Thrilling, powerful and entertaining

It’s all about the choices we make in life and this book is very much about that with our lead character Teagan and other two main characters, Roman and Lexington. This is an espionage crime thriller with lots of flashbacks to provide rich backstories of our key players. I am an avid reader of crime from Michael Connelly, Richard Price and Dennis LeHane, and this was right up my alley. I am withholding any spoilers. Thank you to Netgalley and Pen and Picture for advance copy. I will be reading the next book in this new series.

Book Title: The New Bad Thing
Author: Michael Ebner
Series: The New Bad Things Book #1
Narrator: Braden Wright
Publisher: Pen and Picture
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: May 16, 2023
Pages: 270
My Rating: 3.4 Stars

Journalist Teagan Penn and her husband Todd are in their later thirties and have wanted to start a family; so far no success. It appears nothing it wrong with either one of them` but decided to see a fertility doctor. Meds and a diet are supposed to help. Teagan has always wanted to be a mother perhaps not a stay-at-home mom but still a mother.
Trying not to stress over her personal situation a foreign news story gets her attention.
She takes matters into her own hands and starts a special project and ends up in Paris and soon finds herself in the middle of a terrorist siege. She fears this might be a planned attack on her life.
She is now forced to make a decision that may affect her and her family forever.
It is indeed ~ the new bad thing.

Story had me curious right from the beginning.
However, I have a low tolerance for profanity and was sure cruel nasty terrorist were going to be using a lot of nasty language.
Glad I hung in as the story did turn out better than I expected.

This is the first in the series with Book #2 [book: Blood Fire] in the works.

Want to thank NetGalley and Pen and Picture for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for May 16, 2023

The New Bad Thing is a story that just failed to grab me. From the summary of the book I expected a story about a journalist who is going to be a badass. While we did get that from our main character Teagan, there was not enough.

The first part of the book shows how desperately Teagan wants a family and goes into a lot of detail about her past and her mission of having a baby. While most of this was well written it was not what I expected.

Teagan wants to make a difference and she starts an organization to free women who are captured by a terrorist group, this is when we get a glimpse of the badass journalist but I just didn’t find it captivating.

Teagan woke up in a hotel under a terrorist attack in Paris and I found myself getting bored. I can’t explain what it was exactly but something in the back half of this story just pushed me away. This is when the action I wanted was starting and I had already lost interest.

I wanted more from this book. I want the badass journalist story. I think this is a book I will revisit down the road and try again with a different mindset but for now, I find it hard to recommend.

Tiegan is a journalist in Seattle that has allowed her to interview many superstars. However, there is one thing that Tiegan wants which is a family more than anything. To take her mind off her desire she starts an organization that has to remain off the radar because she’s saving woman and their children from terrorist. Her organization that she has started introduces her to a dangerous man and puts herself in danger. Tiegan wakes up in the middle of a terrorist attack at a Paris hotel that she’s staying at. At that moment her life starts to unravel and she has to fight for her life.

Thank you #NetGalley for the advance copy