Taking action-packed to a whole new level, Enemy of the State had my fingers flying through the pages as my eyes whizzed across the words. The second book in the Killing Room series, it was no surprise that my colleagues at Thriller Book Lovers: The Pulse have been shouting about this one from the rafters. After all, the dynamite characters, jaw-dropping twists, and explosive pacing meant that I read it in just a handful of hours. You heard me, despite the near 400 pages, I found myself almost skimming so that I could find out the spine-tingling whos, whats, and whys.

The plot began from the moment The Killing Room ended. With nary a lull, the action movie-esque feel continued right on cue. With a well-plotted, deftly layered storyline that twisted and turned, this newest novel even delivered several humdinger twists. The kind where I gasped in delight as I shouted “Wait, WHAT?!” with unadulterated glee. Trust me when I say that this was like a finely tuned climax from beginning to end. One where your absolutely don’t want the carnage to stop no matter what.

As for the characters, while Daniel easily reminded me of a more dapper Jason Bourne, I found myself rooting for not only him, but his compatriots as well. For that reason, I actually liked this sophomore work better than the first in the series. Add into the mix a smattering of villains that ran the gamut from evil overlord to merely gullible, and I was firmly in their thrall as they raced to catch their wanted man—wherever he was.

The only piece to the puzzle that didn’t win me over hook, line, and sinker was the conclusion. A blatant cliffhanger ending, it seriously made me want to hurl my tablet across the room. Of course, that’s mostly because I’m that irritating type of reader who loves finales with neat, pretty, little bows. So if you don’t mind an unresolved plot line or two, you’ll definitely be over the moon when you reach the last heart-seizing page.

All in all, from the riveting game of cat-and-mouse to the well-crafted multiple POVs, I was utterly spellbound by Swartwood’s newest novel. I mean, I honestly don’t normally go for “dad book” type plots, but somehow this one ended up being a winner for me. So even if you aren’t an out-and-out fan of action/spy/crime thrillers (it has a bit of all three), I definitely recommend trying out this propulsive series. And don’t worry, if you’d rather start with this one instead, it can certainly be read as a stand-alone all things considered. Rating of 4.5 stars.

Thank you to Robert Swartwood, Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This upcoming thriller is getting rave reviews around @thrillerbookloversthepulse and with good reason! It's a follow up to one of my favorite reads last year, The Killing Room. I highly recommend you check that out first but this could be read as a standalone too.

Robert Swartwood has done it again! His latest thriller is a non-stop adrenaline rush that had me flipping pages like a maniac. Daniel Burke is a badass hero who's as smart as he is tough. The author's creativity in crafting complex, dangerous scenarios is simply unmatched. It's a stressful wild ride in the best way. I can't wait to see what twists and turns await in the next installment. Trust me, you NEED to read this series!

Synopsis:
The world believed Daniel Burke was dead.

At least, the few people in the government who knew he existed did. Once part of an elite black op team, Burke faked his death so he could avenge his brother. Now that those responsible have been brought to justice, he plans to leave the country and start a new life.

But before Burke can even get on the plane, his old team has tracked him down.

The CIA believes Daniel Burke is a traitor—an enemy of the state—who must answer for his crimes. But others in government simply want him dead.

Knowing he’s been set up, Burke is the only one who can track down and expose the real traitor—before it’s too late.

One year ago, Daniel Burke faked his death. The only people who now knew about his death was the secret elite op team that he worked for. Burke was seeking vengeance against those who killed his brother. Now, all he wants is to start over somewhere new. As he was getting ready to board his plane to do just that, members of his old team were ready to intercept him to prevent that. Some government agencies want him arrested, and others want him killed for being a traitor. It's up to Burke to find out who is behind setting him up and who the real traitor is.

Enemy of the State is nonstop action packed from the very first page. Unfortunately, I did not read the first book in this series before this one, and I really regret that. I'm finding one day to go back and read the first book because oh my wow! This book was absolutely phenomenal. It's one of the best thrillers I've read all year. Daniel Burke has just become the enemy of the state, and he's bound, set, and determined to find the evidence he needs to prove his innocence. Every step of the way, he has to watch his back because someone is constantly out to get him. This novel will keep you turning pages until the very end, not only for the action, but to figure out who the heck is behind everything. Trust me, I did not move until I finished this entire book. So, when's the next book coming out? 😅

Enemy of the State is a nail-biting, fast-paced adventure that keeps you glued to the page and doesn't let go. Daniel Burke's character reminds me of Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, and a little of John Wick with his training, his cunning, resourcefulness, and his sense of invincibility. His goal is huge in proving he isn't an enemy of the state and exposing the real bad guy. Although I didn't have time to read the first book of the series, I had no problem following this storyline with enough details woven in from book one to make it work for readers picking this one up first. I highly recommend this series for fans of spy thrillers, crime thrillers, and electric pacing.

