Those who enjoy reading New York City based police dramas are certain to enjoy this title as are those who watch TV series like Blue Bloods or East New York. The protagonist of this novel, Gemma, is a detective and hostage negotiator. She ends up with a high stakes situation when hostages are taken at City Hall. Readers will hope for her successful resolution of a fraught situation.

This book offers the reader a tight plot and also an entry into Gemma’s world. As in Blue Bloods, many of her relatives are also police officers. I enjoyed meeting them and look forward to spending time with them in other books.

Those who like a story with action and good characters will want to give this title a look.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

Police dramas are not for me so sadly this book was not for me. I am trying to branch out but this was not the book that I should have started with

A fabulous book which I could not put down. Really easy to read, gripping and wonderfully told story that I would recommend to others!!

Exit Strategy is the first in Jen J. Danna’s new NYPD Negotiators series. It’s a fast-paced thriller which puts the hammer down from page 1 and doesn’t let up.

The Capellos are a family of first responders – cops, a firefighter, and with Gemma, elite hostage negotiator. The events of Exit Strategy take place over the course of one day in New York, and Danna seems to delight in piling on the pressure and upping the stakes with every turn of the page in this book. I rattled through it in the course of an afternoon, and wasn’t able to put it down until I’d finished.

Great fun, a solidly entertaining thriller, with a great family cast and an engaging plot. Looking forward to seeing Gemma Capello in her next adventures!

Great book I really enjoyed this from beginning to end! A slow burn worth the wait! I highly recommend this book want one who loves a good suspense filled novel with a great main character! Thank you NetGalley and Kensington publishing for my ARC copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Coming in hot. This phrase in its military meaning of “all guns blazing” describes the first book in a new series by Jen J. Danna to a tee. The book opens with the main character, Gemma Capello, saving a life and then quickly moves to the next day, which will be the timeline for the book’s narrative. It’s a challenge for an author to take a single day in the life of a character and make that day action-packed throughout. Danna meets that challenge flawlessly. Readers will be riveted to the spot as the clock counts down on a day rife with danger and suspense. One NYPD hostage negotiator will have to keep a cool head in the face of disaster, but as the opening scene so aptly demonstrates, Gemma Capello has nerves of steel under pressure.

Gemma Capello is the only female in a family of NYPD police members and one fireman (FDNY). Her path to the NYPD Hostage Negotiation Team, or HNT, started with the death of her mother when Gemma was only ten. Watching her mother shot point-blank by a gunman in a hostage situation laid the groundwork for Gemma’s choice of career, one in which she excels, and it drives her to personalize the team’s goal of no dead hostages. But, personal tragedy only serves to strengthen her skills as a cool-headed, intuitive negotiator, not distract her. At thirty-five, Gemma is a valued and experienced team member, whose focus in life is the job.

There is one day of the year all the Capello family members of NYPD and FDNY reserve for a day-off with the entire brood. The Feast of San Gennaro is a tradition for the Capellos to come together and eat food prepared with family recipes and enjoy just being with one another. So, the day begins with Gemma and her family enjoying their Italian feast, but her father, Tony Capello, who is Chief of Special Operations for the NYPD, answers his beeping phone, and one by one, New York’s finest in the Capello gathering are called to a hostage situation of city-wide importance. Someone is in the mayor’s office at City Hall with multiple hostages, possibly including the mayor himself. All departments are on high alert, and Gemma is chosen as one of four negotiators to work at the negotiating command center. Being chosen for this high-profile case underscores Gemma’s value in the HNT. Her boss, Lt. Garcia, has handpicked the finest for this critical operation.

It’s soon determined that the mayor was out of the building when his office was seized by a lone gunman, but the deputy mayor, a close personal friend of the mayor's, is a hostage and is being singled out as a prime target. The initial contact with the hostage taker has Garcia as the voice of the team, talking to the man and trying to convince him to end the situation by releasing the hostages and surrendering. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Garcia is not a good match for handling this man, as there seems to be little rapport between the two. Gemma then takes over talking to the gunman, establishing a link of trust between them. The pressure is on, trying to save the hostages and hold off the NYPD A-team, who wants to go in with a physical show of force and gun power to end the stand-off. As Gemma uses all her negotiating skills to bring the situation to a bloodless solution, they learn who the hostage taker is and what motivates him. It’s a shocking revelation, as Gemma and her team realize they’re dealing with a man who has little to lose.

The action moves beyond City Hall and takes Gemma into some areas of NYC that will fascinate readers. From the inoperative City Hall Subway Station, with its decorative glass skylights and its colorful tiling, to the foods and landmarks of Little Italy to the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, with its Gothic architecture and catacombs, the story is enhanced by its surroundings as it propels the suspense towards an uncertain end. These places never take over the story but blend into it in an organic use of setting and story supporting one another. This author could give a writing class on achieving a successful marriage of these elements.

