Seconds to Live (Homeland Heroes Book #1)

Seconds to Live by Susan Sleeman is the first book in the Homeland Heroes series and definitely worth reading if you love books filled with plenty of suspense. When cybercriminals hack into the U.S. Marshal's Witness Protection database FBI agent Sean Nichols is called in to lead the case and the prime witness is under the care of U.S. Marshal Taylor Mills who Sean is reluctant to work with since she knows all of his deepest secrets. I really enjoyed this book and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more books in this series in the future. I was given an ARC from the author/publisher. All conclusions are mine and mine alone.

Seconds to Live Homeland Heroes #1 By Susan Sleeman A cybercriminal has compromised the U.S. Marshals database of persons who are in their Witness Protection Program (WITSEC) and the data is available for purchase. With time running against them RED Team is assigned the lead in this case. FBI Agent Sean Nichols is the led agent in this multi-agency team and they need to move fast to stop the individual they believe responsible for this breach - Phantom is known for not only incredible hacking skills but a deadly ruthlessness. First stop is Portland, Oregon, to connect with U.S. Marshal Taylor Mills, with whom RED Team had previous dealings. Taylor's charge in WITSEC is of particular interest as she has the hacking skills needed to pull this off and she has had previous dealings with Phantom. Dealings that have her life in danger and on Phantom's radar. There is just one little problem though they have never met in person Sean and Taylor have a relationship that is about to put a serious dose of awkward into their face-to-face dealings. Working with someone who knows some of your deepest feelings is never easy and Sean and Taylor are about to find out just how hard it is very quickly. Can you say stepping on toes when they each try to do their job with no compromise? With the threat that someone inside the U.S. Marshal office is involved Taylor is effectively cut off from her normal support team with need to know severely limited. Phantom is always seemingly two steps ahead of them and every lead soon becomes a dead-end. Tick-tock is the refrain that must be running through the minds of this group as the threat to protected witnesses begins to become reality. Trust is what is needed to get them to their goal - Phatom's capture and the recovery of the stolen database and trust is the one thing that both Sean and Taylor have in short supply. Seconds to Live is the first book in Susan Sleeman's new Homeland Heroes series and it has a wide cast of characters whom one is more than willing to get to know in future books. One would assume that the RED Team will continue to work on a seemingly cold case that they haven't solved - the Montgomery Three has haunted all of them (we are given little about this case other than that the team sees this as a failure). I like that little hints are offered throughout about the other team members but nothing to truly flesh them out so that they become a friend rather they are like the neighbor you only pass on the way to and from work. The book works well as a series staring point but also works well as a standalone book. This book is classified as Romantic Suspense and falls well into that genre - those who have read Susan Sleeman's work with Love Inspired Suspense will not be disappointed in this offering from Bethany House. Great way to pass the late-night hours when you should probably be sleeping but what can I say I was hooked and could not stop reading. I received a complimentary copy of this book via the publisher with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion - all thoughts expressed are my own.

I adore books that are hard hitting story lines from Federal Agencies! I think the men and women that work for these agencies are not given enough credit for all they do for our country. Most of what they do is behind the scenes and we never hear of the heroic actions they do on a daily basis (which is as it should be) but reading about it, even in a fiction book, lets us into their world and gives us a glimpse of what their life is like. I know I couldn't do it but I'm so glad there are people that CAN! They keep me, my family and our country safe. In this book we have a dangerous hacker who exposes the WISTEC database and starts auctioning off the personal details to the highest bidder. I can't even imagine it. Here are vulnerable people who have already been through a huge life change, going into the witness protection program, and now, their lives have been exposed and threatened by bad people. The clock is ticking to find this person and RED team must do it ASAP! FBI agent, Sean Michaels leads the RED team and is under the gun to find the hacker but he must do it with the help from U.S. Marshall, Taylor Mills. They have been corresponding for months online but have never met. They have become almost cyber-best friends but find that meeting each other in person is a whole other ballgame! Can they stop this criminal in time to save innocent people? Can they even work together? A wonderful book that I recommend! I even learned a lot along the way!