Unwrapping a Review of COUNTDOWN, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin

Carey Baldwin has done it again. She’s conjured a thriller that will keep you turning the pages late into the night with COUNTDOWN, book 5 in the Cassidy & Spenser Thriller series from Witness Impulse.

***purchased for my personal reading but sharing an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for COUNTDOWN:

Don’t believe everything you see.

Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are in Tahiti enjoying a much-needed break from the FBI when they spot newlyweds taking fun photos on the beach. But as the groom carries his bride deeper into the waves, Spense is positive he sees a flash of terror cross her face. All his instincts scream that this woman is in danger. Yet moments later, it’s the groom who has nearly drowned… and the bride has vanished, leaving a bloody wedding dress floating in her wake.

The authorities aren’t sure who to believe—the groom, who insists his wife tried to murder him… or her twin, who claims her sister must have acted in self-defense. Intrigued, Spense and Caity agree to help investigate. But when they discover that the missing bride is the daughter of a notorious confidence man, they begin to suspect that all is not what it seems. Now they’ll need to separate victim from villain, fact from fiction, truth from lie, to determine if there’s really a killer on the loose… or if it’s all one big con.

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Caity and Spense are in Tahiti to get married. The last thing they want or expect is to be drawn into a mystery regarding another couple they watch doing their photo shoot at the water’s edge after happily getting married on the same beach where they plan to have their own ceremony. As they watch the happy couple play and romp in the surf, everything suddenly turns serious when it looks as if the couple might be in trouble, possibly drowning. Spense springs to action and dives into the surf to help, with Caity right behind him. Suddenly, nothing is as it seems. The bride pulls out a gun, and shoots the groom, tears off her wedding dress, swims away and climbs into a nearby boat. When the bride appears in Caity and Spense’s bungalow later that night in her wedding undies, holding that same gun on them, they become very involved in what turns out to be the greatest of all cons.

This is by far my favorite of the series. From the moment I read the first page, the action started and never seemed to stop until the very end—an ending that brought tears to my eyes. Weddings don’t usually do that to me in books, but this one did. Caity and Spense are one of my favorite couples not just because they solve crimes together in a unique and sometimes, unorthodox way but because these two are truly perfect for each other. At times, they even seem to know what the other is thinking. They are fun together, even when aggravating each other. They are so in love with each other, even when they are fighting their feelings for each other. So to see them get their magic moment in the sunset was just wonderful. Especially after solving a con perpetrated by the last person, you ever expect to be instigating it. Excellent! Carey totally caught me by surprise.

If you love thrillers. If you love puzzles. If you love a watching a couple fall in love, work like a team, and want an action-packed page turning story, I highly, highly recommend COUNTDOWN, the fifth book in the Cassidy & Spenser Thriller series. If you haven’t read the first four, I recommend it but I suppose you could start anywhere. But if you do, I know you’ll want to go back and experience how these two met, and how their wonderful relationship came to be, and how it progressed to such a happy place. Thank you, Carey, for reminding me why I love this series so much.

Happy Reading Everyone!

COUNTDOWN, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin, Witness Impulse, available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

Unwrapping a Review of STOLEN, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin

I know I’ve been away for a long while, and I apologize for that. Family responsibilities keep me from reading at the rate I normally do but I assure  you that I am reading, and I will continue to review any book I feel you will enjoy reading. It’s taken me almost a year but I finally finished reading STOLEN by Carey Baldwin. STOLEN is the fourth book in the Cassidy & Spenser series of suspense thrillers from Witness Impulse. If you love a good edge of the seat story, this series is for you.

***purchased for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for STOLEN:

Is she missing…or a murderer?

When Laura Chaucer, daughter of a U.S. senator, vanishes from her college campus, celebrated FBI profilers Special Agent Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy are called in. Thirteen years ago, Laura and her nanny disappeared from her family’s Denver home. Laura was found alive, but her nanny wasn’t so lucky… and the killer was never caught. Laura could identify him—if only she didn’t have a deep, dark hole in her memory.

Now she’s missing again. Did the troubled young woman run away or has the kidnapper returned? As women who look eerily similar to Laura’s nanny begin turning up dead, the Chaucer family psychiatrist renders a disturbing opinion: Laura is unstable, a danger to herself and others. Who knows what terrible secrets lurk in the shadowy recesses of her mind? Cassidy and Spenser must solve one of the most infamous cold cases ever to uncover the answer: Is Laura a killer, or is a monster still out there, waiting to claim another victim?

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Thirteen years ago, Laura Chaucer was kidnapped, and her nanny murdered. Memories, as well as the lack of memories, have plagued her ever since. She has also felt as if she’d yet to be freed from the nightmare since her Senator father continued to protect and control every aspect of her life. When she decides to change colleges and returns to a school near the site of her kidnapping, trouble finds her again. Now she has awakened surrounded by blood, naked, sick, and there is an all too familiar lock of hair tied with a pink ribbon. But where is the monster from her nightmares? When will he return to finish her off, or is it possible that she is the killing monster all along?

