I enjoyed the characters and the plot of Break Every Rule by Brian Freeman. The narrator did a fantastic job.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced, and the plot was very interesting. I enjoy reading about a true bad ass! I enjoyed the characters and I really liked the ending. The narration, for the audiobook was really good as well.

3.75 stars rounded up.

I knew right away there was going to be some para military, rogue killing group involved in this story and it was true. However, there was so much more! Including a loving husband, a relentless cop and a Jeffery Epstein type that evaded consequences thanks to extreme wealth.

I enjoyed the story. However, it lacked suspense and details for me. There was one small twist but it didn’t really come as a huge surprise. Overall, entertaining enough but not super engaging

Advance reader copy provided by Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

4⭐
Genre ~ crime thriller
Setting ~ Florida
Publication date ~ September 10, 2024
Publisher ~ Blackstone Audio
Est Page Count ~ (p+ 46 chapters) not sure how many pages since I listened. The hardcover on Amazon says 608, but that seems like a lot.
Audio length ~ 11 hours 56 minutes
Narrator ~ Scott Brick
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ 3 parts, abduction, trafficking, murder, non stop action

Dark secrets are slowly revealed when a wife and baby go missing, but does the husband or the wife have the bigger secret?

Tommy and Teresa have been married for a couple of years and have a baby girl. When they go missing he has no choice but to involve the cops, but doing so could reveal everything he’s been hiding from all these years.

Detective Lindy Jax is on the case. I thought she did a top notch job and wouldn’t mind if this turned into a series following her.

There's another POV that plays an intricate part in the story, and that's all I'm going to say on that.

Overall, the action never lets up for this fast paced thriller. If you like crime thrillers with powerful people that think they're above the law then you might want to give this one a go.

Narration notes:
He did a nice job. Since the cop is a woman I would have preferred a female narrator for her parts.

I loved this new standalone novel from one of my favorite writers, Brian Freeman. The story is ripped from recent headlines. Rich people trafficking in young girls. Politicians are involved. Royals are involved. But what happens when a former mercenary working for a secret organization gets dragged into rescuing someone from this horrendous life.

Freeman does a great job creating these original characters based on real life criminals and their clients. Plus the novel's hero, Tommy Miller, was a brilliant cross of Jason Bourne and Jack Reacher. Brian Freeman always grabs his audience and paces the whole story well. His research makes his stories intense and battle and fight scenes are realistic.

And since I got to listen to the audiobook, I can't forget to mention the narrator, Scott Brick. He is amazing in all of his works, but has an extra special talent for action novels.

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Tommy Miller is living with his new wife and daughter in Florida as he hides from his deadly past. One morning his wife and daughter are kidnapped. He thinks his past as caught up to him. As he works to find them, he comes to find out his wife had a secret past of her own. Tommy must track down his wife and daughter while dealing with both of their secret lives..

This book starts off with a bang, and doesn’t tend to let up at all. I was immediately drawn in by Tommy Miller’s character and the story. Brian Freeman kept coming up with new twists as the story unfolded. There was a lot happening, so it never felt like the book dragged at all. The plot was complicated, but not hard to follow. This lead to a very satisfying read.

Over all this is an excellent thriller that is well worth your time. It has interesting characters who are complex and keep you on your toes. The action is plentiful and the book flies as you read it. Thank you to Netgalley, Brian Freeman, and Blackstone Publishing for a free advanced readers copy for an honest review.

Tommy Miller is hiding from his past in Micanopy, Florida. He has a young wife and a baby girl- who are suddenly abducted. He is sure his past has caught up with him, so he is tapping into his past self, where he went by the name Tiger. He is determined to get his family back. As he starts digging in, he realizes that his wife kept a lot of secrets, too, and maybe this isn't about his past.

I think the beginning of this kind of set a somewhat lack-luster tone for me and I never got over it. The prologue was great- you have two young girls escaping an Epstein-esque island in the Caribbean. Then we switch to a secretive middle aged married man who used to go by the name Tiger. It caused the book to lose the momentum for me. It picked back up, but I still had that beginning in the back of my head.

