THE MISTAKEN by Nancy S. Thompson

THE MISTAKEN by Nancy S. Thompson

ARC Review

Published: October 14, 2012, Sapphire Star Publishing

My rating: 4 of 5 ⭐️

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All Tyler Karras wants is to enjoy life with his expectant bride. What he gets instead is a graveside seat at her funeral. With the woman who killed her uncharged and still free, all Ty wants now is revenge.

His brother, Nick, has dangerous connections and suggests a sadistic plan:  grab the woman responsible and hand her over to his associates--sex-traffickers in San Francisco's Russian Mafia. They offer Ty more than he dreamed possible. In exchange for the woman, they'll finally let his brother leave the business for good--with his debt wiped clean and his heart still beating.

There's just one problem:  Ty kidnaps the wrong woman.


Now he must protect Hannah Maguire from the very enemy he's unleashed, but the Russians are holding Nick as leverage to force Ty to complete the deal. Caught in a no-win situation, Ty must find a way to save himself, his brother, and the woman, but with the Russian Mafia, even two out of three makes for very long odds.

***

YOWZA!!! Cripes, that was intense!!!

Extremely well and intelligently written thriller by Nancy Thompson, challenging the reader to explore the firmness of their own moral boundaries. 

Although opening with quite a powerful start, the storyline takes a while to develop. I think it was intended to emphasize the slow decline of a rule-abiding, straight-laced guy to slide the slippery slope of anger and insurmountable grief, to a point where all sense of moral boundaries and humanity has been blurred and darkened. Once we reach that pivotal point in the story, where a mistake is what holds him back from taking that final step to the 'dark side', the pace of the book picks up and the antagonist is no longer within the hero, but clearly defined as an outside threat. 

Although the intensity is quite high throughout, there is a switch from a more psychological rawness to a highly physical one. 

I enjoy the dual point of view, it generally gives a more complete picture and a better context. However, I could have done without Jillian's point of view, hers was one point of view too many. What she had to say did not make her participularly sympathetic nor did it add much to the story that could not have been easily resolved in another way. She was more of an irritant than an enhancement. Sticking with Tyler and Hannah would have been sufficient perhaps supported with narrated segments. 

The suspense factor is incredibly high, especially given the fact the the hero is like an anti-hero, not your usual controlled Alpha male with all the answers. No, Tyler really has no clue what he is doing, all he knows is that he has to make something right. He is functioning on shame, regret, grief, fear and determination, but is absolutely without experience when it comes to dealing with his predicament. Nor has he any idea how to get out of it, and yet he doggedly keeps moving on towards a  confrontation, because that is the only certainty he has. 

Had Hannah not been in such a vulnerable place herself, she might not have had the insight required to grasp the torment facing Tyler. Nor would she have been able to process the fact that fate had been incredibly cruel to her. Instead, it didn't take her long to forgive Tyler and focus her energy on a solution, even going so far at one point as to suggest she sacrifice herself, even temporarily. Her compassionate heart has bled from the moment she realized how truly broken the man in front of her was. Hannah shows incredible strength and resilience and likely should be the true hero of this story. 

The twists and turns throughout will take you through to the very last pages and keep this book completely surprising. 

✨An action-packed, chilling, raw and intriguing thriller!!✨

**ARC provided in return for an honest review.**