Still Waters by Sara Driscol is the seventh book in the FBI K-9 series. A training exercise for K-9 handlers and their dogs they partner with turns into a murder scene. Meg Jennings, her K-9 partner Hawk and Brian Foster and his K-9 partner Lacey are part of the FBI's Human Scent Evidence Team. They are in Minnisota to attend training exercises and participate in a competition. When one of the contestants turns up dead Meg and Brian quickly get into detecting mode, especially as Meg is a suspect. I enjoyed the procedures and investigating Meg and Brian followed with assistance from Hawk and Lacey. The action and suspense made this an excellent read. I really enjoyed the surprise at the end.

Fantastic book! This is a continuation of a series, but can easily be read as a stand-alone.

Meg, her canine partner Hawk and her human partner Brian with his canine partner Lacey are undergoing water rescue training in Minnesota. At the same time, they are entrants in a competition of SAR (search and rescue) teams. Early on, something goes terribly wrong and Hawk senses a body, using his water rescue skills to locate what winds up being a dead body of one of the competitors.

Immediately Meg comes under suspicion. She, Brian, their romantic partners and fellow travelers unite to try to solve the mystery, unbelievably coming across another competitor's death. Will Meg and Brian be able to stay alive while solving the mystery? Read it and find out!

What I enjoyed:
- learning more about SAR dogs, their handlers and training.
- the tight knit community of handlers
- the relationship between Meg and Todd

I don't think there was anything in the negative column with this book. Well-written, fast-paced, enjoyable read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, but my opinions are my own.

Still Waters
Sara Driscoll
November 29, 2022

Another great journey from Driscoll’s character Meg Jennings and her Lab, Hawk. She is an FBI Special Agent that handles canines to find missing persons and solve crimes. The latest puts her and FBI partner, Brian with his dog, Lacey, in the boundary waters in Minnesota near Superior National Forest. K-9 partners from around the states are arriving there to learn new skills searching the waters for recovering victims. In order to do that dogs work with trainers and their partners to learn the methods of water recovery. They also were given tasks in the forest to check their expertise in search and seizure of lost persons. This book not only tells a story but gives the reader information on training dogs and the important tasks they learn to accomplish for saving lives or finding victims. It is an excellent read. Driscoll has combined the wealth of knowledge in K-9 patrolling and evidence recovery by different teams that work city, state and federal agencies.
The story is fascinating and thrilling to read. Those of us who enjoy K-9 books will certainly relish this novel. In each Meg and Hawk story we learn more facts of the FBI Recovery Team along with a great suspense account of the hunt and the judgment facing predators.
Still Waters will be published by Kensington Books on November 29, 2022. I appreciate their allowing me to read and review Sara Driscoll’s latest novel via NetGalley. She had me involved in Hawk’s discoveries from page one. This is a great FBI K-9 book, do enjoy!

Still Waters is the seventh novel in Driscoll’s FBI K9 mystery series. Though it is possible to read it as a standalone, I think that I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I read at least the first book to get the “lay of the land,” and a feel for all of the players.

There are a number of characters in this particular novel due in part to the setting at a K9 competition. It was a little distracting. But once I was able to identify the primary players, the narrative started to move smoothly. I do think that the character distraction would have been avoided had I read the first novel, though.

The characters are well developed. And even though I haven’t read Driscoll’s prior novels, I did get a good sense of each character’s personality and in my “mind’s eye,” their looks and stature. I did take an instant liking to the primary characters of Meg, her teammate Brian, and of course their K9 companions Hawke and Lacey. I thoroughly enjoyed their interactions on their assigned missions.

The plot is pretty much a straightforward whodunnit. There were a couple of twists but nothing really noteworthy. But there’s enough action and adventure in the novel that kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t quite get the motives of the perpetrator though, and I wasn’t about to backtrack to see if and what I missed. There were a number of suspects but it wasn’t too difficult to determine the guilty party.

Overall, Still Waters is a great read. I’ll more than likely want to read Driscoll’s future FBI K9 mysteries. Four great stars.