The police procedural aspect of this story was educational for me, as well as an absorbing part of Gemma’s life. The efforts and coordination of the NYPD negotiating team and the other departments to bring about the desired result in a hostage situation was a gripping look at how narrow is the window between success and failure in an operation. However, the story always reigns supreme in this book, and it is the family aspect which will touch readers’ hearts, how the Capello sister, brothers, and father are all dedicated to their jobs, but their family bond is the one that gives them strength. Jen J. Danna has done a superb job of introducing the Capellos and the NYPD Negotiators series to readers. No cliffhanger, but lots of avenues to explore for future books. I’m excited about this series and what Gemma and her negotiating team will face next.

Can I just saw WOW! This book is the first in the new NYPD Negotiators Series by Jen J. Danna. From the first chapter this book does not let up one iota.

Gemma is a cop that's life has been planned by one tragic event in her life. One the anniversary of this event, she is thrown into a hostage negotiation that stirs up all her memories from this event.

Danna's writing is superb in this book. She makes you feel like you are right there along side Gemma. Danna makes NYC come alive as you move through the book. The characters are written to seem as if they are real.

I can't wait until the next book in this series comes out. If you like police procedurals, thrillers, suspense, action and adventure books, this one hits all those genres. Go get this book. It came out July 28, 2020. You don't want to miss it.

Thanks to Netgalley, Kensington Books, and Danna for a Kindle version of this book for my honest opinion and review.

Exit Strategy by Jen J. Danna
NYPD Negotiators #1

Thrilling story from beginning to end. I could not put this book down! Knowing that your job is to save as many as you can while remaining calm and unflappable while dealing with hostage takers cannot be easy but Gemma and the people she works with do their jobs well. The fact that there are the action types that would rather use force can be a problem and tact is needed not only with the hostage taker but with colleagues, too.

What I liked:
* Gemma: Strong, capable , intelligent, smooth – a person to be reckoned with and a woman I want to get to know better.
* Gemma’s brothers and father: all working as policemen except one who is a firefighter. Wonder if they might show up in future books in the series
* Gemma’s team: there for one another and worked smoothly together
* Logan: interesting man that could, maybe be a love interest in the future for Gemma
* Frankie: Gemma’s best friend
* The plot, story and writing
* The action scenes
* The dialogue between Gemma and the hostage taker
* It was believable
* I felt I was there
* Information about New York
* The additional last little bit that was added to the end of the story…loved hearing from Logan then
* Reading a new-to-me-author that I will look for again in the future
* All of it really except…

What I did not like:
* The hostage taker: a twisted hateful man that I couldn’t like even when I understood his motivation
* Having to say goodbye to all of the characters and wondering what will happen in book two of the series

Did I enjoy this book? Definitely
Would I read more in this series? Without a doubt

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

5 Stars

This is the first book in a new series that revolves around a female hostage negotiator for the NYPD. The character is original, she's no wimp. Raised in a family where public duty is the norm, Gemma is good at her job. There is minimal buildup to the main story. A gunman takes hostages and Gemma is called in to negotiate while the rest of the team gets ready to rescue the hostages if needed. Written in actual time form, the story unwinds in one incidence of violence but has so many surprises you will keep the pages flying as the tension is ramped. Jen J Danna has written an excellent thriller for her first in the series.

Wow. What an exciting book. Full of tension and drama. Very well plotted and written you won't be able to put down this amazing book. I didn't. And now am anxiously waiting for book two which is a rare feat because I don't read a lot of series but I can't wait for this one. Write faster. LOL. Happy reading!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the start of a new series, yay!

Gemma Capello is the only girl in family of cops (and one firefighter) and she has chosen to be a hostage negotiator. The fact that I have never read a book which featured someone in this occupation was enough to make me want to read this book and I am glad that I did. Gemma tries to negotiate with a man who is holding hostages, with only limited success.

At various times, I was wondering how the HECK Gemma was going to get herself out of the situation she found herself in. I loved the references to various New York places of interest (I really would like to go on that subway tour now) and the deep love between all the Capello's and the references to her cultural background. As a first generation person myself, I could really relate to that.

All in all, this was a terrific read and I can't wait to read the next book in the series :)

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books.

All in a day’s work. At least that’s what seems to be the norm for the Capello family of the NYPD. What starts as a large rowdy Italian family day together quickly evolves into a day no one wants. ‘Exit Strategy” by Jen J. Danna is a tense, emotionally taut book that takes you on a tour of old New York as Gemma Capello, NYPD Hostage Negotiator tries to save the lives of not only the hostages but of New Yorkers at large, herself and even the man who has decided this is the day he has hit his breaking point. In order to ensure everyone’s safety she must go against everything she was taught growing up in a cop family and even puts her much loved career on the line because she knows it’s the right thing to do.

Danna’s attention to detail brings the reader along for Gemma’s fast paced journey through the subways, streets and old buildings of New York City. Can she figure out the hostage taker’s motives before it’s too late and can she bring everything to a peaceful conclusion despite the push back from other members of the force to end it quickly. All the while she knows that her family must be in agony knowing that she’s putting her life at risk.

