This is an absolutely insane read. It started with action right on the first page and only got more and more intense as the story went on. Toro could have been caught earlier, but the chase was fun. I adored the main character Dani. She has so many fun skills and is incredibly tough, and responded well to every situation in the book. She also has so much empathy and compassion, making her a very well rounded character. She did not have a lot of development, but it was only her first book. And I definitely cannot wait to read more of her. As for the plot, it was fantastic. The VR escape room killer game set up was brilliant and so well executed. It was high stakes and clever. I loved all the puzzles and riddles, and cheered for Dani the entire time. I struggled a bit with the contrast between the game situation Dani was trapped in and the outside investigation. However, I did like that we got to see both sides. I did figure out the villain fairly easily, however, that did not detract from the story. Overall, I highly recommend this book.

Having read and enjoyed this author's Nina Guerrera series, I selected this one without reading the synopsis. This isn't a police procedural like the other series, although it starts out that way. Instead, it is just as the title suggests, a game.

One thing that is similar to the other series, it features a badass female protagonist, Daniela Vega. Other than being whip-smart, she is very good at anticipating the actions of others, something that becomes critical for her case, and her very survival.

At the heart of the story is determining who hired a hitman to kill a Senator's staff member and why. The focus of the FBI's investigation is clear, but proving their case isn't so easy. And Vega is selected to go undercover. Things go sideways with the FBI's plan and put Vega at a severe disadvantage. That's when her training and intellect come in handy. While probably unrealistic, she does a phenomenal job of solving puzzles to stay alive. I cheered for her the whole way.

While most of the story centers on the game Vega finds herself involved in, under the name of Nicola "Nikki" Corazon, there is another plotline as the FBI searches not only for their agent, but who is behind the game. Their tactics to find out the information were clever and ultimately gave Vega the best chance for survival.

Overall, this was a highly entertaining read. I'm looking forward to seeing where this story leads. Hopefully the next installments aren't as harrowing for this super-agent.

I was a big fan of Isabella Maldonado’s Nina Guerrera series and jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her latest book. In ‘A Killer’s Game’ the main protagonist is Daniela “Dani” Vega, an FBI agent who witnesses a murder on her way to work and gives chase, only to lose the killer in the middle of mid town Manhattan. The murder victim is the chief of staff to a New York senator and the FBI are tasked with catching the killer. When Dani catches up with the killer Gustavo Toro, the FBI convince him to turn informant. It’s up to Dani and Toro to go undercover together to get to the heart of the conspiracy behind the chief of staff’s murder. Except Dani, Toro and his team walk into a trap and it will take all their skills to make it out alive.
The whole escape room/puzzle solving/code breaking theme isn’t really my cup of tea, but I stuck with the book because I like the author’s previous books and ended up being pleasantly surprised. An interesting read. 3 stars from me.

First, thank you to the publisher, author and Net Galley for the ARC to this book.

Killer's Game follows ex-Ranger codebreaker, current FBI agent, Dani Vega who is dragged into a decade old cover-up involving the upper echelons of government and a tech mogul and family. The book plays out a little like the Hunger Games for the espionage set, and I found the writing to be excellent as I could not put this down. It kept me guessing as to who the actual "nemesis" was. I seems the author is setting this up to be another series, and I am excited to see where the author takes this character. I also see that she has some other series so I will be picking them up. 5-stars!

