Never got interested in this one, I used to enjoy the series more ( )

Dead in a Week is an explosive story of kidnapping and espionage. The pace gradually builds as we race against the clock along with the Zermatt Group, desperate to save an innocent young woman.

The plot is complex, intricate, and highly detailed. I have no doubt that an impressive amount of research went into the writing process, yet the story never feels weighed down by facts. Andrea Kane seamlessly weaves necessary details into the story as we need them.

This story is highly plot-driven. Action takes center stage, driving the character interactions and development. I normally prefer character-driven fiction, and sometimes I missed the closer connection to the characters, but overall I was fascinated by the inner workings of the Zermatt Group.

This is the seventh Forensic Instincts novel, and the first in the spinoff Zermatt Group Thriller Series. It reads well as a stand-alone.

*I received a copy from the author, via Partners in Crime Book Tours, in exchange for my honest review.* ( )

I received a digital review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lauren Pennington is nothing more than an American foreign-exchange student, biding her time in Germany during her break when an attractive man sits down at a renowned bar and has a drink with her. A few minutes later, Lauren has disappeared. Her family in the US knows nothing of her disappearance, but they will because Lauren has been taken as leverage. Lauren's father, Vance Pennington, is a high-ranking executive with a company about to introduce breakthrough technology in the communication industry. Little does he know that he'll have to choose between his career, company, country, and his daughter's life in the latest addition to Andrea Kane's Forensic Instincts series, Dead in a Week. Fortunately, for Lauren and her parents, Aiden Deveraux has a secretive and behind-the-scenes company, the Zermatt Group, that intuited Lauren's disappearance from the global computer surveillance and the reasons why well before her father was even contacted by the kidnappers. Now the question becomes, can Aiden, along with a few employees from Forensic Instincts, beat the deadline provided to Vance Pennington, locate and successfully retrieve Lauren before Vance has to do the unthinkable?

Dead in a Week is the seventh book in the Forensic Instincts series and the first to introduce us to the Zermatt Group. This taut suspense-thriller is filled with covert spy-like operations within the US and abroad all in an effort to thwart the kidnappers and the loss of corporate technological secrets to a foreign company. Aiden Deveraux is the defacto head of the Zermatt Group and brother to Marc Deveraux, a member of the Forensic Instincts team. Like Marc, Aiden is well-connected internationally and very well trained, militarily speaking. It is primarily due to Aiden's connections that the Zermatt Group is able to search for Lauren in such a short period of time, bouncing from New York, to California, to Germany and Croatia, and then back stateside. The investigation is multi-modal as well in that it uses high-tech computer skills and technicians as well as highly-intuitive "agents" for lack of a better term. The head computer guru is a female, as is the intuitive business management operative. The covert and military-style operations are carried out by Aiden, Marc, and one of Aiden's British compatriots. Needless to say, there's a lot going on in this story: a kidnapping, family angst and drama over the kidnapping, corporate politicking and machinations, international corporate espionage/blackmail, and more. If you've read any of the previous Forensic Instincts books and enjoyed them as much as I did, then you'll definitely want to grab a copy of Dead in a Week to read. Even if you haven't read any of the previous books in the Forensic Instincts series, I think it's possible to read Dead in a Week and not be lost by any of the previous action. If you've read some of Ms. Kane's historical fiction but haven't read any of her suspense-thrillers or romantic-suspense books, then I suggest you start with Dead in a Week and then backtrack to the beginning of the Forensic Instincts series, you can thank me later. Seriously, go get a copy of this book ASAP!

This review originally posted on 3/28/2019 at https://www.thebookdivasreads.com/2019/03/2019-book-96-dead-in-week-by-andrea-ka.... ( )

I really enjoyed this newest book from author, Andrea Kane. It has a pretty good pacing that stays steady throughout the whole book from beginning to end.

Aidan is a strong lead character. Plus, he is intelligent. Which I would expect from a former Marine. While, Aidan may have been the lead character; the other characters did not play second string. They were prominent figures in the story as well.

As I briefly hinted prior; there is plenty of action in this story. So the mixture of good characters and a nice storyline makes this book a quick and good read. Fans of this author will be happy with this new book. New readers will as well. ( )