That was one amazing ride - I read this in one seating . I had no idea where the book was headed and definitely enjoyed all the unexpected plot twists ! And that ending 🤦‍♀️


My rating 4.5 ⭐️

That was a fantastic, fast paced read! It was action packed, and had me hooked from start to finish.

Our MC was an interesting character, especially when we find out that there's more to him than initially meets the eye.

It did end on somewhat of a cliffhanger, so I was glad to see that there's a book 2!

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the chance to read this book.

Waking up in Las Vegas with a dead woman is not what Stephen Walker had planned. All is not what it seems and no one is who you think they are. Another action packed thriller from Robert Swartwood. This one will keep you guessing from page one!

This was a good story which kept me turning the pages throughout the night. Great mystery, writing and plotting will recommend to all my friends who love this genre.

Talk about twisty! This book has it in spades. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas right? Wrong! Opening up with a man waking up in a hotel room that’s not his, with no recollection how he got there and finding the dead body of the women he was with the night before … What happens next is a propulsive read full of surprises. This is my first by this author, but definitely not my last. Add this to your list.
Many thanks to @blackstonepublishing @robertswartwood #netgalley for e-arc

I got this book on NetGalley and started reading and could not put this book down.
A man wakes up in a hotel with no memory of what happened. Slowly he comes to and sees blood and soon discovers he’s not alone. There’s a dead woman in the bathtub. With no memory of what happened he runs and soon the cops are on his trail.
And he’s taken into custody but he finds something is off with these cops. They make him an offer. And it’s an offer he can’t refuse because they can make this go away.
But this man has plans of his own and he’s not one to be taken for granted.
This book is really good. Well written and i have discovered an author who knows how to keep you at the edge of your seat. 5 stars. One of the best books I have read this year.

This story was so much different than I anticipated it would be. Swartwood's pacing and unique perspective in this narrative were so perfect. I have not read a thriller like this and am finding it hard to compare it to another book. I would say if you love high stakes crime thriller movies and you want a book that does the same thing, this if your book. Throughout the story I was continuously shocked and am impressed that this was less than 300 pages. Fantastic job.

This was my first read by Robert Swartwood. I often read books based on covers and never would have read this book based on the cover. This book was great! It was thrilling and interesting. There is a ton of action so it reads pretty quickly.
I loved the main character and found myself rooting for him throughout the book. The setting was so cool, I felt like I was transported to Vegas.
The book is about a recently divorced businessman named Stephen Walker who goes to Vegas! He wakes up in a hotel room with a dead woman in the bathroom. When picked up by the police, he is given the choice of face the music of murder OR pay the cops and they will make this disappear. He agrees to the latter but then finds an escape route.
Throughout the book he is trying to prove his innocence. The story is wild and I can't go into any more detail without ruining the plot, so l'll just say read this book! You will not be disappointed. That ending though..

This book is a heart-pounding, what the heck is happening?, wild ride from start to finish!

I can't say The Killing Room is my typical read, but it sure was a lot of fun. Action-packed and thrilling, it was hard to put down and such a quick and fun read. I loved the character development and the way the plot unfolded. The writing was descriptive and I could see the lights of the Vegas strip, hear the ding of the slot machines, and feel the heat of Las Vegas through every page.

The Killing Room is the start of a series and it definitely left me wanting more! We learn so much about our protagonist and while we can't say he is a saint, it was easy to feel empathy for him and root for him on his mission.

There are some gruesome scenes, so this book may not be for everyone. But if you're a fan of pulse-pounding, well-paced, and exciting stories, this one is definitely for you!

Thank you to Thriller Lovers Promotions, Blackstone Publishing, and Netgalley for the copy.

Ok, hear me out. Based on the cover, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up. I am so glad I did. This was a fast and thrilling ride. There is so much action and one big twist that made so much sense and made the whole book so much more fun. The multiple POV’s added depth and allowed us to see the situation from evil and less evil haha. Dirty cops, spies and trafficking make this a very layered book. I highly recommend

This was a quick read once I got into it. It definitely gave me a thrill. I loved the multiple POVs. There were a few times were my mouth just hung open 😲I wouldn't mind if they turned this one into movie.

OMG 😳 This book was absolutely fantastic!! Calling all thriller lovers!! You need this book!! Hands down.. 5 fantastic stars!!! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You think you need a little vacay… you pack your bags 💼 and off to Vegas ✈️ you go!! You decide to hit the bar 🥃🥃🥃 because… you know… it’s Vegas! 🤷‍♀️

So what set this trip to Vegas apart from the rest?! Listen to this… you awake from your night of partying 🥃 in a room that isn’t yours…🤔…okay.. well what happens in Vegas.. stays in Vegas…🤷‍♀️…but wait.. you hear the dripping 💧 of a bathtub 🛀 faucet… you pull yourself out of bed… and there is a dead woman in the tub…😳…the one you were at the bar with..😳😳…you have blood 🩸 all over your clothes…😳😳😳😳… What in the hell is going on??!