This is an honour to be reviewing a book written by Isabella Maldonado.
Her bio is simply impressive.... "A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander"....
How cool is that!!! I am in so much admiration for women like her who creak the mould!!!! Good for her!!!
As a consequence, reading any book from her, you get the added bonus of being entertained from a cleverly written crime action book and being educated by the underworlds out there.
It makes you so thankful there are dedicated people performing difficult tasks to keep of us safe. Sure this is fiction, very good fiction, but fiction drawn up from real experiences and real practical knowledge.
So grateful this author turned to writing and hoping for many more books to come from this author.
RESPECT :)

A tense action packed thriller, with a strong bad ass protaganist in Dani Vega, formerly military, now FBI undercover with a hit man, that she is forced to trust to survive a deadly game that promises only one person will be left alive. Nerve wracking and well written

Explosive, absorbing and absolutely fascinating, A Killer’s Game is a knock-down, drag-out brawl of a thriller with themes of revenge, justice and survival. By pitting twelve hired guns and a former-Army Ranger turned FBI agent against one another in a fight to the death, Isabella Maldonado has delivered a battle royale of a story that will have everyone talking.

The Chief of Staff for an influential US Senator is murdered on the streets of New York City, with FBI agent Daniela “Dani” Vega witnessing the whole thing. After a successful manhunt, the captured assassin agrees to turn informant to help the FBI nail the big fish in a larger case of corruption and mayhem. Together, Dani and her new informant infiltrate a band of killers and join them for what’s supposed to be a simple yet lucrative job. However, they soon find themselves locked in a secret and elaborate facility, entangled in a battle of wits and physical combat where only one of the thirteen individuals will live to see another day. Who has drawn these folks into this lethal game and why? Those are questions that can only be by answered by the architect of this vicious contest – a person calling themselves Nemesis. And Dani intends to be the one to emerge victorious, confront Nemesis and bring them down along with the entire conspiracy.

It takes a very creative and devious mind to come up with the twisted and bloodthirsty game that Dani and the twelve assassins are thrust into. I can’t begin to fathom how someone comes up with something so intensely dark and brutal. But as readers we should be appreciative that Isabella Maldonado’s brain produced this devilish plot. Because it’s completely entrancing, enveloping the reader in a sinister world filled with havoc and savagery born from backing dangerous individuals into a corner. A world where your wits and calculations are as important as your pure strength, close quarters combat skills and pure will to survive. A chess match born in hell. It’s glorious!

Do yourself a favor and do not sleep on A Killer’s Game. The story is exhilarating, the pacing is at breakneck speed, the characters are tremendous and the action is ruthless. It’s not to be missed.

Wow! FBI Special Agent Daniela Vega is one bad**s female protagonist! I was blown away by the nonstop action and totally unprepared for the premise. Not being a computer game player didn’t interfere with following the plot. This is tactical story using gaming, virtual reality, avatars, simulation and training exercises which are done with precision. There’s problem solving, logic puzzles, anagrams, codes, ciphers, decryption and encryption, whew!
There’s a contract killer, poison darts, accusations of a corrupt powerful Senator, revenge, influential politicians and tech billionaires battling for DOD contracts. The FBI makes a deal with Toro, the hitman, in order to catch bigger fish. Dani is unwittingly placed into an unimaginable and seemingly unwinnable game of vengeance. There are frenetic rescue scenes and battles for survival that left me gasping for air.
I’ve read this author before and I must say she’s outdone all previous works with this new series, highly recommend “A Killers Game” Daniela Vega #1 by Isabella Maldonado, Published by Thomas & Mercer. It’s scheduled for release March 2023. NetGalley provided a digital advance reader copy to me. These are all my own honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.

Was this the best thing I’ve ever read? No but I was intrigued and had a little fun along the way.

1st quarter: Action packed almost immediately.
2nd quarter: Lost a lot of steam.
3rd quarter: Boom, we’re going nonstop. Somewhat thrilling but definitely fun.
4th quarter: Still nonstop but became predictable and the ending was sort of a cheese fest.

I could see the whole thing playing out a movie in my head. Three POVs and sometimes, my least favorite would be of Dani, our main character. She’s smart, talented and a team player but also gullible and naive. It took her way too long to finally realize to what extent she needed to go to during the game. It was frustrating to read, like "You’re basically in your own Saw movie or Squid Game. Girl, get it together!🙄"


Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing a copy for an honest review.