Called in to be part of the task force investigating the disappearance of Senator Chaucer’s daughter who was kidnapped thirteen years earlier, Caitlin and Spense put their investigative and profiling skills to work. Much to Caitlin’s chagrin and Spense’s annoyance, the family’s therapist is also a man from Caity’s past and as far as Spense is concerned, a possible suspect. As the evidence begins to unfold, secrets become known, as well as possibly more victims, and suspects present themselves including Laura Chaucer as one.

As always, Carey Baldwin manages to weave an exciting and suspenseful thriller…and STOLEN is no exception. However, I had a bit of problem with how, when in Laura’s point of view, she seemed already to know Caity and Spense’s names. I also stumbled over some very obvious proofing errors but it was the prior problem that had me holding back from being totally hooked into the story.

However, later, as the mystery began to unfold, I got past all of that and became completely engrossed in the who-done-it and just when I thought I knew who it was…Carey knocked my feet out from under me and surprised me! I will say that I pride myself in figuring out the bad guy before the reveal, but she got me this time. Brava Carey! That made up for any other gripe.

I highly recommend STOLEN by Carey Baldwin to anyone who loves a good thriller with suspense, danger—physical and psychological, bad guys seemingly crawling out of the woodwork, and secrets that blow the story wide open as the serial killer bad guy is finally revealed. This entire series is exceptional and although the thriller part of the stories stand alone, the ever-increasing intimate relationship between Caitlin and Spense lends to this series being read in order. By the way, there’s a big romantic gesture in this one. And just so I don’t miss out, I’m moving directly on to reading book five in the series, COUNTDOWN.

Happy Reading Everyone!

STOLEN, a Cassidy-Spenser thriller by Carey Baldwin, Witness Impulse, available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

Unwrapping a Review of NOTORIOUS, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin

I love good suspense and am already a fan of the Cassidy & Spenser novels by Carey Baldwin, but NOTORIOUS surprised me with more than suspense this time. This one is the best of the series so far but if you haven’t read any yet, please do—Caity and Spense are for me, the Castle and Beckett of the literary world.

***copy purchased for my own personal reading but sharing my honest and unscripted review

Blurb for NOTORIOUS:

The woman everyone loves to hate is dead.

Dallas socialite Cynthia Langhorne is infamous for her beauty, her philanthropy, and her home wrecking—until she's found shot through the heart and posed nude at a fundraising ball. The case is high profile, and there's a bigger problem: Cindy is the wife of a decorated FBI special agent—the prime suspect in her murder.

When the Bureau sends FBI profiler Atticus Spenser and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Cassidy to Texas on behalf of Dutch Langhorne, the special agent-turned-suspect, they're suspicious of the very man whose interests they're supposed to protect. But with a psycho hitman on their heels and a trail of evidence leading up the food chain, it quickly becomes clear this is no ordinary case. The truth points to someone—or something—larger than Spenser and Cassidy ever thought possible. Solving this case is no longer a matter of clearing Dutch's name—it's a matter of national security.

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Picture it—a big fundraiser for the Governor of Texas who is planning to make a run for the White House, the venue is a prestigious and historical mansion, and everyone of importance is there, including the Governor Matt Cambridge, his wife, Heather, and his wife’s best friend, Cindy Langhorne and her husband, FBI Special Agent Dutch Langhorne. After telling her husband that she is meeting the Governor in private, Cindy promises to return to him by midnight for a dance. When she fails to reappear, Dutch goes looking for her only to find her dead in an upstairs bedroom, naked, and stretched out on the bed. Or so he claims to have found her that way…

Now the main suspect in his wife’s murder, Dutch requests two agents to come help him solve the crime—enter Spense and Caity, both of whom can’t figure out why Dutch would request them since he and Spense do not like each other at all. Soon Caity discovers the reason, and promises Dutch that she will keep the secret from Spense but only until the right time, and then Dutch must tell him the truth. In the meantime, there’s a nutcase assassin trying to head them off and keep them from finding Cindy’s diary which someone, some unknown someone, wants bad enough to kill for—and wait till you find out who the real killer is, and who that unknown someone is…fabulous. I did guess the killer, but the unknown took me totally by surprise.

NOTORIOUS, the third book in the Cassidy & Spenser Thriller series by Carey Baldwin is exceptional, action-packed, suspense filled and overflowing, and there are some absolute nail-biter moments, especially for Caity but what I enjoyed most about this installment of their adventures together in crime solving was the emotional factor. It’s all about intertwining relationships, childhood friendships, marriages filled with lies and miscommunication, family connections, and confrontations that will have you wanting to cry one moment, and cheer the next.

We’ve been waiting for something to happen between Cassidy & Spenser in a similar way as we did for Castle and Beckett. I will just say this…something happens…but I’m not saying anything more because I don’t want to spoil things for you. There is so much happening in NOTORIOUS that you just have to experience it for yourself.

If you love reading good suspense with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure, you’ll love the Cassidy & Spenser Thrillers but NOTORIOUS, I highly recommend this one because…well, I hear they’re cancelling Castle so I’m thinking Cassidy & Spenser should be our next great series to fall in love with…I already am. Read NOTORIOUS by Carey Baldwin…you can’t miss with this one. It’s got everything, sexy FBI agents, mystery, suspense, romance, and some funny moments too!

Happy Reading Everyone!

NOTORIOUS, a Cassidy & Spenser Thriller by Carey Baldwin, Witness Impulse, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.