48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy has Evan Duran, a hostage negotiator, heading to Pearson, North Carolina to rescue children and adults who were taken hostage at Sandhurst School for the Gifted and Talented. The case is personal for Evan because his ex-girlfriend, Annalise Taylor is one of the teacher’s being held hostage. Evan and Annalise broke up three yeas ago, but he still loves her. Evan will need to utilize all the resources of the Tactical Crime Division is he is to rescue the hostages from people with extreme agenda. 48 Hour Lockdown is the debut of the Tactical Crime Division series. I enjoyed meeting Evan Duran and the other individuals in the Tactical Crime Division. I thought the story was well-written and it moved along swiftly thanks to the action. Evan and Annalise still care for each other. Evan’s feelings are obvious from the moment he learns Annalise is being held hostage. I like that the romance was clean (no intimate scenes) and I like how it progressed. The tension was thick as Evan negotiated with the hostage takers who kept shooting out the windows and threatening the hostages. I enjoyed the suspense that kept me swiftly turning the pages. There is a mystery as well which was fun to solve. It was interesting to see how the police handle a hostage situation. I am looking forward to reading Silent Investigation. 48 Hour Lockdown is a riveting romantic suspense with tense situations, a touching romance, complex characters, and cruel kidnappers. ( )

This was a good second chance romance combined with an intense suspense story. Annalise is a teacher at a school for gifted, underprivileged children. As the story opens, she and three students are doing some afterschool computer work. Their activities are interrupted when the school is invaded by a cult leader and several of his followers. It develops into a hostage situation when the rapid police response traps them in the school.

Evan is a hostage negotiator with the Tactical Crime Division. He is very good at what he does, and is ready to go when he hears about the lockdown. When he learns that children are involved, he knows that the stakes are high. But when he learns that Annalise is one of the hostages, the situation becomes personal.

Evan and Annalise have a history together. They were a couple for two years, then three years ago Annalise left Evan, breaking his heart. He thought their love was strong, and had no idea why she left. Though Evan thinks he is over her, it is obvious from the start that he still cares. When Annalise hears his voice, it gives her hope that the situation will be resolved successfully. As the story progresses through the lockdown and the kidnapping that follows it, the time that Evan and Annalise spend together stirs up the old emotions. A little bit older and wiser, both of them take the time to talk about what went wrong before. When Annalise learns about Evan's tragic past, it gives her insight into the issues that caused their breakup. She also has the confidence to push back against Evan when she needs to. Evan is warier. He's not sure that he wants to give his heart to her again and risk having it broken again. I loved his "aha" moment as he realized where he had gone wrong and how it opened his heart to trying again.

The suspense of the story was intense from beginning to end. The cult leader, Jacob, was one scary man. His actions during the lockdown kept the tension high from the moment it started. His refusal to talk to Evan made Evan's job even harder. I was very impressed with Annalise's ability to stay calm and her cleverness in finding a way to use her cellphone to contact Evan. The longer the lockdown went on, the harder it was to see a successful resolution. I loved the courage of the little girl, Sadie, especially when she interacted with Jacob. The rescue operation was a nail-biter and didn't go as well as they planned, when Jacob and his wife escaped and took Sadie with them. I loved the teamwork of the TCD, and how Annalise was a big part of that team. It was fascinating to follow the thoughts and procedures that went into Sadie's rescue. There were several twists, including the realization that there was someone on the inside working against the good guys. The final confrontation with Jacob was intense and led to the unmasking of the insider. ( )

