I requested this audiobook on a whim because I had never read/listened to a book by Sandra Brown. Unfortunately I quickly discovered that Sandra Brown is not for me. I’ve found that I don’t enjoy authors that pump out cookie-cutter style books. Plus I thought I was getting more of a thriller/mystery but annoyed to find all the cliché romance in it. This was a dud for me.

Thriller and a bit romantic suspense.
Zack and Rebecca had a bitter divorce but he finds himself with the decision of life and death by a power of attorney that is still in effect. Zack let’s her parents make the decision.Now that her attacker is out of prison, and her vegetative state is deteriorating, the prosecutor asks Zack to again get involved. Can he make the ultimate decision to end Rebecca’s life to put the guy back in prison?

It’s an impossible decision. Plus threats make this suspenseful as the original story starts to fall apart. Breathtaking and electrifying. With a touch of sad.

Really enjoyed this audio book. I was able to listen to it quickly, and it kept my interest. I liked the narrator

I couldn’t connect to this book. I felt like it was a bit bland. I wasn’t connected to the characters or to the girl who was attacked. I also wasn’t a fan of the narration. I wasn’t expecting the romance in here but didn’t mind it either.

3.5 stars!

I've read a handful of books by author Sandra Brown, and have enjoyed them all, so I was excited to read the latest release, Overkill.

It had me hooked right away, as the story follows former football star named Zach Bridger and ambitious state prosecutor in a fight for their lives. I thought the pacing was done well, and I was gripped to find out what would happen next, enjoying the audiobook format as much as the physical copy.

*many thanks to Grand Central and Hachette Audio for the gifted copy for review

Sandra Brown always kills it! No pun intended!

Overkill kept me hooked from beginning to end. Twisted responsibilities and legal jargon are just as lethal as a knife or gun. When Zach Bridger has to make the ultimate decision after his ex-wife is brutally attacked, he defaults and let's it rest in the hands of her parents. At least at first.
With impossible decisions having to be made Overkill not only draws us in as a thriller, but also as human beings. Where is the line drawn? Is there even a line to begin with?

I highly recommend this audiobook ( and book ), and hope others enjoy it as much as I have.

The narrator has done a phenomenal job helping us see differing viewpoints and creating the bigger picture.

*Review being posted to Amazon and B&N and awaiting approval.
Review being posted to my Instagram, @the_literary_fox, this week

Good basic story, but too much unnecessary cursing and too much romance for me. I enjoy some romance books, but I didn’t realize this was a romantic thriller/suspense. As far as the cursing, I can see where some is added to emphasize a point or add a little drama but OMG some scenes with every other word made it just annoying to listen to.

The characters were mostly superficial and lacked depth. I didn’t ever really “connect” with any of them or even want to root for them throughout the story. Her bad guy is definitely someone you could hate though!

This was my first book by this author so maybe that is just her writing style and I wasn’t aware. It’s not a bad book at all, just not really my type.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Audio, and Grand Central Publishing for giving me the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my review and opinions.

Sandra brown- Overkill ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach Bridger hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rebecca Pratt, for some time—not since their volatile marriage imploded—so he’s shocked to receive a life-altering call about her. Rebecca has been placed on life support after a violent assault, and he—despite their divorce—has medical power-of-attorney. Zach is asked to make an impossible choice: keep her on life support or take her off of it. Buckling under the weight of the responsibility and the glare of public scrutiny, Zach ultimately walks away, letting Rebecca's parents have the final say.

Four years later, Rebecca's attacker, Eban—the scion of a wealthy family in Atlanta—gets an early release from prison. The ludicrous miscarriage of justice reeks of favoritism, and Kate Lennon, a brilliant state prosecutor, is determined to put him back behind bars. Rebecca’s parents have kept her alive all these years, but if her condition were to change—if she were to die—Eban could be retried on a new charge: murder.

It isn’t lost on Zach that in order for Eban to be charged with Rebecca’s murder, Zach must actually be the one to kill her. He rejects Kate’s legal standpoint but can’t resist their ill-timed attraction to each other. Eban, having realized the jeopardy he’s in, plots to make certain that neither Zach nor Kate lives to see the death of Rebecca—and the end of his freedom.”

Review: Excellent plot and execution of the audiobook. Throughly enjoyable story line. The author did great to its characters and the narrator of the audiobook had a great pace that feel true to the character as well.

There is a lot going on in this story! Former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Zach receive the dreaded call that his ex-wife, Rebecca has been placed on life support after a violent assault. He hasn't seen her in years, but still has POA. When asked to make an impossible choice of whether to keep her alive (on life support) or not he bows out and leaves the decision to her parents.

Years later the attacker is released from prison, which complicates everything. Zach must come up with a plan for the attacker to once again be charged with murder, but this means Rebecca must die.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book!

Sandra Brown is one of those authors, I see every where and instantly am pulled to picking up her books. Overkill was no different. I saw it and I immediately wanted it. And let me tell you, Sandra Brown didn’t disappoint in her newest novel. I was over the moon with excitement when I got approved on Netgalley for this audio version. The narrator did a great job and kept me listening. I couldn’t; stop.

