After covering a press conference for the announcement of a new commercial and shopping project in an area full of abandoned warehouses and some small shops, journalist Lisa Jamison has a shock. Getting into her car, she finds a man lying on her back seat. He is skeletal and seems on his last legs. A car slowly crawls by her, obviously looking for the man. Lisa decides to help him and drives him away.

When he can talk the man, Saul, has a horrific story to tell. He was snatched off the street twelve years ago as a young man. Along with twenty other people in the same situation, he has been a slave for those years, forced to work sewing goods in a fetid basement. The slaves are given very little food and beatings are frequent and the hours are long. One man had escaped a few years before and gotten to the police. He was turned over to the same people who had enslaved him who convinced the police the man was an escaped mental patient. His consequence was death.

Lisa is appalled and determined to expose this group. She hides Saul away with a friend and a doctor she had dated for a while works on Saul's recovery. But it is soon clear that Lisa is being followed after an attempt on her life. Telling her editor, he gives her a partner and hides her away in safe locations at night. Can Lisa and her partner find the slave warehouse before it is moved?

Lori Duffy Foster is a former crime reporter herself and her inside knowledge of how newspaper offices work is evident. In this novel, she exposes a growing problem that is not common knowledge, that there are still slaves in our country and worldwide. Many of women forced to work as prostitutes while others are slaves in factories or sold as household help to those willing to be part of this horrific trade. The reader will be caught up in Lisa's investigation and it's climatic finish. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Two of my favorite types of mysteries feature protagonists that are either private investigators or investigative journalists. Both share a quest for the truth which often puts their own safety in jeopardy. Lisa Jamison, in this story, totally inhabits that archetype. After discovering a scary, emaciated man hiding in her car's backseat, she trusts her instincts and hides him from the men searching the streets for him. He declares the police to be complicit in his tale of forced labor, shackles and beatings in the sweatshop from which he narrowly escaped. Hiding him with friends and getting him off-the-books medical care, Lisa's determination blow the lid off this horrific scheme leads her into danger for herself and everyone who helps her. Taut and compelling.

I enjoy stories with a journalist as a main character. They always possess a curiosity and a tenacity that I admire, and Lisa Jamison's character didn't disappoint. This tale explores the sad reality of slave labor in our world. The suspense throughout was engaging along with the sense that something horrible could happen at any time. I highly recommend this one.

This is the second book in the series, and even better than the first! I really enjoyed the book and can't wait to read number 3 ! Recommended.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Another great book from one of my favorite authors. Highly recommend to friends and family.

As with the first novel in this series, the writing was very assured and polished. A former crime journalist, the author is a seasoned writer.

I am such a timid person that it is hard for me to imagine just how courageous some people are. Lisa Jamison, an investigative journalist and our protagonist, was willing to risk everything for her story and the pursuit of justice.

"A little danger is necessary - healthy even - in this line of work. We'll never uncover the good stuff if we're always afraid of taking risks."

I loved the unique family dynamic and rooted for each and every one of them throughout each tension-filled page. The excellent characterization gives this suspense crime thriller more heft than many of its peers.

With difficult themes such as sweatshops, organized crime, modern slavery, and white supremacy, this novel's plot was scarily plausible and the tension of the chapters escalated gradually throughout the novel. Though touted as a mystery, I would classify it more as a gritty, urban noir crime thriller.

All in all, "Never Broken" was a more than worthy sequel to "Dead Man's Eyes". This is a novel, and a series, that I can highly recommended.

4.5 stars rounded up

Never Broken by Lori Duffy Foster is the second in the series but can definitely be read as a stand-alone novel.

Lisa Jamison, a journalist is just getting to her car, and inside she finds an emaciated man, Saul, who had just escaped from a sweatshop. He tells Lisa her story and she is intrigued and wants to help him and learn more and expose the owners of this sweatshop. She takes him to her friend Dorothy's home and enlists an ex-doctor friend to take care of him.

As Lisa digs into Saul's story she remembers the girl that he tells her about, Chandra, who disappeared seven years ago on her way to the store. Never to be seen or heard from, Saul's story is that she is still alive and in the same sweatshop that he escaped from. The only problem to his story is that he does not know where it is, he was too intent on his escape to pay much attention along with his condition did not allow for many memories.

