Matt Brolly brings a thought-provoking and unique premise to The Alliance . There are four killers in four different cities resulting in four murders at the same time and in the same way. FBI Special Agent Shannon Wallace is facing an unusual threat where a group of killers are working in unison. A survivor witnesses each murder. How will they decide to share their stories? Their stories create a media storm, but The Alliance is just getting started. As Shannon sets up teams in the four cities, she and Special Agent Jacob Trevone head up the team in San Antonio. Is there a connection between the survivors or those murdered?

Shannon has an exemplary record in the field with the FBI and has only recently moved to headquarters to join the Behavioral Analysis Unit. She seems to live for work and is animated by a challenge. Her devotion to work has affected her private life and doesn’t always make her relatable. The characterization was well-done and readers see changes in Shannon, the investigators, and some of the survivors. Additionally, as readers get insights into the various characters’ journeys, it is easier to understand each character’s motives.

This crime thriller was an interesting look at psychopathy, society, and manipulation. However, the story switches points of view somewhat frequently between Shannon, the lead San Antonio detective Lieutenant Michael Boyd, and one of the survivors. This leads to some pacing issues. Despite this, I was pulled into the story line and couldn’t stop turning the pages to see what was going to happen next.

The plot has a few twists and turns and is dark. Readers can test their investigative skills as the police search for answers, including motives, relationships, and who is behind this. While the ending was action-packed, it wasn’t fully what I desired or expected. Additionally, there is a thread that could point to this being the first book in a series. Several themes are woven into the story-line including murder, social media impacts, orchestration of events, power, friendship, aloneness, secrets, trust, lack of empathy, and notoriety.

Overall, this is a dark and gripping psychological thriller with a unique plot that kept me hooked. Matt Brolly is one of my favorite authors and though this one book isn’t my first choice, it is well-done and full of suspense, action, and investigations by the police and FBI. I recommend it to fans of police procedurals and psychological thrillers.

Thomas & Mercer and Matt Brolly provided a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently expected to be April 23, 2024. This review was originally posted at Mystery and Suspense Magazine.

Wow, what a book this was to read! Utterly gripping, compelling and suspenseful! Good characters too although in a way while important, they almost seem to play second fiddle to the storyline.

This is the best mystery crime story that I have ever read I would go as far too say that it is a masterpiece. It is unique and well thought out because it is a serial killer crime that is different. There are four murders at the same time and in four different cities and the catch is that there is a witness left alive at each scene. The book sets the fast pace from the first chapter with a kidnapping. I raced through to the end whilst going so fast I tripped over my own feet because I just had to know how it would play out and who the killers were. It's terrifyingly realistic as the hunt begins and ends with quite a few bumps along the way!

I loved this book! It was very fast paced and had me going until the very end. It was a very quick read because I needed to know what happened. The storyline was original and the plot was very well organized. Great read!

I’ve been reading Matt Brolly’s books for a while now and he seems to have two very differing genres of story, the Louise Blackwell books set in Weston super mare and then the grittier story’s set in America, these ones are usually conspiracy style, the Alliance definitely falls into the latter category and I find I can’t really engage with these ones. The story is good and quite frankly scary when you think there could be people out there, connecting through and using the internet to get their point across and like the Saw movies not getting their hands dirty, but I just felt as a book it was lacking something, but it would really well as a movie franchise, so who knows what might happen.

The Alliance by new to me author M. Brolly, published by Thomas & Mercer is a fast paced, complex, complicated story. It takes the reader on a wild ride, a story heartwrenchingly beautiful, twisty and full of unexpected turns.
Blurb:When four unconnected serial killers simultaneously commit identical murders across four different US cities, FBI Special Agent Shannon Wallace faces killers working in unison. Each homicide is witnessed by a survivor, and they need to decide how to tell their stories.
Their posts about the murders create a media storm and a new term is soon coined: The Alliance. As they recruit new killers into their ranks and more people are killed it becomes clear what Wallace is dealing with.
With the killers always one step ahead, Wallace battles to decipher The Alliance’s endgame. In a race against time, can Wallace uncover the members and motives of the Alliance and end their reign before more victims wind up dead.

An absolutely crackerjack crime thriller that's the very definition of a page turner.

That said, THE ALLIANCE caused me to think back to something a critic once wrote about Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne books....

'When you've finished ripping through the book and stop to think back over the plot, it occurs to you that there were all sorts of things that really didn't make much sense. You just didn't care then, and you still don't.'

And that's the name of that tune.

Terrifyingly good. The book starts at a running pace with an abduction and the terror of the situation is palpable. As the, incredibly clever, plot develops you fall down the hole of desperately needing to know what is going on here and as such I raced so fast to the end I nearly tripped over myself.
What unfolds is that there are identical crimes happening around the country at precisely the same moment. The synchronicity and planning involved in this feat is what is truly frightening yet strangely fascinating and impressive. There is gore but it is mostly the perceived psychological undercurrent and my mind doing the overthinking and the premise that made this so beyond dark.
The main police characters are very human and likeable which adds to the engagement factor, particularly with their rather full on immersion in the story later on (no spoilers) The idea of this certain niche of members of society banding together is not so far behind he realms of possibility especially with the tie ins to the connectivity of social media and worse, the dark web. That in mind this plot felt quite John Marrs like in plausibility and gave it an extra level of fear for me. Breathtakingly good so it has one of my rare five star moments.