I received a digital ARC from Kensington Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

Still Waters is the seventh book in the FBI K-9 series by Sara Driscoll. The blurb tells you all you need to know without giving anything away. This fast moving, suspenseful thriller brings a new aspect of the search and rescue abilities to the reader. I love learning new information through pleasure reading, and this series offers a well researched wealth of facts in every book.
The supporting characters are a terrific addition to the main cast--Meg, Todd, and the crew from the FBI canine search and rescue. Plus we see more of Todd's family, along with Hawk, one very smart dog. Mixing in a fishing trip with Todd and his brothers, Meg agrees to enter a week-long competition with Hawk, so that he can hone a new skill set. It doesn't take long for Meg to wish she had taken a pass when she is involved in a serious conflict with another contestant, then she finds a body. The path to the conclusion was swift and intense --- it did include a sweet moment or two. I had no clue who the killer was until the reveal. This is another great addition to this amazing series.
Thank you to #NetGalley, #Kensington, and #SaraDriscoll for allowing me an advance copy of this book to read. All opinions are my own.
#StillWaters #NetGalley

Thanks for the opportunity to read and give an honest review. This is the 7th book in a series and I did enjoy reading it. I did struggle to get through it at some points, however.

I like all of Sara Driscoll’s books with her stories of the fantastic dog Hawk and handler Meg Jennings. This book Still waters was really slow getting into it. I had to push myself to get back to it in the beginning. Later into the book it did move faster and you most likely will not guess the person who did what was done (no spoilers). I have read her other stories and because they are so intense this one didn't feel that way. I did enjoy it and like I said it gets better and more emotional as it moves forward. I do recommend it to anyone who likes this genre. The dogs talents are fascinating. Thank you NetGalley and publishers Kensington Corp. for this eARC for my honest opinion. I gave it a 3 just because it was so slow.

This being the first and only book of this series I have read thus far, I can readily say it won't be the last. The book offers not only an interesting mystery to solve, an intense timeline, in that it happens through one weekend plus a couple of extra days. In addition to being a well written mystery story, the book offers the reader insight into the training and working of dogs who track missing persons and locate dead bodies in varied environments. A nice balance of dog story and people story makes the reader feel that they know the characters and want to follow their work. I certainly recommend this read and look forward to reading others in the series myself.

Meg Jennings and her scent dog, Hawk, are off to the Boundary Waters for training—scent training over water. The participants are law enforcement officers from around the country. It is to be part vacation for her friends who camp with her and a romantic weekend for her and Todd. The training is a competition, and early on there appears to be cheating.

Meg has a confrontation with the suspected cheat. The next day while scent training on the lake, Hawk discovers the cheat’s body. Local law enforcement initially suspects Meg but she is cleared with the help of McCord, who joins the group. They work together to find the killer.

The killer’s motives are uncovered as is he. Hawk chases him through woods to a terrifying water chase and then back to land. Meg and Hawk get their man and the reader, in addition to an intriguing plot enjoys great descriptions of the scenery.

Meg and her dog Hawk were in the Boundary waters of Minnesota at a Water Search and Rescue training. She was the last one to see Pratt alive so when Pratt filed a complaint on her and was later found dead, Meg is the prime suspect. Meg and her friends are learning new techniques for water rescue and the competition to succeed from all the law enforcement participants is intense. Meg decides to do as much as she can to protect herself and begins to investigate herself. I learned a lot about rescue dogs from this story. I have read other stories by Driscoll and really enjoy the dedication of the handlers and their dogs. I also love the loyalty shown by Meg’s friends and finance. Driscoll does a great job on the setting, and I felt like I was right there in the boundary Waters. The mystery and the characters were great. I did not think there was as much action in this story as when Meg and Hawk work cases together.

Another awesome book in this series, maybe the best one yet!
Meg, Hawk and the rest of the cast of characters get more than they bargained for while on a training mission. This story had some great twists and turns, and I had a hard time guessing who the killer was. As always, the books are fast paced, action filled, and keep me wanting to see what happens next. Great read!
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Another amazing installment of this series. Each book is better than the last one. Always interesting to see what the dogs can learn and how well Meg and Hawk work together.

#StillWaters
#Netgalley

This K-9 fast paced suspense kept me wanting to turn the page from the start! Full of twists and turns, it had me guessing and guessing again.
I very much enjoyed this read and would recommend giving the interested reader notice that there is a short lived scene of animal abuse and SOME language.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. My opinions are my own.

Many thanks to Kensington Books, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Still Waters.

