Fallen

August 26, 2019
Zanetti follows Hidden with another high-octane mix of action, romance, suspense, and the perfect amount of levity. Brigid is a government-sanctioned computer hacker with a penchant for bad boys. She’s part of an offshoot division of Homeland Defense in Washington, D.C., that’s staffed with misfits who have something to prove. When she and her handler, Raider Tanaka, are forced to go undercover and pose as a couple to stop a computer crime ring with ties to the mob (and clear her father’s name in the bargain), they quickly discover their attraction is real. Raider is a federal agent with no time for entanglements; he’s all about his job and getting revenge on the men who killed his partner. He tries to force himself to see Brigid as just a means to an end, no matter how much she intrigues and challenges him. The blend of memorable personalities found on the Deep Ops team, combined with a slowly teased-out bigger story arc, makes for a deliciously inviting and immersive story. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Associates.

September 1, 2019
A hacker and a federal agent fall in love while investigating an Irish mobster and a crooked senator. After she accidentally hacks into a federal database while trying to bring down a child pornographer, Brigid Banaghan is forced by FBI agents to work for the Homeland Defense Department in order to escape imprisonment. She works on a computer in the office rather than gallivanting around in the field, but that changes with the newest Deep Ops case. Brigid's boss informs her not only that her father was formerly a mob enforcer, but also that he is suspected of being back in the game and helping a young, up-and-coming Boston mobster traffic women and children. Despite being estranged from her father, Brigid is determined to prove his innocence. Unfortunately, that means she has to pretend to be engaged to her magnetically handsome bodyguard and handler, Raider Tanaka. Brigid and Raider are capable, confident, and well matched as partners in every way. Being thrown into close proximity makes it impossible for them to ignore their mutual attraction. As they go deeper into the case, they slowly learn to trust each other and their own emotions. Zanetti (Alpha's Promise, 2019, etc.) successfully balances the romance with the escalating mystery of why a U.S. senator is mixed up with a young Irish mobster. The Deep Ops team is made up of people who have been cast off from the mainstream FBI, and each team member is showcased as they work to crack the case. Brigid and Raider's love affair is the star of this carefully constructed and well-paced work of romantic suspense. The central romance is enhanced by a pleasingly tangled suspense plot.

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