This is the first book in the NYPD Hostage Negotiator series and I know it won’t be the last. Another great series by Jen J. Danna.

I received an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.

A nice start to a new series that will keep you guessing. Gemma became a hostage negotiator largely because her mom was killed during a bank robbery when she was a child. Now considered one of the best in the NYPD, she finds herself talking with an unidentified man who has taken over at city hall. Her first problem is that it's not clear who the hostages are, let alone the armed man who has them so Gemma has to work through the phone to get that info. Oh, and her dad and brothers also work for the NYPD and NYFD- adding to the complications when things get nasty, No spoilers from me but she's a great character and while this could have bogged down (as some hostage dramas do), Danna kept things moving. Thanks to Netgalley for the ArC. It's a good fast paced read.

It's a first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last as I liked it.
It's a gripping and entertaining read that kept me on the edge till the end.
The characters are fleshed out, the plot flows and the mystery is solid.
Can't wait to read the next installment.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Gemma Capello lived through a bank robbery as a child, and is now an NYPD hostage negotiator. Her father and most of her brothers are with NYPD (one is FDNY) so it's the family business. During a family picnic, most of them are called in to their respective units because a gunman has taken hostages at City Hall. As part of the Hostage Negotiation Team, Gemma is in the thick of things, but it quickly becomes clear the mayor is smack in the middle of things though they don't yet know why or how.

Gemma is a great character - strong, but dealing with some serious issues. I really enjoyed scenes with her family and look forward to seeing more of them in future books. Recommended for fans of police procedurals. It really reminded me of the TV show Blue Bloods.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.

I can’t wait to read the next book in this series! This one was amazing! Detective Gemma Capello, hostage negotiator, is from a family of cops. During a family gathering, they are all called to a hostage situation at the mayor’s office. Is the mayor one of the hostages? As Gemma tries to negotiate with the man who is holding the hostages, she listens for clues as to who he is and why this has happened. A tense situation from beginning to end as Gemma tries to get everyone out safely. When the situation turns deadly, what can she do to get him to turn the other hostages lose? This was a thrill ride from beginning to end. Gemma’s family dynamics played a major part of the story as her father and brothers are drawn in to assist her and try to save her life. WOW! I have read the other books by this author and enjoyed them as well. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Exit Strategy introduces us to Gemma Capello, a police negotiator who grew up in a household already entrenched in the NYPD. She is spunky and likeable from the start. The book is fast paced and a page turner with the story dedicated to fleshing out Gemma's history as she is dealing with one hostage situation throughout the novel. It is obvious the author has done her research, as the descriptions of the various locations in New York City are vivid and accurate. . I very much look forward to seeing more of Gemma in future books.

Gemma Capello grew up in an NYPD cop family. She is predisposed to being a negotiator after her mother dies trying to de-escalate a bad situation.

The issue is that the negotiator has to follow guidelines set up by the department and hers is not the final word. The backup for the negotiators is the A-team. Their mission is to neutralize the situation and to save as many lives as possible with deadly force.

The negotiator is responsible to a “controller” whose purpose is to balance expediency with results. Usually, the negotiator is much more sympathetic than the controller.

Ms. Danna has done a tremendous job of fleshing out her novel. I felt drawn to the situation and the location in New York due to her excellent description of the settings. She adds in some history of the area and of the subway system.

Growing up in Little Italy, Gemma knows the area and some of the people who live there. Her childhood dovetails well into the overall outcome of the tale. She wants to save hostages and ultimately the perpetrator. The perpetrator is a sympathetic character in this story and you understand his motivation but cannot embrace the methodology. I found myself hoping that Gemma could de-escalate the situation and that the perpetrator would survive.

Gemma was swept along on a terrific well-plotted storyline. My hat is off to this author and her attention to detail and the weaving of a great read. CE Williams

Exit Strategy by Jen J. Danna Reviewed on July 5, 2020 (3.5 Stars ~Rounded up)
Awww I do like that Gemma Capello. This novel is NYPD Negotiators # 1so you know this will be#2!
Jen J. Danna is a new author for me. I love finding a great new author.
I look forward to her next read. Additionally, I also enjoy knowing the research an author does to come up with ideas for their writing. Ms. Danna didn’t disappoint and provided several pages of info with her “Behind the Scenes of Exit Strategy”

Want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for this early release granted to me in exchange for an honest professional review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for July 28, 2020

This is a new author for me and I very much enjoyed this edge of my seat ride as I read this novel. It felt like I was in constant motion and even right there in thay vault with Gemma and you don't always get that intensity when reading a novel. To me that's the sign of a writer who will be around for a while.

The characters were phenomenal on both good and bad sides and I'm extremely glad I read this book and I'm sure at some point I'll read it again which is the highest complement I can pay an author and the highest praise I give a book.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.