First I would like to thank Harlequin Audio for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

FBI Special Agent Lara Grant thought that she’d put her past behind her—finally—with her last case. But now a serial bomber is targeting Manhattan’s elite power players, offering them a choice between saving hundreds of lives or seeing their darkest secrets exposed. Lara is working with the Crisis Management Unit to stop the bomber, but how will she react when she’s the one who has to choose between truth…or death?

As the clock ticks down, Lara braces for another confrontation with evil. And no matter what, she’ll make sure her enemy’s first mistake is also his last…

What I loved about this series:
- Audiobook quality, the narrator they chose for this series was amazing since they did an amazing job really leaning into the seriousness of the events while also adding the levity when it came around.
- Team, I am a huge fan of stories with teams cause it just adds more to the story since they all know something special about each one of them
- Crimes, this story is very intense with a lot of difference crimes happening at the same time and I just didn't want to stop listening cause I wanted the bad guy to get caught
- Unsub, the person committing the crimes gets their own POV throughout the stories and I was always waiting for those chapters to get in their head and try to figure out why and their end game
- Lara Grant, she is a strong woman who has had to make hard decisions in her life and because of that does not trust easily and pushes people away when she needs them most. I spent a lot of the book wanting to hug her and shake her to get out of her own head
- Open ended, I did like how the series ended on a bit of an open ended conclusion the big bad of this story was caught but another case was set up for the next

If you are looking for a great group of well developed short stories that are seamlessly intertwined with a lot of mystery and suspense with a tiny bit of romance then I would absolutely recommend this book. Any of my audiobook readers, I w

A fantastic conclusion to the Tough Justice: Countdown series. I love the ending for Lara and her team. I think the decision for the new team lead of the Crisis Management Unit was the best decision they could make. I truly hope there is a third series for Lara Grant and the CMU team.

Annalee Scott did a great job narrating this story and the rest of the series.

This is such a clever concept. One cohesive story released in small bite size chunks. Kinda like a TV show. I’m not sure how often they were released as I listened to the box set of all 8 episodes. I about had a heart attack when I saw the run time was 24 hours!!! That’s an entire day!!! But if you listen when they come out, that’s about 3 hours per episode.

This is the second set but my first of the series. Both focus on the same set of characters. I had no trouble following as the authors do a great job of filling in the needed info.

The premise is intriguing. A bad man is blackmailing people with their secrets telling them if they don’t tell them to the world, a group of people will be killed. That bombshell had the tension staring at the start and had my attention.

I liked the detective team investigating the set of crimes. They all had different strengths and mostly worked well together. With the length I was able to get to know the characters well and the complex plot had time to develop without feeling rushed. There’s a little bit of a romance running throughout but the case remained the focus.

Annalee Scott was the only narrator for the cast of characters. At first I wondered if I’d miss having a cast, but she handled the it well and brought the story to life.

I think I’m a fan of this concept and am intrigued to see if happens more frequently. I planned on taking it slow and found I was so drawn into the story that I finished after just a few days.

The final part of this story wraps up all the loose ends and makes connections I didn’t even realize were necessary. The intense plot reaches its conclusion, but I’m left wanting more from these characters and their journey.