Enemy of the State...follow up novel to The Killing Room by Robert Smartwood. Can you say OUT of the PARK HOMERUN. Faced paced and a plot that will blow your mind. Daniel Burke is on the run from his former black op employer(they want him dead and POTUS didn't even know they existed). So much action, with a few lulls, but then the action jacks up again. All the usual bad guys, 3 letter agencies, and corrupt politicians.
Can be read as a standalone, but read The Killing Room(awesome read) and then buy this novel. Oh, there will be a 3rd installment...Guaranteed!!
Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. Totally recommend this novel.

I absolutely loved The Killing Room so I was counting the days until this sequel came out. I don't know if I have changed since reading it, or if Enemy of the State is more violent, but the level of violence was over my comfort zone this time. The quality of writing, the pacing, the story were all great, but I just couldn't stomach the torture scene about 30 percent in and so I am not the right audience for this one. This is not any fault of the novel itself but just wrong book for this reader at this time.

The sequel to The Killing Room?!! OMG yes please!!! The Killing Room made my top 🔝 ten last year!! 😍

Pub date is August 20th!! 🥳🥳🥳

Seriously @robertswartwood does it again… we start off at Mach 10 from page one!! Guess what?! It never lets up!!! 😍 We picked up right where we left off… ✈️… if you read the first book… you know what I am talking about. 😳 Honestly though… the author does such a fantastic job of getting you up to speed that this could definitely be read as a standalone… HOWEVER… the first book is pretty… phenomenal… so you don’t want to miss it. 😉

Once again our guy Daniel is on the run 🏃… the government wants him… dead ☠️ or alive… they don’t really care… they just want him. 😳 How crazy is that? Let’s just say… I will never look 👀 at a toolbox 🧰 the same way… Hellooo pliers. 😬😳😳

Fast paced… action packed… @robertswartwood delivers an excellent second installment… We want more!!! 👏👏

I’d like to thank the author for my copy of the first book, The Killing Room (swipe for pic and synopsis) and the magnets! I love them! Everyone at The Pulse was just raving about this first book and I had serious FOMO!

While this is the sequel to The Killing Room, I think this book can be read as a standalone. With that said, this is such a great action thriller series! Think Jason Bourne or Jack Reacher. This is one of those edge of your seat books. I just had to know what happened next! I don’t usually read these types of books but I am so glad I took the chance! Such a good read!

This past weekend I read my first two books by @robertswartwood and was impressed by his writing. The killing room was a huge hit over at pulse and members are already raving about Roberts newest book Enemy of the State which comes out August 20th 2024✨

Title- The Killing room
Rating-⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis-
While on vacation in Las Vegas, a businessman wakes up in a strange hotel room to find a dead woman in the bathtub.

Panicked, he runs. But before he can get far, a pair of detectives stop him.

Desperate, he tells them that he’s innocent. That there’s no way he killed the woman. That he’ll do anything not to go to prison.

That’s when they offer him a way out.

But there is no way out — as the detectives will soon learn.

Title- Enemy of the State
Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
The world believed Daniel Burke was dead.

At least, the few people in the government who knew he existed did. Once part of an elite black op team, Burke faked his death so he could avenge his brother. Now that those responsible have been brought to justice, he plans to leave the country and start a new life.

But before Burke can even get on the plane, his old team has tracked him down.

The CIA believes Daniel Burke is a traitor—an enemy of the state—who must answer for his crimes. But others in government simply want him dead.

Knowing he’s been set up, Burke is the only one who can track down and expose the real traitor—before it’s too late.

Thank you @blackstonepublishing for both of these advanced copies ✨👏🏽

QOTD- have you been to a big city, if so which one?

This is the 2nd novel in the Killing Room series. If you like fast-paced, trilling government novels about the CIA you are in for a surprise.

Daniel Burke is thought to be a traitor by the CIA. First, thought to be dead, but now we know he is not. Burke knows he is not a traitor and tries to prove his innocence.
Love this series. So professional and nail biting.

We last left Danny Burke waiting to board a plane out of Las Vegas where he just completed a mission of a personal nature.
An unauthorized phone call from the Black Ops team sent to take him out warns him if he gets on the plane, he's going to die, because well, Daniel Burke is supposed to be dead already. What is Danny going to do to get out of this, and what else is he going to get himself into along the way?

Robert Swartwood doesn't pull any punches starting the 2nd book in the Killing Room series, and keeps a great pace throughout.
I did have to take a minute to recall some of the players, as it's been 6 months since I read The Killing Room, but it all came back to me!

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

Thank you Blackstone Publishing for the gifted digital ARC!