Solving the murder she saw happen on the streets of NYC is only the beginning.

Dani Vega is a woman with some serious skills. She is a former Ranger, a highly trained codebreaker and now an FBI agent. So when Dani sees a man with an umbrella bump into another on the sidewalk, she senses something is up. When the second man collapses to the sidewalk and dies, Dani sets off in pursuit of the man with the umbrella. Although she loses the killer that day, she and her team are able to identify him and bring him into custody and discover that he is part of a larger group of criminals. The victim was chief of staff to a powerful US Senator, and was apparently looking into accusations that the Senator has been taking bribes from government contractors. Dani’s boss decides the only way they can bring the truth about the Senator to light is for the assassin to get one of their own accepted into the circle of criminals…and he thinks Dani is the best candidate. The plan disintegrates almost immediately; tracking devices are disabled, the agents following the vehicle in which Dani, the killer and the rest of the criminal group are traveling are outwitted, and Dani and her new cohorts are flown to a facility across the country. They think they are there to participate in an exercise to help a video game company better simulate the actions of trained killers…but in fact they have just been lured into a game from which there is no escape, and only the last one standing will be allowed to live. It seems that the same person who wanted to expose the Senator has their sights set on everyone in the criminal group….and now Dani is in the crosshairs as well. Her FBI team doesn’t know where she is, so there is no backup coming, and she has no allies in the group of thieves that she can trust. It will take all of her considerable talents to survive, and even that might not prove to be enough.
A Killer’s Game is the first in a new series by Isabelle Maldonado, herself an experienced law enforcement veteran and author of the NIna Guerrera series (coming to Netflix with Jennifer Lopez in the lead role). The book is fast paced and an exciting read. Dani is a strong Latina with a few demons and an arsenal of skills. Although one or two plot devices felt a little contrived, it was a terrific read and I recommend the book to those who enjoy thrillers with a smart, capable woman leading the charge…characters like Catherine Coulter’s Sherlock or J D Robb’s Eve Dallas spring to mind. Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercier for the advanced reader’s copy.

The plot is a regular action thriller, what makes it different is the game played by the participants in the story. That was innovative and enjoyable and kept me turning the pages. A quick and fast read.

Fast paced and riveting! Isabella Maldonado writes incredibly complex and competent heroines (and if you know me, you know I'm a total sucker for a badass, competent heroine!) In A Killer's Game, we meet Special Agent Daniela Vega, who is a codebreaker (so cool!), as she's thrust into a dangerous game of survival. I'm so glad to see that this is the first in a new series - I can't wait to see what Dani gets up to next!

This book interested me from the cover and I’m so glad I was aloud to read it. FBI agent Dani is a realistic well written likeable character. I was really enjoying the plot and was impressed with my first book by Isabella Maldonado and will not be my last.

A Killer’s Game is the first book in the Daniela Vega thriller series. A former Army Ranger and current FBI agent, Daniela Vega is tough as nails and her experience in code breaking seems to make her unstoppable. Catching a hitman in action puts Dani and her team on the tail of a group of assassins led by a former Colonel and current lobbyist. Determined to end a political conspiracy, Dani goes undercover and dives headlong into danger. Left battling for her life and challenging the rules of her assignment, Dani is stuck in a contest where only one will make it out alive. A thrilling action packed adventure full of violence and cunning, Dani’s first adventure reads like an action movie to rival Bond or Bourne. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

I have read the previous books by the author and I loved them so much that I couldn't pass the opportunity to read this new story.

Dani Vega is proving once again how much of a great female detective and investigator she is.  Along with her team, they have to catch a killer. The story start of by her being the witness of a sidewalk crime and while trying to catch him, he’s escaping through a train station.

This was a nonstop action thriller where the killer is a mastermind behind a very interesting game.
While Dani goes undercover on the attempt to get closer to him, she ends up in the middle of this big puzzle game that she needs to solve.

