the right place at the wrong time. When he is singled out by an unknown teenager, taken away from the restaurant and becomes aware of some nefarious doings by a group that needs to be brought down...well...what is he to do but become embroiled?

What I liked:
* The relationship between Will and Lori
* That though Will and Lori are together they don’t always see eye to eye
* The love Petrov had for his daughter and what he was willing to do to make sure she was safe
* The bad guys getting their just rewards
* Learning what the title meant in nautical terms
* Wondering where Novak & Lori will end up next and what situation they will find themselves in.

What I did not like:
* The bad guys...they deserved worse than what they received
* The corruption of governments – or the people that work within them that turn a blind eye to this and that
* The evil men do
* The ease with which evil men did what they did and managed to get away with it for so long
* That more than one innocent died

I have enjoyed the books I have read in this series but still seem to have enjoyed Witness Betrayed most of all. This book dealt with drugs, human trafficking and the opioid crisis and didn’t hold my attention quite as much as the previous book though I am not sure why...perhaps there was less investment on the parts of Will and Lori in this book than in the previous one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Lyrical-Underground for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars… (more)

The Devil’s Work by Linda Ladd
Will Novak #4

Will Novak is a man with a past. He has been a husband, father, Navy SEAL and a member of the NYPD. He was “lost” for a bit mourning the family the family he lost on 9-11 and seems to have found purpose working with Claire Morgan Black as a private investigator. Claire, recently married and six months pregnant, has sent Will off to wait for and perhaps protect a woman in need. Saving a young woman and her brother from MC thugs trying to kill them introduces him to Alcina’s sad story of the murder of her husband and abduction of her infant daughter. And thus begins this rip roaring tale that includes abduction, murder, torture, money laundering, motor cycle gang members without scruples, amoral men and cross-border human trafficking. Will calls in friends from his past to help and the Lori Garner, from the previous book, is also included as part of the team assisting to find baby Rosa. They will eventually save more than one woman and child and put a whole lot of hurt on some very evil people. It will be interesting to see where Will ends up next!

Coming into this series in the previous book was a treat and reading that book or this one does not require reading the first two books. That said, there might be more back story about Will, Claire and Black in those books that I would have enjoyed reading or that might have added to the backstory and made this story even better than it already was.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I like to read more in this series? Definitely!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Lyrical Underground for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars… (more)

Linda Ladd’s books are not cozy and pretty. Bad things happen. Really bad things. But the plots are so engaging and the action so thrilling and the main characters so fearless and engaging that I just can’t put the books down. Witness Betrayed is no exception. I was hooked on the Claire Morgan series from the start and was very happy when a Will Novak series became a reality. Will is a good guy with a tough past. He always, always tries to do the right thing, but he is not a man to be messed with. In Witness Betrayed he must deal with kidnapped children, human trafficking, drugs, money, and police corruption, plus an old friend who is at the end of his rope and unpredictable and a woman he’s not sure he can trust. The story is a fast-paced psychological thriller, moving from New Orleans to Houston to Beverly Hills, encountering the worst of the worst at every stop.

Great book, great author, always a pre-order for me, and I am never disappointed. Highly recommend.… (more)