OMG that is no spoiler people… that is in the very first chapter!!! Talk about starting out with a jaw dropping start that had me hooked!! 🪝 I thought no way can this keep up with this fantastic pace the entire book… but it did!! 😍😉

This book moved at a fast pace and I loved every minute!! Every time I thought I knew what was happening… well we found out a bit more about our friend Stephen.. 😳… and apparently.. I had no clue!! I literally gasped at the first twist. 😮

The ending… perfection!!! Let’s just say I was holding my breath… I also would love to see more of our friend Stephen Walker… just saying..😉

Wow!! I expected to enjoy this book as @robertswartwood is aka @averybishopbooks … but let me tell you.. it was absolutely fantastic!! 😍 Highly recommend -run 🏃‍♀️ out and get a copy!! Pub date is 8/22!!! 🥳🥳 @blackstonepublishing

A great mystery/thriller that sucked me in from the beginning.

A man wakes up in a Vegas hotel room and finds a dead woman in the bathtub. He freaks out, starts cleaning up and wiping things for prints, and is interrupted by a housekeeper.

He escapes and is on the run, but is captured. The (dirty) detectives offer him a way to get out of the murder charge.

This one is full of twists and things you don't see coming. Nothing you think you know is as it seems.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved every second of this book!!! I was so addicted to this story. It was a fast-paced, thrilling ride with lots of surprising twists. It definitely gave me Taken/Night Agent/James Bond vibes! I was picturing the MC as a young Liam Neeson.
Robert Swartwood’s writing style was phenomenal and I just couldn’t get enough of this book! The ending left me hanging because this is the start to a new series, so now I’m going to have to patiently wait for book 2!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
I loved this book! It is action from page one and never lets up! It’s about a man that wakes up in a hotel room in Las Vegas and finds a dead woman in the bathtub. Before he can run, detectives get him! 👀

This was a slow burn yet suspenseful read. At the beginning I could not turn the pages fast enough, the middle lagged a little bit, but then it picked up at the end again.

The cover isn’t fancy or splashy. It might not call out to you from bookstore shelves or browsing through book lists on Amazon, but I’m telling you to stop. I’m telling you to put this one in your cart. Robert Swartwood’s latest will make your thriller loving heart happy. It will catch you by surprise, will keep your anxiety level high, and make you keep flipping every riveting page.

4.5/5 stars (rounded up to 5 on here)

Thank you Thriller Book Lover Promotions and Blackstone Publishing for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

As Katy Perry once said “That’s what you get for waking up in Vegas.” However, I’m not sure she was referring to waking up next to a dead body! LOL But that is exactly what happened to Stephen Walker. Though he doesn’t remember what happened the night before, he knows he is innocent and tells the detective that he will do anything to not go to prison.
*
This is my first book by Robert Swartwood and will definitely not be my last! I am so thankful for Thrillerbookloverpromotions for putting this one on my radar because it was one that I didn’t want to put down because I was so invested in the story and trying to figure out what was going to happen. It was such a fast paced novel and there were definitely times that I stayed up too late trying to finish the novel! Definitely one that I would recommend!!
*
This review will be posted to my Instagram blog (read_betweenthecovers) in the near future!

Most people go to Vegas for a good time...not to wake up next to a dead body. Alas, that is what happens to Stephen Walker. Or is it? This story is told in 5 "parts" and in multiple POVs. Our primary POV is Stephen Walker and other POVs by the detectives in the case. Walker goes through the entire series 'proving his innocence' that he did not kill the woman in his hotel room. The further we go in the story the darker and seeder it gets. At some point we go way off in a completely different direction. I was unsure how we got to that point and how we derailed but alas we got there, then circled back.

Walker has a lot of history, history which I won't talk about because it is somewhat of a plot device. We get flashes of this history throughout the book and it is set up for a series. Ugh, hate cliffhangers! I want to know what is going to happen. There was a lot of action and violence and corruption. I learned more about waterboarding. It was not described how my brain pictured it but then again I generally don't think about torturing people.

The beginning of the story (part 1) was ok, I actually didn't think I was going to like the story based on the first part. Then we get to part 2 and the whole thing gets flipped on its head and I found everything much more exciting. We do have a few scenes that were slower. The detective scenes were kind of blah. The whole thing with the family murder just never seemed relevant to what was going on. I think there were only a couple of times that the other POVs really brought something to the plot. Overall, it was very enjoyable read.

Imagine heading to Las Vegas to have a fun time, then waking up with a dead body in the bathroom. That’s what happens to Stephen Walker. He has no memory of what transpired after he apparently had more than a few drinks with this woman, who now lives dead before him. He tries to flee knowing he could not have killed her, but with two detectives hot on his trail, jail looks inevitable.
This was a twisty story with the beginning, making you think one thing is true. Then, everything changes, and we learn a lot more about Stephen. I was flipping pages to see if the good guys or the bad guys would come out on top. The main character has quite an interesting past, and some very special skills. There was one secondary character that I wish had a larger role, but after you read The Killing Room, I think you’ll understand why he or she(no spoilers from me)was done with Stephen. But who knows, I believe this is the first book that will be part of a new series, and anything could happen.