3.5 Stars, rounded up

Trigger Warnings:
A dog is abused
A dog dies

I'm plainly an outlier with my review and it's due to the trigger warnings. To be clear, it's not our beloved Hawk that dies or any of the dogs in the FBI's Human Scent Evidence Team. Also, the abuse is one short part of the book. Unfortunately, I'm far too sensitive when it comes to these issues and I've been unable to get them out of my head ever since reading of them. Would I have read Still Waters had I known in advance? Probably not. However! As you can see from the other reviews, I'm the only person who has even mentioned them

Moving on to the positive aspects of the book (and there are a LOT of them), most of my favorite characters are in this book: Meg, her firefighter/paramedic/love interest, Todd, Brian and his dog, Lacey, and the reporter McCord. I love them all! It was fun meeting Todd's brothers and I hope they show up in future books.

Still Waters takes place in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, where a SAR competition/water search weekend is taking place. Meg and Brian have signed up, hoping to get Hawk and Lacey certified in water search. It's attracted participants from all levels of law enforcement, each vying to win the competition. The races are challenging and the rivalry is intense. The contest comes to a screeching halt, however, when Hawk alerts to a scent in the water and it turns out to be the fresh body of one of Meg’s fellow competitors.

I think this is the first book of the series where Meg didn't have any "Perils of Penelope Pitstop" moments and that was a nice positive! I also learned of incels, which I had never heard of, and hope to never encounter. There was a big positive that you will need to read Still Waters to find out about...

All in all, it was a fab book, other than those pesky trigger warnings. Like I said previously, I'm the only person who has even mentioned them, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Another excellent read in this series! The mystery kept me guessing and the pacing was excellent. Meg, Hawk and the rest make for an exciting team that keep you engrossed in the pages. I loved seeing more of Todd as well. I enjoy how the author is able to be both informative and entertaining when the work is being described.

Still Waters follows FBI canine search handler Meg Jennings and her super talented Labrador Retriever Hawk in book 7 of a action packed, mystery series. In the latest installment, Meg and Hawk team up with partner Brian and his girl Lacey to learn some water search and recovery skills in a search and recovery competition. Hawk learns the new skill like a fish to water but things get serious when he scents out the body of one of the other competitors in the lake. Meg finds herself the leading suspect when she is believed to be the last one to see the victim. Meg and her boys are in a race with the clock to clear her name before she feels the click of the handcuffs. The story twists and turns to leave you guessing until the end and Hawk is such a good boy that you cannot wait for his next case. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

"Still Waters" is a K9 suspense. This book is the seventh in a series, but you don't need to read the previous books to understand this one. This book mentioned who some bad guys were in previous mysteries, but I doubt it'll spoil those stories even if you memorize their names.

The main characters were likable, interesting, and reacted realistically to events. The high suspense came from the danger of Meg losing her job, her heart dog (Hawk), and maybe even going to jail. Even knowing that no author would actually do this to her main character, it felt like a true danger. I cared about the characters enough that I was tense. Good job! There was also some physical danger from searching in a wilderness area. The SAR dogs tracked down bodies and crime scenes while others on Meg's team researched the suspects so that they could logically sort through the information to discover whodunit.

There was some bad language. There were no sex scenes. Overall, I'd recommend this suspenseful novel.

Excellent series featuring K-9 search and rescue teams, especially Meg Jennings and her dog Hawk.

Signing up for water training, Meg and Hawk, their work teammates Brian & Lacey, along with her boyfriend Todd & his two brothers, find themselves in Superior National Forest, Minnesota.

The details of a search using dogs is fascinating. Every novel expands on how a dog and its handler work together. In book 7, they are learning to find cadavers in bodies of water.

There are a lot of characters but they are easy to distinguish. The final chase to catch a murderer was intense.

I am very much looking forward to more K-9 adventures by Sara Driscoll.

Still Waters by Sara Driscoll was a fantastic book! I enjoyed how the book held my attention. I didn't want the story to end! Highly recommend!

I Love this series and its characters! This book is no different and is set in the wilderness at a SAR competition where Meg and Hawk are working on his water skills. He's really good and Meg is learning too. When Hawk smells something additional to what he's already supposed to have found, the discovery puts every competitor in danger most of all Meg.

Read what happens when Meg's freedom and Hawk's ownership is in jeopardy. Will her team, McCord, Todd and others be able to save her and Hawk?

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.