She slowly gets the story from him and is determined to expose this trafficking of people for the needs of men who want only to make money off of these people.

Lisa enlists the help of her boss and a fellow journalist. Their search leads them to danger that they may not escape. Lisa is running against the clock to solve this mystery. Will she be able to solve it in time and still be safe?

I read the first book in the series, A Dead Man's Eyes, and really enjoyed it, so I felt that this book would be as good, and I was right. I loved Lisa and Dorothy's characters. Lisa has a daughter Bridget, she is not as much of the main character as she was in the first book but she definitely contributes to the story.

If you like a good mystery, then this series is for you!

I give it 5 stars!

I received a copy for review purposes only!

This was a great mystery that kept me turning pages.
Many thanks to IBPA and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read Dead Man’s Eyes, also by this author, and loved it so much that I immediately picked up this book. Pleasingly, the author is consistent in her ability to tell a compelling story with strong characters with whom the reader can really engage,

Never Broken by Lori Duffy Foster

Published: April 12, 2022
Level Best Books
Pages: 224
Genre: Women Sleuths
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Lori Duffy Foster is a former crime reporter who writes and lives in the hills of Northern Pennsylvania. She is the author of A Dead Man's Eyes, the first in the Lisa Jamison Mysteries Series, and an Agatha Award nominee. Lori is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, The Historical Novel Society, International Thriller Writers, and Pennwriters. She also sits on the board of the Knoxville (PA) Public Library.

“She could live with that.”

Lisa has mostly recovered from the chaos that exploded in her life two years ago. Bridget is thriving, Dorothy is living her dream, and life is settling down. Until Lisa finds a malnourished man in her backseat, who begs her to help him, suddenly, she finds herself caught in a dangerous and secretive business, and this time there might not be any survivors.

I am enjoying this series! I enjoyed getting to know Lisa more, and I found her emotional depth in this novel well done.

I liked that the book alternated between Lisa and Dorothy as the narrators, and we got to know Dorothy more in this book. She is such a beautiful character. Her past is tragic, but her heart is pure, and she is amazing.

I love that this series focuses on rare cases. The plot for this book was disgusting, terrifying, and well-executed. It’s scary to think things like this happen today, and I found the presentation was authentic.

We meet Fred, another reporter who works with Lisa, and I hope he becomes a series regular. I like him, and I like how well he and Lisa worked together. Their chemistry was natural.

I also love the idea of Patrick, and I am looking forward to getting to know him more in the next book. This series has a lot of potential, and I look forward to reading them.

This was a good read. The story had a lot of tension that kept me reading and I felt like the storyline was really relevant to what America is currently dealing with. I felt the characters were all really well done and I enjoyed getting to know them. There were all relatable on some level. I felt like the author did a really good job with the dialogue. Overall I really enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more books by this author.

Never Broken, the second Lisa Jamison novel, takes us into the dark world of sweatshops and slave labor.

Lisa is an investigative journalist who latches on to the inhumanity of an underground enterprise and won’t quit until she tears it all down. I love her tenacity, but I’m not sure I’d want to be a close friend or family member because they’re all in danger when she starts poking the hornet’s nest.

Pacing is a gradual build, as we sink deeper into the nightmare of human slavery. I appreciate that the author shows the reality of this issue, reminding us that this stuff is happening everywhere, perhaps even in your city right now.

The author sprinkles in enough of the backstory from the first book so that this one can be read as a stand-alone.

Lisa Jamison is an investigative reporter determined to get to the bottom of whatever story she is writing. A new story arrives when the emaciated body of a man named, Saul sneaks into the backseat of her car. He convinces her that he has escaped a sweatshop where he and about 20 other people have been kept for years as slaves. There is a lot of suspense and emotion wrapped up in the story as Lisa digs deeper, getting too close for comfort. It is a heartbreaking story and hard to read in parts. Human trafficking is still a reality in our world today making this book a good wake-up call for all of us to be aware.