Sandra Brown really does a great job with romantic suspenseful books, however, Zach and Kate’s romance was a little lackluster. Steam yes, better character development needed, an even bigger yes.. Even still I really enjoyed the story and look forward to her next books.

I was given an advance listening copy in exchange for my honest review. I highly recommend Overkill. This one was face paced and hooked me right in. Happy Reading!!

I have read many books by Sandra Brown and I've enjoyed them.

I was so happy when I got approved for the Hachette Audio version of Overkill. Lately, audiobooks are easier to do because of my commute to work. I will say that the narration by Kyf Brewer was spot on. Her performance had the right tone to keep me invested.

The book begins with a party and a woman deciding to go to a bedroom with three men. The next day, everyone is talking about her, Rebecca Pratt, and her ex-husband, famous pro football player Zach Bridger. But not because of what she did but because Rebecca ends up in the hospital brain dead and Zach is the one responsible to make the choice for her care as her power of attorney.

Fast forward four years and prosecutor Kate Lennon comes looking for Zach. The man responsible for hurting Rebecca is being released and it's once again up to Zach to do something about it.

Sandra Brown does great romantic suspense. You get invested with her characters and you root for the couple to end up together. Also, the evil ones are always very evil which makes it easy to hate them.

Although I liked both Kate and Zach, their romance fell a little flat. Don't get me wrong there was quite a bit of steam but I felt their characters could have been developed a bit more.

Overall, I liked it and will read her next book without thinking it twice.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Audio via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up. My first Sandra Brown novel. Difficult decisions to be made by former footballer, Zach. With a little romance, a good plot, characters that pop we get a really good book that flows well. The ending was rather predictable and was hoping for a big bang (not withstanding the smut "bang"). A good listen with a good narrator.

Thank you Netgalley and Hachette Audio for this audiobook ARC.

Sandra Brown can write all different types of books. This happens to be my favorite! A mystery/murder yes please. I enjoyed the whole thing front to back.

The narrator did an excellent job telling the story. It was like a movie in my head.

My first Sandra Brown novel and I was underwhelmed. This is a romantic mystery that at times made me question which genre it leaned on more. I didn't care for the romance, it felt contrived and forced. The characters in general were one-sided with not a lot of depth to them.

The book itself was slow and not engaging enough for me. I didn't love the plot line, it worked fine, but nothing to write home about. All of this said, I will look at Sandra Browns backlist and consider reading one of her more popular and well loved books.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advance audiobook in return for me review.

This has to be one of the most disappointing books I have read (or more accurately listened to as an audiobook) in the last few years. I used to be a huge fan of Sandra Brown and I own several books of hers that I love (e.g. Meanstreak), but this one didn't do anything for me and left me frustrated. None of the characters you're supposed to be rooting for actually have that much personality. We have Zach, a disgraced former football player that used to be a playboy and has now turned into a grumpy semi-hermit, and Kate, a hotshot state's attorney (?) that is - surprise - super hot and doesn't take any of Zach's sh*t (while still not actually pushing back all that much either, when he's doing something she doesn't agree with). Then there are some classic side characters, like Zach's former coach and mentor, that is more of a father figure, the shady lawyer of the bad guy, the enabling father of the bad guy, Kate's wonderful, but rather irrelevant parents, and of course the sociopathic bad guy, Eban. Incidentally Eban is the only character that somewhat intrigued me, simply by being the most entitled, horrible and twisted rich kid to grace the pages of a book. He felt realistic and had the depth (albeit really really bad depth) that Kate and Zach were lacking. The two leads simply had no chemistry at all and I was wondering the whole time why they were into each other, when there really are no discerning character traits beyond formularic surface level characteristics.
I also took quite a bit of issue with the underlying misogyny of the book. Not only are two men in charge of Zach's ex wife's life without really contemplating what she would want for herself (Zach does get this issue at some point, but it feels like a tool to ultimately further the story), but there are no important women beyond Kate. Rebecca (the ex-wife) is simply the thing that kicks off the overall story line and with it Zach's journey to being with Kate and coming out of hiding. There is the continuous using of the word female to describe women which is... weird and completely unnecessary, Zach describing his father as his biggest supporter while his mom is simply "elegant and beautiful" (??) and (MILD SPOILER) Kate's not so surprising reason for her vendetta against Eban: she herself was almost raped years ago. I really do not understand why this is such a common "motivator" when it comes to books like this and it always happens to the women or a sister or mother of the male lead. Kate would have been strong and smart and successful without something so horrific happening to her and I'm tired of seeing women being violated in books, just to motivate them, give them a background or a reason for their actions. It really serves no purpose here and left a bad taste in my mouth. With both Rebecca and Kate being victims of sexual violence and no other woman playing a significance role, it just creates pattern of women not having their own story, unless it gets disrupted by men (END OF SPOILER).
Overall this book wasn't at all for me and I don't know if I will be picking up any of the author's newer works. The book just felt like lazy writing and story building and given the above reasons and some of her very early works not being particularly feminist either, this just feels like a step in the wrong direction when it comes to women in romantic suspense.
To end on a positive note and remark on one of the few positive aspects of the book, I really did enjoy the narration. The narrator had a wonderfully versatile and rough voice and gave the story as much depth as he could. I would definitely pick up a book read by him again.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and voluntarily published.