This book takes you on a crazy adventure and you have to tolerate a certain level of ick to get through it. (The aforementioned Epstein-esque island owned by a billionaire.)

I really liked the characters. I wish we got to know Theresa better- you learned about her as Tommy and Lindy did, but you didn't really get to know her.

Scott Brick narrates the audiobook. No complaints.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Narrated by the superb Scott Brick, this action packed thriller filled me with questions then answered them.

Tommy Miller, a book cousin to Jason Bourne, is a man with secrets. Hiding out in Florida, his life is upended when his wife and daughter go missing. With terrorist, the government and a local police officer on his trail he must outsmart them all and find his family.

Brian Freedom made a 600 mile road trip fly by and for that I thank him.

4.5 Stars

I was awarded this audio ARC and right off the bat I was excited. This book is narrated by Scott Brick and he is a narrator that I already really like, so I knew that was already a step in the right direction.

I went and double checked to see if this was my first time reading something from this author because the name sounded familiar. It was not. I had previously read 2 of his books prior to this, but it was a while ago. That is definitely going to change. Why? Because I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am now going to go back and see what else he has to offer in his library.

This book introduces us to Tommy Miller. We are told right away that Tommy Miller is not who he says he is - he had a very different life that he has walked away from - gone to great lengths to stay off the grid, developed a new identity, created an entire legend, the works. Tommy is married to a much younger woman named Teresa and they have an 8 month old baby named Rosalita. In the beginning, we are not told "why" Tommy has had to go underground, but eventually, we are given the back story in bits and pieces.

The book begins with Tommy realizing that his wife and baby have been abducted. He immediately assumes that his old life has caught up with him, but he couldn't be more wrong. Teresa, it turns out, has also reinvented herself and she is also not who she said she was - and it takes this event for Tommy to learn this.

It becomes clear that with the massive police involvement with the kidnapping of a woman and child, that his legend is not going to hold up. He understands that he needs to go on the run to be able to do what the police cannot - and that is break whatever rules necessary to find his family. It also becomes apparent that those people who he has been hiding from, who are looking for him, are going to become aware of exactly who he is and where he has been living-and they are apparently VERY powerful people. He grabs his go bag and immediately contacts one of his old buddies to begin the search.

It ends up that this entire situation revolves around Teresa's old life and the circumstances that she eventually escaped from. There are several storylines going on during this timeframe. There is Tommy and his journey as he begins to investigate and follows the clues to learn about his wife's old life. There is the back story that we are learning about with Alina and what led to her current situation. There is also a POV from the detective who caught the case from the original hometown where the Miller's lived, but was taken off the case because of pressure from higher ups. Her name was Lindy and she has personal experience with a missing family member (her younger brother was taken when he was like 6 years old and never seen again, so this hits her particularly hard).

Then there is the story and POV of Malia Fell, the daughter of one of the richest men in the world - Martin Fell - who discovers through a series of violent events, that he is not the man that she thought he was. That, to me, was one of the saddest things - Malia's story arc. Her coming to realize how much that she just missed while growing up, because she didn't understand enough and chose not to see. But once she has her eyes opened, she can no longer pretend that everything is okay.

All of these characters and POV's are expertly weaved together and then eventually culminate in dramatic fashion. I thought the character development was excellent. I really liked Tommy/Tiger and was rooting for him from the very beginning, even when we weren't sure if he was the good guy or not. There are also several secondary characters who were fleshed out nicely and added to the emotional involvement in the story - i.e. Lindy, Malia, and Tommy's sidekick (can't remember his name at the moment).

This is one of those storylines that has the tension build and build as the events in the story continue to grow and develop into a great big climax. But there is not just one climax, because there continues to be more and more to the story. Things continue to be unveiled. There is lots of action, drama, tension, and the surprises kept me on the edge of my seat.

So, yes, I enjoyed this book and crazily enough, it was over before I knew it. I am not sure if this is going to be the beginning of a series or if it is going to stay as a standalone. Either one would work for me. I would though, definitely continue onward if there is ever a book 2.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Blackstone Publishing - Audiobooks for the opportunity to listen to and review this audio ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone. This book is scheduled to come out on Sep 10 2024.