Critical Reaction

I received a copy of Critical Reaction by Todd M. Johnson from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When a Warning Siren Screams in the Desert Night, the Worst Has Happened

After turning out plutonium for the Cold War, the shuttered Hanford Nuclear Facility's poisoned buildings may be a bigger risk than ever. The men who guard the facility from sabotage or monitor its buildings are told the dangers are under control. But then the worst happens--a thunderous explosion in the dead of night.

Kieran Mullaney survived the blast, but when threats and silence meet his attempts to discover what really happened, he reconnects with an old friend--inexperienced lawyer Emily Hart. Convinced Hanford is hiding something, they also realize their case is sunk without more help.

Emily's estranged father, Ryan, has the courtroom experience they need, but he's grown jaded and weary of the profession. Still, it's a chance to rebuild ties to Emily, and the deeper he digs, the stranger--and more dangerous--the case gets.

I really enjoyed this book.  There were a lot of characters to get to know but that kept things interesting.  There were several times that I can't believe Ryan and Emily didn't give up the case.  I think the more they found out the more they believed in Kieran and the need to get to the bottom of what happened at LB5.  Reading this makes me wonder if there are things like this going on and we don't know about it.

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Innocent in Las Vegas

I received a copy of Innocent in Las Vegas by A.R. Winters from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Private investigator by day, blackjack dealer by night, and cupcake-addict extraordinaire, Tiffany Black has just landed her first case. Casino owner Ethan Becker has been murdered, and Tiffany needs to find the real killer.

What should have been a simple matter of talking to a few suspects gets out of hand, and soon Tiffany finds herself fielding violent casino goons, a mysterious new bodyguard and strange masked men. Her poker-playing Nanna and pushy parents want Tiffany to settle down and get a nice husband, but Tiffany just wants to stay alive and solve the case, preferably with a few more cupcakes for good luck...

This was a good book that once I got into was hard to put down.  I was very surprised by the ending and didn't see it coming for sure.  Tiffany got her first case as a PI trying to prove that Ethan Becker's dancer turned millionaire's wife is innocent.  This might sound easy but a smoking gun has been found in her bedroom and everyone know's she married Ethan for his money.  Why wouldn't she kill him?

Until Death

I received a copy of Until Death by Alicia Rasley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Accident? Suicide? Or Murder?
Searching for the answer may just get her killed.
The last thing Meg O'Brian wants is further contact with her ex-husband, Don, and his young trophy wife. She's ready to move on, to start a new life, maybe with a new man who knows nothing about her past failure at love. But now Don is dead, possibly murdered, putting their 15-year-old son's financial legacy and emotional security at risk for the second time in the year since the divorce.
Meg must investigate Don's tangled business affairs and turn up the heat on his tawdry widow. Unfortunately, the only one who can help her discover the truth is the man who destroyed all her illusions two years ago—her cynical, burnt-out-on-matrimony marriage counselor, Mike Warren, the guy who knows her history all too well and won't hesitate to use it against her.
This was a slow book getting started.  It wasn't as suspenseful as I had expected.  Meg lived a pretty boring life as an accountant who's husband ran off with a 20 something bleach blonde.  Now he's dead and the police are saying it was suicide.  Meg doesn't believe that at all and makes it her quest to find out the truth.  Finding out that her ex-husband didn't leave anything for their son helps to fuel her fire for the truth.  She has only one person she can turn to for help and he happens to be the marriage counselor the she and he ex used for marriage counseling a year before.  He's not her first choice because obviously the counseling didn't help to save the marriage.  Her route for tracking down the killer goes better in her head than it does in real life.