After reading and loving the Killing Room I was intrigued to continue on with our protagonist Daniel's story. Unfortunately I just could not connect with this one and ended up having to DNF. I think this is just a case of "it's not you, it's me." If you're a fan of action-packed espionage-type thrillers, this will be right up your alley.

I won't hesitate to pick up another book by this author in the future!

Enemy of the State by Robert Swartwood is the second novel in the Daniel Burke series. Events take place after The Killing Room so it is best that you read it first, otherwise you may not follow some of the action. And action is here in abundance.

There are plenty of twists and unexpected turns in the plot. Swartwood ratchets up the tension in every chapter. All of the twists were fair and not out of left field.

We have crooked politicians, white supremacists and CIS assassination squads. The descriptions of the scenes are very vivid. It is very cinematic.

I loved Enemy of the State and I thank Net Galley for the chance to read it in exchange for this review. I look forward to Daniel Burke #3.

Thank you to @thrillerbookloversthepulse @blackstonepublishing for the #gifted

Thoughts- This is book two in the series and although I had not read the first one I didn’t find it mattered. I really enjoy fast paced action packed CIA books and shows. I was highly entertained. If you enjoy shows like Jack Ryan or Jack Reacher you would enjoy this series!

This one was so full of all the twists and turns that I absolutely love!!! Don’t miss out on this one, pre-order and it to your TBR today!!! You won’t be disappointed!!!

Thank you Robert Swartwood & Blackstone Publishing for the advanced reader copy!

Summary: The world believed Daniel Burke was dead. At least, the few people in the government who knew he existed did. Once part of an elite black op team, Burke faked his death so he could avenge the death of his brother. Now that those responsible have been brought to justice, he plans to leave the country and start a new life, but before he can get away, his former boss and teammates have tracked him down. The CIA believes Daniel Burke is a traitor—an enemy of the state—who must answer for his crimes. Others simply want him dead. Burke has been framed, and he is the only one who can track down and expose the real traitor—before it’s too late.

Thoughts: This is a sequel to The Killing Room, which I have not read. I found that there was enough context provided so that this did not present any real barriers to understanding the action and storyline. It is non-stop spills and thrills - an action lover's dream combination of espionage, car chases, hand-to-hand combat and shootouts! Yet the underlying plot is strong enough to support the story. And despite Burke's despicable deeds in the past, he is actually quite vulnerable and likeable. If you are a fan of Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne, then this is a must-read for you. Thanks to Blackstone Publishing for the copy to read.

After faking his own death to avenge his brother, Daniel Burke was ready to start a new life. But the former member of an elite back op team doesn’t even make it onto his plane before his old team tracks him down. The CIA believes that Daniel Burke is a traitor - an enemy of the state. However, there are others in the government who just want him dead. Knowing he’s been set up, Burke must expose the true traitor before his time runs out.

”The Killing Room” was one of my favorite books last year so I was thrilled to see it had a sequel coming out! Robert Swartswood once again crafted an action-packed novel full of his signature twists and turns. I really love Daniel as a character, how intelligent and resourceful he is and can figure his way out of just about any situation. He also has a lot of heart, which you don’t always see in action stories. If you enjoy high-energy action adventures, you NEED to read this series! My friends at the Pulse and I have been all over it!

Thanks to Robert Swartswood and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC! “Enemy of the State” releases August 20, 2024! This review will be shared to my instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

""𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝑼𝒏𝒄𝒍𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆.""🏛

Special thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse @robertswartwood @blackstonepublishing and @netgalley for the #gifted eARC.

👉🏼 swipe for synopsis ➡️

MY REVIEW:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 [4.5 rounded up to 5]

If you like action packed thrills then look no further. This book will keep you turning those pages, wanting to find out who is really behind it all.

This is book #2 in The Killing Room Series by Robert Swartwood. If anyone remembers I LOVED that book last year. I couldn't get enough. This one started out very rough around the edges for me. A little more military style than I'm used to reading, but once I got into the storyline - it really flowed.
You also then start to see the flashbacks to book 1 and understand the correlation.

This time instead of hunting down the bad guys, he's running from them while trying to decipher who is the ultimate "bad guy in charge". He knows the ins and outs, but can he outsmart them? The ending left me stunned!!

This is another fabulous installment and I'm almost wondering that ending leaves enough open for a book #3🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

PREORDER THIS ONE NOW!

PUB DATE:
Aug, 20, 2024

QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Do you prefer series or stand-alones?

AOTD - I usually prefer stand alones but lately ive been reading quite a few series!

.
.
.

#mysteryandthrills #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #pulsepoint #enemyofthestate #robertswartwood #

A fun action packed read. I had not read the first book in the series but was able to follow the story line. First time reading the author and looking forward to more books by him.

To the world, Daniel Burke is dead and a traitor. He faked his own death from his black ops team. This is the story of him trying to prove his he is no traitor.