Rebecca - does the name ring a bell?

Whenever I have heard about this name in books, they have been portrayed as glamorous ones, & this book did it too. I must confess the first half made me put this down twice, the story lacked a kickstart & the character intro wasn't intriguing. But because I am a little persistent with my Books - kept giving them multiple chances and was able to finish it.

The second half of the book has a lot of action going on, swaying you from attention - stand at ease - attention time and again. The character of the footballer was something I really enjoyed, he often acted stupid but the writing around his dialogues was definitely commendable.

So if are good with sticking around with assaults, hospitals, lawyers, murder plans & escape routes - you will like it for sure.

It was a decent 3/5 for me, but for creatures of the nights & people who enjoy Dark Mysteries this might be very good

Thanks for the ARC: @netgalley @sandrabrownauthor @grandcentralpub @hachetteus @hachettebooks

I receive this book from the publisher through netgalley.com I am voluntarily leaving this review.

I really liked this book, although I did find Eban's character almost a caricature of what a truly evil person is like. Fast paced and packed with action I really liked the characters and the difficult situations that are discussed. How do you decide to take someone off life support? When is the correct time? What if you did nothing and the person responsible for hurting your loved ones gets away with it? What can you live with? Its all about difficult choices that no one wants to make.

I really felt for Rebecca's parents. Its one thing to imagine what someone who is in that situation would do but since I just lost a daughter this was very real for me and I felt that the emotions Brown brought to the parents were all too real. Even Zach's reaction to everything spoke volumes and also felt very accurate.

I did appreciate the love story aspect to it and I'm glad it wasn't just a quick love at first sight jump into bed etc, the situations didn't call for that and I appreciated how the author stuck to the story line and let the romance fall in line.

As I stated before I thought Eban's character was almost a little too over the top. I understand he was a spoiled unrepentant rich boy but even some semblance of hiding his crazy would have maybe made him a better character.

Overall I thought this was a good read or listen as it were. The narrator was excellent and I would recommend this.

Sandra Brown has outdone herself in this thrilling drama with a budding romance. Beginning with NFL quarterback Zach Bridger receiving a phone call on his idyllic vacation. This phone call sets off the rest of this read as his ex-wife, whom he had a strained relationship with (both her and her family) is put in a coma when a party she's attending gets out of hand. Interweaving the hazards of being a public figure and the injustice the rich recieve in the judicial system, no topic is off limits.

Trigger warnings are certainly present, of the sexual nature so be warned, but Brown navigates a heavy read expertly through characters you love and others you love to hate. Don't miss out on this one!

Overkill, by Sandra Brown, is a romantic suspense novel featuring former football legend, Zach Bridger, who is living with the burden of a medical power of attorney over his ex-wife, who is in a vegetative state, and has faced public vilification and her family’s strong resentment. The other key player is Kate Lennon, an ambitious state prosecutor who has her sites set on punishing the playboy who reduced Zach’s ex-wife to such a state and is out on early release due to his father’s deep pockets. As Kate brings a new piece of critical information to Zach, these two unlikely cohorts team up to find solutions to both of their dilemmas and bring justice to all. Not only does a relationship brew, but trouble and danger finds them around every turn!

Overkill is a high-intensity thriller that is definitely suspenseful and filled with mounting tension, but also riddled with obscenities and rather graphically steamy scenes and commentary. Most of the characters are reprehensible and quite one-dimensional as well. Some are utterly obnoxious and odious in every possible way. It was an element of the story that was a bit hard to get past. Additionally, the author used the tired old trope of vilifying the man of faith, which I find offensive and overused.

Sandra Brown is an author who isn’t afraid to throw any punches, or kill off her characters, which causes certain elements to be highly unexpected and surprising. She also writes a quintessentially fast-paced story that makes for a quick read and allows you to fly through the story. Overkill is entertaining, but clearly a romantic suspense novel, heavy on the steam, as opposed to belonging in the thriller genre.

I loved the narrator of the audio version of Overkill, Kyf Brewer, who has a distinctive voice and has also narrated several of David Baldacci’s books. In my opinion, he has the perfect voice for the character featured in this story.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An advanced copy was generously provided by the publisher via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

An advanced copy was generously provided by the publisher @macmillanusa @macmillan.audio via @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a classic romantic suspense novel from Sandra Brown, complete with slow burn sexual tension and a compelling moral dilemma.

Unfortunately, I was never able to connect with the characters and it left me feeling bored for most of the story given this novel's slow pace. Eban, in particular, read like a caricature of a frat boy and I prefer my thriller villains to be morally complex. Overall, I was much more interested in the moral and legal dilemma concerning Rebecca's life support than I was in any of the three main characters.