From an objective point of view, The Alliance was an excellent, well thought out crime thriller that alludes to a deeper meaning of psychopathy and society, reveals an intricate scheme of manipulations and unreliable accounts, and displays the inner workings of various law enforcements. That being said, I wasn’t particularly enthralled by it.
Following the investigators as they searched for the truth behind the Alliance and the killings, uncovering new info right along with them, was thrilling and I was here for it. The idea behind it was also intriguing and new. I was constantly on edge, trying to figure out what was happening and why, who the Alliance was, what their motives were. The mystery of why they left survivors, why they wanted the world to know about them, what everybody’s role was in the grand scheme of things.
I had some issues with the characters, mainly that they were unlikeable, making it hard to sympathize with any of them.

Personally, I didn’t quite enjoy this as I hoped I would. Still, an interesting read and an absolutely brilliant example of quality writing.

Four Cities, four killers, four murders. The Alliance is just getting started. When four unconnected serial killers simultaneously commit identical murders across four different US cities, FBI Special agent Shannon Wallace faces an unprecedented threat- a cooperative of killers working in unison. Each homicide is witnessed by a survivor, and now these lucky ones need to decide how to tell their stories to the world. Their posts about the horrific murders create a media storm, and a new term is soon coined for The Alliance. As they recruit new killers to their ranks, and more people liked to initial murders are killed, it becomes clear that Wallace is facing an unprecedented threat - a deadly alliance formed to terrorise the nation with coordinated strikes.

I really quite enjoyed this book. I was quickly pulled into this storyline. There were parts to this thriller that were unlike any thrillers I've read before. It's also one of those books where you want to tell all, but that would create a lot of spoilers. A story about law enforcement and serial killers that has well-developed characters. This book would make a great start to a new series.

Published 23rd April

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Thomas&Mercer and the author #MattBrolly for my ARC of #TheAlliance inexchange for an honest review.

Propulsive..
High octane suspense in this swiftly moving, action packed tale of four cities, four serial killers and four murders. These killers appear to be unconnected- but the murders are identical. How can that be? In a media storm, The Alliance is born, and the FBI need to act fast. A frenzied investigation, a fraught narrative and a propulsive plot populated with a credible and deftly drawn cast.

I'm usually a big fan of Matt Brolly and his stories, but The Alliance didn't hit the mark for me. When four unconnected serial killers simultaneously commit identical murders across four different US cities, FBI Special Agent Shannon Wallace faces an unprecedented threat—a cooperative of killers working in unison. Each homicide is witnessed by a survivor, and now these lucky ones need to decide how to tell their stories to the world.

The story felt slow to me and I could not connect with any of the characters. There is definitely an audience for this book, I just wasn't that audience.

#TheAlliance #NetGalley @AmazonPub

It's no secret that I have a weak spot for serial killer thrillers, so I simply HAD to add The Alliance as soon as I read the blurb. I mean, have you read it?! I've never seen a story about four serial killers working together before, and it was a premise I was never going to be able to resist. I'm glad I didn't now, because I ended up having an absolute blast reading this story! It was my first time reading one of Matt Brolly's titles, but I will definitely be back for more.

There are many many serial killer thrillers out there with an FBI lead, but I don't think I've ever come across this particular plot before with FOUR serial killers actually working together. This gave The Alliance such an unique angle, and I have to say that the execution of the premise was very well done. Things can be said about the credibility of it all, and you definitely have to be able to suspend your disbelief... But if you are able to and are up for a dark and twisted ride, you are in for a treat. It is very hard to stop reading once you get a glimpse of what The Alliance are up to!

The Alliance uses a muliple POV structure and also jumps between various locations in the US, but it wasn't too much of a struggle to keep them apart. There is some character development along the way, although the main focus seems to be on the plot and everything that is happening. And trust me, that is a LOT. You won't find a boring minute in The Alliance, and there are SO many twists and secrets to unravel... I never did guess the full truth about it all, and the building up of tension was very well executed.

As for the characters... Some were more memorable than others, but I especially liked FBI agent Shannon Wallace's POV. She is what you can call your typical kickass female character with a complicated personal life, but I liked her style. The banter between San Antonio detective Boyd and his partner Coltrane was also excellent, and it helped balancing out some of the more intense chapters. Other characters were less easy to warm up to, but it was still intriguing to follow their development and reaction to the whole situation.

If you like your thrillers on the dark, twisted and exhilarating side and don't mind suspending your disbelief, The Alliance is an excellent choice. It's one of the most original serial killer thrillers I've read to date!

Whoa! What a crazy but fantastic storyline! Wow! This book had my poor heart racing!! It had high suspense, intrigue, action packed, murder, mystery, serial killers, big shootouts, a fantastic who done it and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my kindle! I highly recommend reading this book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!
Four cities, four killers, four murders. The Alliance is just getting started!!
When four unconnected serial killers simultaneously commit identical murders across four different US cities, FBI Special Agent Shannon Wallace faces an unprecedented threat—a cooperative of killers working in unison. Each homicide is witnessed by a survivor, and now these lucky ones need to decide how to tell their stories to the world.!

A really great story about serial killers and law enforcement, gave Saw vibes but with a twist. Hopefully this is a series because it will be great to read more.

Thank you to #NetGalley for providing the preview copy to review
4 murders. 4 cities. 1 organisation.

Brolly has, with The Alliance, created a thriller unlike any I’ve read before. I was hooked from the start, fascinated to uncover the aims of the so called ‘Alliance’, why they had selected their victims, and where the story would go.

— spoilers below —

I’m not always a fan of an unreliable narrator, but there was something different about Ike Glass and his persona - I never fully trusted him and was only slightly surprised when it was revealed he had indeed murdered his college girlfriend.

As a communications professional, I also thoroughly enjoyed The Alliance’s selection and use of different media actors to ensure their story was told to the public in as many formats as possible.

The revelation of previous murders committed by the members (that we know about) also was an interesting think piece on how many real like serial killers go undetected.

I look forward to reading any follow up book exploring the further exploits of “survivor” Casey.