A Different Dawn

Goid book, although a little sl8w at time. Wirth reading

Perfect as usual, off to start the next book in the series.

Interesting plot. Great characters. Fast Read. I am loving this series!

Nina and her team take on a serial killer who is fixated on Leap Day. This time frame provides ample time for him to meticulously plan his heinous crimes which focus on families with firstborns and very recent infants. Then he murders the family, structuring the crime to blame the mother. Meticulous procedural work and insights from their varied team skills enable them to roll back the history and sequences of these sometimes decades-old crimes. Nina's cruel history provides powerful insights.

This is the second in the Nina Guerrera series. This time Nina is integrating with her new team of FBI agents as they look into the murder of a young family which has ties to a similar murder four years earlier.

The team discovers that this is only one of eight different murders of young families that have occurred on leap day. As they try to find connections between all the various murders - some of which had been classified and murder-suicides - Nina begins to find a connection to her own life.

She was found abandoned in a trashcan when she was an infant and was raised in the foster care system. She had always wondered about her past and this story answers her questions.

The narrator did an excellent job with the variety of characters and accents in the story. She also did a good job with the pacing.

My only complaint has to do with the coincidence that brought Nina's past into the story. Otherwise, I enjoyed the story which was fast-paced and interesting.

Agent Anna Guerrera and her team at the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Aquia, Virginia, are called out to investigate similar murder scenes in New York and Arizona—both committed four years apart on leap day. After discovering evidence linking them, they determine a ruthless serial killer has been killing innocent families, including newborns, for twenty-eight years! Determined to stop him from committing more murders, they race to Pheonix to, once again, team up with Detective Perez. As the clues pile up, Anna reels as she starts to suspect a horrific mistake made at the Pheonix Hospital twenty-eight years ago could somehow be connected to her past.

This second book in the Nina Guerrera series is face-paced and suspenseful as Nina, Wade, Kent, and Breck face off with a savage psychopath that will stop at nothing to act out his perverted fantasies. It will keep you constantly on the edge of your seat and tug at your heartstrings simultaneously. Although the author covers the back story pretty well, I highly recommend reading the first book in the series before this one.

A Different Dawn by Isabella Maldonado
Nina Guerrera #2

Riveting read ~ Couldn’t put it down!

Beginning with a group of young girls in a children’s home and a scary story told about a ghost was an interesting idea that tied into more than one aspect of the story that followed. A great addition to the series with a hook to eagerly look forward to the next book hitting the bookstores!

What I liked:
* Nina: FBI agent, part of a specialized field team in the making, abandoned in a dumpster as a baby, a ward of the state, abused, grew up to be a police detective that became an FBI agent and profiler ~ she intrigues me and I can’t wait to see how she grows through the series.
* Her team: work as a unit and are there for one another
- Supervisory Special Agent Gerard Buxton: overall boss in charge of team
- Special Agent Dr. Jeffrey Wade: profiler with many years on the job
- Kelly Breck: originally in cybercrimes division
- Jake Ken: former Navy SEAL with psychological, profiler, linguistic and other skills – reminds me a bit of Clark Kent, but potentially “better”
* The Latin American folktale of La Llorna and how it tied into the book’s plot
* The way the story was excellently told
* The setting – Phoenix, Arizona
* The police procedural aspects of the story
* That it felt believable and real
* I cared about the characters and the outcome
* I am eager to read more though the story was complete in and of itself
* What Nina learned about her past and how it will perhaps help form her future
* The potential love interest that might develop within Nina’s team
* Wondering about the team members and whether they are in relationships…can’t remember from book one.
* That I could so easily dislike the serial killer and want him brought to justice

What I didn’t like:
* The serial killer – heartless, ruthless, amoral, stone cold…
* Having to wait for book three to be ready

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Tomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

This book will keep you up past your bedtime. I thought the first was good but this one was even better. Nina Guerrera is tasked with her team from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI to follow up on possibly connected family murder/suicides with infant children years apart and miles apart yet always on leap day. They go back to the scene of the first murder years before in Phoenix where the murder is still a local legend.

I just love Nina and her team. They are all characters that you wish you knew in real life. The pacing on this story is fast and at times frustratingly slow because you want them to catch up with the killer. But the plot twists alone will keep you turning the pages. If you like Criminal Minds you'll love this book. This book can definitely stand alone but you'll understand Nina so much better and have a better understanding of some things that are said about her if you start at the beginning.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced copy of #ADifferentDawn in exchange for an honest review.