Firewall

A modern cyber crime story about a woman Emma who has beat the odds and fought to overcome obstacles. A person everyone seeks for assistance due to her skills. She tries to bring down a criminal and survive. Great read full of twists!

Is unputdownable a word? It’s a perfect description for the fast paced Firewall. Retired opera singer and widow Emma Streat is summoned to New York by her beloved godmother who is being blackmailed. Soon, after a dangerous attack at home, Emma is plunged into an investigation into global cybercrime. The action quickly moves from Paris to Florence to Scotland and Geneva as Emma looks for clues and criminals in the opulent world of international art. Firewall is the third in a series by Eugenia Lovett West but is a standalone thriller. A strong plot, travel magazine worthy descriptions, unique and well drawn characters make this a stellar read.

Thanks to NetGalley and SparkPress for this ARC.

I did not realize this book was part of a series when I started it. Early in the book, I was worried I may have missed too much information to jump in where I was, but quickly found the author gave plenty of hints and information about what had gone on before to be able to read this one on its own.

Firewall started out reading like a mystery, I certainly suspected several characters as being the original blackmailer, but as the story unraveled, I found it built more like a thriller, each part taking the reader a bit deeper into a larger conspiracy. The novel felt a little more like three linked novellas than one novel, but the links were there and there was some tying up of loose ends at the end of the book.

I liked our heroine, Emma. She was smart and humble. I have not read many books about former opera singers and thought that was an interesting background, I wish there could have been a little more about it in this book. It is nice to see a heroine who has a little bit of life experience, knows who she is and is still able to grow as a person.

The settings were the star of the book for me. France, Italy, Ireland, Boston were all beautifully portrayed. The bits of history and local color were utilized well in this story.

This story was full of twists and turns with bad guys turning up at the most inopportune times. I said earlier this was like three novellas, there were certainly distinct parts to this novel, but maybe it's more like uncovering an iceberg. We discover the blackmailer quickly, but then we have to figure out who is blackmailing the blackmailer and so on through a litany of crimes. Reading this book was similar to a roller coaster; up and down for awhile, then a couple of straightaways lulling you into safety before plunging you down again at a dizzying speed.

I enjoyed this novel and am hoping to get my hands on the two earlier books in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my free copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I was hooked on to the story from page 1. I started reading it post-lunch and before I knew, I was halfway through the story. There is never a dull scene in the novel. Action, adventure, the thrill of chasing and being chased and much more, Firewall is a complete entertainment package!

I loved Eugenia's writing. As I read through, it felt like a movie playing in my head. Emma, Andrew, Caroline, Peggy, Richard and many more - each of these characters play quite a role in the story. Though this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. There are flashbacks where Emma reminisces the ordeal she went through the last time she came face to face with cybercriminals.

Emotions, adventure and the feel of a spy-thriller-ish story, this book has it all. Just when Emma thinks that she can now pack her bags and go home, uh-huh, nope, she's roped into another task. And then some more...

Likeable characters, a cat and mouse chase that keeps you on the edge of your seat, romance, good food and pretty places in Europe -makes Firewall a must-read book, especially if you like stories of the genre Mystery and Thriller. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great addition to the Emma Streat series, but I don't think those who haven't read the other books would be missing out on any major backstories. The author did a great job of making sure old and new readers of this series enjoy this one!

I didn't realize when I picked this book up that it was actually the third in a series. I was wondering when I kept reading about references to Emma helping solve her husband's murder, so I went to the author's website and that is where I discovered there was in fact previous books. Despite not reading the first two books, the author does a good job of summarizing what happened and how Emma came to work with various intelligence agencies.

In this book there are actually multiple crimes that Emma is brought into assist but they all tie in together and Emma finds herself in several countries at the behest of the various agencies she has been helping. It starts with her godmother, Caroline, who is being blackmailed and that crime is solved in the first part of the book but is it really? Emma is taken to Italy to assist Caroline with an art viewing and possible purchase and there were learn that Caroline may have had some lasting repercussions from an attack in the first portion of the book. It is then a whirlwind journey through multiple countries trying to find the cybercriminal mastermind.

I thought this was an interesting approach to writing this book - there isn't just one crime but multiple that need to be solved. Many are tied together and as one crime is solved it leads Emma to the next one. Emma has dalliances with different men, but will any of them be her true love? Each of the men brought something different to her life and only future books will tell us if any of these men stay in her life on a romantic level.

The book is action packed and despite Emma wishing she didn't have to be in a few of these places, she is able to help root out those that are involved in the crimes and make connections that the agencies or police aren't able to put together. This is mainly due to her conversations with the various characters and not ineptness by the police.

I enjoyed this book and we give it 4 paws up.

Firewall is an action packed novel with a powerful female main character in Emma that you will not want to put down. .

We are introduced to Emma, who has made a second career for herself solving crimes for the government. We learn that this was after the murder of her husband where she refused to take the simple answer and decided to investigate the case herself. This marked the start of her new career and life as a single mother. I did not realize there were other books in this series but this did not impact my comprehension or enjoyment of the book. Eugenia gives you enough information to understand the current plot and how it is connected to Emma’s past but doesn’t overload you with the previous plots and history.

I loved that we have a single, strong female character who has flaws that so many of us have but she embraces them which makes us love her even more. She is loving, kind, thoughtful but also vulnerable, honest and looking for more in life. She has been through a lot with the loss of her husband and having to reinvent herself but she comes through it fighting each step of the way. Eugenia does a great job with her female characters – Emma’s Godmother who we meet at the beginning at the novel, is feisty and full of fire. I loved how she developed her female characters in this novel – they were the heroes and did the rescuing, something we need to see more of in novels.

The plot was very well planned and laid out in the novel. Emma travels around the world solving what started off as the blackmailing of her Godmother. Eugenia keeps us on our toes, continuously guessing what will happen next as Emma solves multiple cyber crimes. Emma is put to the test many times throughout the novel to solve a string of seemingly unrelated crimes but as we find out later in the novel are woven together expertly by Eugenia.

This is an excellent novel from start to finish – it was fun, thrilling and I could not put it down.