Lisa Jamison has had a hard life but is pulling it all together and has become an investigative reporter. There's definitely something to investigate when a nearly dead man, Saul climbs into the backseat of her car. Why is he there, and why does he appear to be nearly starved to death? Lisa believes his story and sets out to catch the criminals. While at it, Lisa uncovers a human trafficking ring, and they really don't want her investigating. Lisa tries to keep those she loves out of harm's way, but that's easier said than done.
I'll be looking for her first book in this series, A DEAD MAN'S EYES, and then reading more by Lori Duffy Foster. I was the recipient of an ARC copy however the viewpoints are my own, Other than the receipt of this book, I have not been compensated in any way.

When the author approached me to read/review Never Broken, I had to think about it. When she emailed me, I was very behind in reading and reviews. But, I have a thing where if I start a series, I will finish it. That and the blurb, which interested me, were ultimately the main reasons I decided to accept the invite. I am glad that I did.

Never Broken had an exciting plotline. This book takes place two years after the events of A Dead Man’s Eyes. Lisa is a journalist covering a story in a very seedy area (that is about to be revitalized) when she discovers a sick man hiding in the back seat of her car. Saul tells Lisa an interesting story about illegal sweatshops and the mysterious people who run them. But her attention is caught he mentions the name of an African American woman who had disappeared years earlier. Deciding to investigate, Lisa needs the help of Dorothy to keep Saul safe. What Lisa finds during her investigation shakes her to her core. Can she oust the sweatshop owners and save the workers, including Chandra? Or will she have to choose between her job and her family?

Never Broken is book 2 in the Lisa Jamison series. Readers can read this book as a standalone. But, I do suggest reading book 1 to understand Lisa’s backstory. It is gone over, very briefly, in Never Broken, but it is more in-depth in book 1.

The main thing that I liked about Never Broken was that the author was able to take me into how investigative journalist does their job. I had a rough idea of how they did their job. But, I never knew how much work went into it. A good majority of the book was Lisa chasing down leads, casing the neighborhood where she thinks Saul came from and talking to the people in the community. I also didn’t realize how dangerous it could be. At one point, Lisa got run down by a car because she was coming close to where the sweatshop was. That sent chills up my spine and made me thankful that I didn’t pursue my high school dream of being a reporter.

I loved Lisa in this book. She was quick on her feet, and her intuition was incredible (chefs kiss here). She was also still a devoted mother, and when things started to get hairy, her first thoughts were of her daughter and how to keep her safe. She was also human. The horror and pity she felt when she first saw Saul was palpable. I also got why she didn’t trust anyone she worked with. She was almost killed by a fellow reporter, one she considered her friend, and she didn’t trust anyone other than her editor. So, I got why she was hesitant to bring Frank with her on interviews.

What do I say about Saul? He was a wonderful human being. The strength (mental and physical) that he showed throughout the book was terrific. Of course, he was damaged. Wouldn’t you be if you were forced to work in a basement and treated as less than a human? I loved seeing him open up to Dorothy and begin the healing he needed.

Dorothy was the other main character in Never Broken. She was mentioned a few times in the first book but never was made into much of a character. Well, in this book, she was one of the main characters. My heart broke when she realized she felt so protective of Saul because of an unspeakable loss she had experienced years earlier. Saul reminded her of her son. She was also a bad b*tch who wouldn’t give up Saul, no matter what.

The secondary characters fleshed out this book. They brought an extra depth to the storyline (not that it needed it). I was disappointed that Lisa’s daughter was brought down to a secondary character. She had no place in this story (other than helping Dorothy with Saul a few times). But, as the book went on, I got it.

The mystery angle was terrific. I was genuinely kept on edge about who was the sweatshop owner and who was behind Lisa’s assaults. The author did throw out some red herrings throughout the book. I thought I figured it out when an arrest was made. Then the twist came, and I was like, “Wait, what?”

The suspense angle was also excellent. I wanted to know if Saul would make it. I also wanted to know if Lisa would figure out where the sweatshop was and who was operating it. The author did a superb job of keeping me glued to the book.

The end of Never Broken was a bit anti-climatic. The author wrapped up the storylines in a way that satisfied me. She also showed the aftermath of everything that had happened. I did like that Lisa got a little bit of happiness at the very end, and I wonder if that will morph into something for book 3.

I would recommend Never Broken for anyone over 21. There is violence, language, and no sexual situations. There are also scenes of modern-day slavery, a forced abortion, and talk of rape.