I’ll be honest, it reminds me of the movie The Cube (1997 or even 2001 version) and that movie scared the heck out of me at that time.
So yes, that adrenaline rush felt the same as in this case, where the author has managed to keep me on the edge until the last page.

It’s a fast paced, intricate and a must read story. I loved the grip it held on me and how I hold my breath so many times for these characters.

I’m really hoping to see these books on the screen soon.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy
Description in the comments

Thanks to the author and netgalley for giving me an arc! I loved this book, it had all of my favorite plots and some great twists. One of my favorite things about this book is the ending, I love an ending that does not feel rushed. This book did a great job with that, not only did the author incorporate and ending that made sense and was still shocking, but it was able to weave the entire story together. This fast paced thriller had me on the edge of my seat, literally, because of how thrilling all of the action scenes were.

Via NetGalley

This author’s books make me feel like I’m binge watching a good tv series. I sped through the Nina Guerrera series & needed more. Unfortunately, there’s nothing else happening for that character but I was pleasantly surprised to find I could access the next book by Maldonado on NetGalley.

I’m not as invested in this character yet as there wasn’t a great deal of development. This was the same for all the characters in this, which was disappointing because the lack of background sort of lessened the drama in some moments. I feel like there could’ve been just as much character development as action & it still would’ve flowed, as well upping the stakes for the reader.

Having said that, I did like what was available of the characters (hence the disappointment nat not getting more background.) I liked the plot & the setting which were very different from the previous trilogy.

I like that the story hits the ground running & sucks you in from the beginning. As I said - this is writing you binge because you can’t put it down.

It also had a lovely twist that I just didn’t see coming which is unusual & it was a pleasant surprise. The nature of the twist itself is dark but it’s nice to get an unexpected element. I am interested in reading more of this author. I still hope she’ll revisit Nina Guerrera & friends so that we can get more character development, but I’m also hopeful to get more detail on this cast of characters as well.

This was a really good book and I would highly recommend especially if you like non stop action from beginning to end. Daniela Vega (Dani) is a newly minted FBI special agent, and while going into work one day witnesses a murder on the sidewalk in broad daylight. She of course takes off after the bad guy and manages to track him to a nearby subway station where he gets on a train and she loses him. I did have some issues with plausibility in this book, one of which is the timeline, I won't spoil it and maybe you won't notice. Dani ends up an undercover mission in an attempt to get close to the bad guy, her and the people she's with (all bad guys) end up in an underground missile silo where they have to solve clues in order to get out. If they don't solve the clue, well best read to find out what happens, quite the setup the bad guy has. Meanwhile her boss at the FBI is pulling out all the stops to figure out where she is, they were tracking her but lost her after the bad guys knocked out her tracking devices. The action really is non stop and the suspense heightens with each chapter, I literally raced through this and will be watching for the next one. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Thomas Mercer for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for my copy - all opinions are my own.

I continue to really enjoy Isabella Maldonado's writing, and her unique take on the police procedural. With a new kick ass female lead, chasing down a group of ruthless killers, this was a delightfully fast paced thriller that you can easily fly through in one sitting.

I like that Dani Vega is like the female Jason Bourne or Jack Ryan - hugely smart, exceedingly trained, military background and never suffers from a fit of "traditional female woes". It's refreshing to read a lead female character that ends up in over the top situations and navigates them with the same cool resolve you'd expect from Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.

The only qualm I have is that every challenge in this book seemed to be something that Dani was able to overcome relatively easy and it probably would have been fun to see her fail or struggle a little more. But overall? So fun to read. Highly recommend if you like procedurals, action and mysteries!

A must read for 2023! This book grabbed me from the beginning and didn't let up until the very end. Loved everything about it. I can't wait for the next Daniela Vega adventure. If you love thrillers and a roller coaster of a ride, this is definitely for you!!!

Thank you #netgalley and #thomasandmercer for the eARC.