I really enjoyed this romantic suspense novel! When Scott's platoon is compromised and half of his team is killed he is devastated and determined to find out what happened. What he is shocked to find is the woman he loves, Natalie, is a Russian spy. Now he must track her down and make her pay. Natalie is more of a pawn in a bad situation but will she get Scott to believe her? Excellent!

At the heart of it, ‘Out of Time’ is one of assumed betrayal, even more assumptions that the protagonists have of each other and the elasticity of truth, all of which revolve around a botched mission, a missing SEAL team and questionable loyalties.

Natalie Andersson isn’t who she seems and as the story progresses, it’s evident that there’re contradictory gaps in both what Scott Taylor and Natalie believe of each other. The former’s a huffing and puffing betrayed military man, the latter? Quite possibly the worst spy in history. But the Russian sleeper agent and the elite American soldier form a pairing that’s charged with so many overtones in today’s political climate and that Monica McCarty takes it on makes ‘Out of Time’ a sort of contemporary forbidden trope and one that I really wanted to read.

By and large, I did like Nat/Scott’s story though I found the secondary couple of Colt/Kate more compelling in the whole narrative arc of lies, deceit and vengeance as the characters pursued some kind of justice for themselves and for the dead men. Dealing with 2 couples isn’t an easy feat by any means, though the focus on 4 major characters did mean less focus on each couple, which left me a feeling little short-changed about it. For all the build-up, I thought the ending was somewhat anti-climatic, with less of a bang and more than a whimper than I’d hoped. I couldn’t tell though, if there is going to be a continuation of the series or not—McCarty doesn’t give any hint of how resolved things really are—but I’m still hoping for the secondary characters to get their own books somehow.

‘Out of Time’ is not a standalone and that much becomes obvious when the opening few chapters leaned hard on prior knowledge of previous books to get the story of Natalie and Scott going. McCarty does take the effort to get any new reader up to speed however, though it’s through a certain style of storytelling that eventually got to me—this is obviously a personal nitpick.

Beyond the rather exciting prologue that was easy enough to follow, the first few chapters were a mash of telling and showing (sometimes more of the former), with a recounting of past events inserted into the protagonists’ POVs in the present timeline and thus forcing the reader to straddle a scene within a scene. As a result, I did get confused and mildly frustrated, having needed to pause multiple times to mentally untangle and piece together what had gone down, when and with whom. The use of flashbacks or at least, something more linear as a storytelling device would have worked better than the mental gymnastics it took at times.

It isn’t to say however, that ‘Out of Time’ isn’t a decent read. I thought it was the best out of McCarty’s series in fact…only that it could have been longer and a bit more drawn-out—given the scope of the story and the pairings involved—for a less abrupt ending.

Love this story! Action, suspense and steam. 4.5 stars
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It seemed like it has been quite a while since the last installation of this series, so it took me several chapters to really get back into the story. I kept getting this feeling that I was missing something and sure enough there was a book in between that I did miss.

I was getting fed bits and pieces of the story and was able to patch together the general plot of what it happened to the team after the first book. Moving forward it was good but it definitely would’ve been helpful to read book two first. Ack

But with that said Out of Time was definitely high in emotion, in suspense and mystery, and definitely high in the lust factor. Scott and Natalie are created perfectly. The love/ hate relationship keeps the reader on their toes but you can feel their true emotion and love for each other simmering underneath. We go through what they feel… love, shock, anger, understanding, and so much more. It feels like a roller coaster at times.

The book is fast-paced and full of suspense, black ops military jargon and action, and let’s not forget the hot military men… the real reason we read these. Amazing! Yum

Heat and all consuming love is flaring up all over the place and strangely enough, I am good with that. I love when a tough guy can feel and recognize the softer side. Scott is just perfect balance of tough, strong, sexy, and possessive. Love me an alpha male!

McCarty brings it with a completely plausible plot that is twisted and raw in so many ways. You get the highs and the lows; the gutted feels and the sweet heat of romance. She brings a story that you will remember long after its over.

This is the 3rd installment of McCarty's Lost Platoon series and it didn't disappoint. Excellent pacing, sympathetic characters and plenty of heat. It's rare for me to enjoy three consecutive books in a series equally. There is often one of the three that is weaker in plot or chemistry but not so with this series. This felt like the final installment but I hope it's not the last contemporary Ms. McCarty writes. I loved every word of this series.

I truly enjoyed this latest book in The Lost Platoon series.

At it's heart this book was about second chances. I loved the angst and turmoil of Scott and Natalie's romance. A complex web of deception had them believing all was lost but then out of the blue Scott turned up looking for revenge against Natalie for betraying his SEAL team and hating the feelings he still had for her. He was really angry but he still protected her from danger. There was even a reunion for Colt and Kate. I loved that the author put that into the storyline since I have been hoping for that ever since the first book in this series.

This thrilling romance had everything needed to keep me anticipating the next twist. There were so many. I have enjoyed this romantic suspense series from the very beginning. I can't wait to find out what comes next for Monica McCarty.

This review will be posted at Night Owl Reviews.

A great conclusion to a good suspenseful series. I really enjoyed it and look foward to more from this author.

This was the best in the series! All the questions about what really happened that fateful day when all but 6 of a Seals platoon are killed while on a secret black ops mission in Russia forcing them to go dark and pretend they are dead until they can figure out who betrayed them. 

Lt Commander Scott Taylor was the one that got the warning to call off the mission right before everything went FUBAR managing to save 6 of them. The warning came from his girlfriend who works at the Pentagon. While they are still Russia trying to figure out how to get out undetected he finds out that she had died and suspects it's because she warned them.

Months later the remaining team find out that Natalie was a sleeper Russian spy and Scott grapples with betrayal about the woman he thought he knew and loved.

From here things get interesting... I won't spoil anything, but things are not always what they seem. Throughout each of the books there has been more than just the ongoing look into who betrayed the team. Colt Wesson, who trained Seal Team 9 but was not part of the mission in Russia, and his ex-wife Kate who is a CIA analyst, ongoing messy relationship finally comes to a head and resolution in this book. The two of them, though at odds, where big parts of all 3 books. The main plot points of the series are wrapped up by the end of this book and though some were sad the majority were very satisfying.

I read there may be a spin off of the series and hope that's true as I have truly enjoyed The Lost Platoon which Monica McCarty first contemporary romantic suspense series (in case you didn't know she is known for writing Scottish historical romances)