I love the first book in the series and I was anxiously awaiting meeting these characters again. From the beginning, the story hooks you in. The story reads like an old fashioned journalist/investigator story from a time when journalism was much more lively than it is now. That’s OK. This is the kind of story that made me want to become a journalist when I was a kid. Sometimes it seems a little farfetched. That’s OK. I wish there had been more of some of the characters who really made me love the first book. I hope the next book in the series branches out and develops them more.

This is the second in the Lisa Jamison series; I didn't read the first one but that didn't hamper my ability to follow the plot. Unfortunately, as I had done with another requested book this past month, I took a chance on this and it didn't pay off. When I read that it was an investigative journalist crime fiction without reading through the whole description I jumped right in (and I loved the cover). I saw this book mentioned on another blogger's site highlighting this month's mystery new releases. I should have done my homework first.

The writing style in this book is really very good and that is why I finished it. Again,--and I dislike having to mention this in my reviews-- it is definitely a case of "it's me, not you". I had no idea what the mystery would entail in this story because I only read the first few sentences of the book blurb.

NOTE TO SELF: You need to carefully read the full blurb when choosing a new to me author, even if that risks me having the entire suspense or mystery uncovered before I read it.

It sounded like a missing person cold case and I really enjoy those. But the plot got darker and more detailed rather quickly. After the last few years of headline stories recounting the crimes against Black individuals by White supremacists I did not feel I could handle this book well. I kept to it though, and read it all, but there were big chunks of it that I didn't enjoy.

I read: 1) to either have an enjoyable few hours with a book or 2) to learn interesting facts I didn't know.

The Dilemma, and why it's difficult to give a star rating:

the writing style -- I would enjoy it with another plot besides this one, but I won't take a chance on the next book in the series 4/5

my enjoyment reading it-- I couldn't adequately enjoy the main plot at all, though the places that talked about the relationships between Lisa, her teenage daughter Bridget, her ex-boyfriend, and her good female friend were entertaining. 2/5

rounded to 3/5

A good tale told well with some interesting characters but some that were fairly unsubstantial. I thought the book slowed down a bit in the middle section but a decent ending. Not fantastic but worth the read.

The second of the Lisa Jamison investigative reporter series, Never Broken by Lori Duffy Foster is a mystery thriller. Lisa is writing her latest feature article on an urban renewal project, when a homeless man is discovered hiding in her car. She is startled with his allegation that he has escaped from an illegal sweatshop and decides to investigate. Once again, her quest for the story places her daughter and friends in danger, as the underworld owners of the slave textile industry will stop at nothing to protect their enterprise. Despite the threats and mounting danger, Lisa continues to pursue her leads, culminating in a tense, action packed finale. An enjoyable and realistic tale of journalistic endeavour and a hero who won’t quit, makes this a three-and-a-half-star read rating. With thanks to the Independent Book Publishers Association and the author, for an advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Never Broken is a crime thriller by Lori Duffy Foster [release 2022]. The story covers events in the life of a journalist named Lisa Jamison, as well as criminal activities and detective tasks. Lisa comes across a homeless, half-starved, and stinking black man in her car. She has to make quick decisions that put the lives of many in danger and may save many more. The first decision saves the life of Saul, the homeless man who had suffered for a decade under a racist anarchist. He and twenty other people had been abducted, shackled, beaten, and forced to work in a basement with no payment, meager meals, and almost no sleep. Alex creates enemies that what to silence her so that they keep their despicable businesses running.

I enjoyed the plot of the story. It was entertaining and carried me away to the world of the protagonist. I found all characters were well-developed with nothing being forced between them. The dialogues used felt natural. I enjoyed the investigative skills of Alex as well as the FBI characters.

I did not spot anything to dislike. The story had a sequential flow with some flashbacks, the book was well organized, and each event was unique even in the same setting.

I rate this book 5 out of 5. I felt that the book elaborated on the title including emotions that felt real, and created events that were gripping. The main character was lovable and showed strength. She was easy to relate to and a role model in some circumstances.

I recommend this work to people who love detective books, crime thrillers, mystery, and artistic works that present a new dimension to the story.