I'm getting the FTC disclaimer out of the way right now. Because ADHD reigns supreme. I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. A free book does not sway me in my judgment and I hope my readers know that about me by now.
I read 48 Hour Lockdown in less than a day, even though my mind wandered everywhere while I was reading it. I was pleased to find out that romance took a backseat the suspense in this story. Raise your hand if you've screamed at a romance where the couple is being hunted down by evil-doers in a jungle or they're, like, five minutes from certain death at the bad guy's hands, and they decide that that is the best time to have sexy times. Honestly, how do y'all straight people survive anything? Annalise and Evan table addressing their attraction and all that that entails for when everything is said and done. Yes, there are some moments but nothing major or excessive that detracts from the case at hand. Very task-oriented of them.
I liked the inclusion of a cult in the storyline. I have a thing for cults, they're very entertaining to me. So getting to giggle at the craziness that always ensues when there's a cult involved was a plus for me. I'm not saying that cults are good or funny, I just know that if I weren't so jaded about the world because of childhood trauma, I'd have wound up in a cult myself because oof, was I a naive sheep. But y'all. There are some warped cult members and the prerequisite shifty cult leaders in this story. Cults and hostage situations with cops are just nerve-wracking. I was on the edge of my seat with the story, wondering exactly how much of a disaster would it turn into for Annalise and Evan having to deal with cult crazies.
Another thing I liked about 48 Hour Lockdown was the coverage of the possible aftereffects of hostage situations and kidnappings and shootings that Annalise and her students were exposed to in the story. Annalise worries for her students mental health as well as their physical health. She specifically mentions the possibility of developing PTSD from the events in the book. As someone with non-combat Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, seeing an author shedding light on mental health and working to destigmatise non-combat PTSD, I cried a little. There's a lot of work to be done of making people realise that PTSD can come from all sorts of situations in life's journey and I appreciate the author's contribution.
Part of the fun of reading intrigues, mysteries, and thrillers is seeing if you can solve the crime(s) before the protagonist(s). I'm happy to say that I was reasonably stumped by the twists thrown at us by Ms Cassidy in 48 Hour Lockdown. Some instances were obvious to me (I won't name any but you'll know them when you see them) but then I got whacked upside the head with a few. Hooray for surprising me! But I was a bit perturbed that the story didn't end with the miraculous recovery of Evan's long-lost sister returning to his life for a true happily ever after ending. I'm hoping it's addressed in a later story because I need a happy ending on that! I was also dismayed about the level of suspense in the story, after the hostage situation, events were kind of anticlimactic in comparison.
As usual, please practise care in your reading. If any of these issues are problematic for you, please don't hesitate to message me for any clarification of degree of severity or whatever. Because mental health is just as important as physical health. • This story contains scenes of gun violence on page, hostage situations, assault, child abuse, child abduction, and cults and the extremist followers that go with that.
Overall, I'm going to give 48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy a solid 3 stars and 1 little flame for heat. I loved the mental health awareness the author presented I have no choice but to give accolades for it and the level of suspense was pretty good, but I was left wanting more substance to the story.
This has been a review from Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book. If you liked this review, I hope you'll tag along on the crazy ride of randomness I've created. ( )

48 Hour Lockdown by Carla Cassidy
Tactical Crime Division #1

Sandhurst School for Gifted and Talented is a place underprivileged highly intelligent young people are gifted with scholarships. Analise Taylor is a teacher at the school when it is invaded and soon surrounded by police. She is with three students in one classroom unsure who else is also in the school. Her job will be to keep her students safe while also trying to find a way out of the situation.

Evan Duran is a hostage negotiator for the Tactical Crime Division and when he hears Analise’s name he is ready to go immediately. Sure, he has a need to save the children but he also has history with Analise. He thought she was his forever woman until...she wasn’t.

Will the team be able to save the students? Will they break the bad guys and resolve the situation and if so, will they do it without bloodshed? Also, will Analise and Evan have a second chance and this time get it right? Perhaps ;)

What I liked:
* Analise: strong, intelligent, caring woman who did what it took to keep her students safe. She also was willing to go out on a limb to state her feelings.
* Evan: strong, intelligent, dedicated law enforcement person eager to make the right decision in negotiating the safety of those being held hostage. He is willing to, eventually, address some of his emotions and reach out for a possible HEA
* The TCD Team: want to get to know them better
* Sadie: One tough little girl
* The resolution and getting the bad guys in custody.

What I didn’t like:
* The bad guys, of course…
* That Evan and Analise wasted time apart that they could have been together

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

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars ( )

I was looking forward to this first book in the new Tactical Crime Division series, but it just didn't work for me.

The premise is a nightmare situation. I expected to be flooded with emotion as I read. Unfortunately, the characters and dialogue fell flat, and I wasn't at all connected emotionally to the story.

Evan Duran is the stereotypical hero, Annalise is the stereotypical damsel in distress, and we also have the stereotypical incompetent small town cops.

Aspects of the plot are unrealistic. I wasn't surprised by anything, nor was I invested in the outcome.

*I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.* ( )