Review: Trust No One

The last thing Taylor expected when she stepped into the backyard was to be knocked down by an explosion. When she realizes the explosion came from her house, and her husband is nowhere to be found - neither in the demolished house or out - panic starts to set in. Her life was happy, ordinary...but she soon begins to realize it was all built on lies, and that those lies may very well get her killed. 

Trust No One drops you right into the action from the first page, although you start where you might not expect. Before getting to the explosion, you are introduced to the all consuming need for revenge that sets off this whole mess. I certainly don't want to give anything away, the death in the first chapter is absolutely chilling, and sets the tone for the novel very well. Follow that up with an explosion...needless to say it was a great start to the book. 

Even with the shocking events of the first few chapters, this story wouldn't have been nearly as engaging if it hadn't been for the characters. Taylor was a great character. She is completely out of her element, but she is incredibly strong and smart. She muddles her way through each bad situation without any 007-inspired gadgets or special abilities, which is really pretty impressive. Cochran is the agent assigned to protect her, and I instantly took a liking to him. He's also a strong character, but not infallible. I really appreciated the way he handled situations. As for the bad guys (one of which shall remain nameless), they were chilling. Accawi is creepy, cold, and scary, which made him a fantastic villain. The other one, well, he was just plain disturbing...another great bad guy. I was rooting for Taylor and Cochran, but worried that the bad guys would get them in the end because they were so good. The characters also had great emotions and reactions. I really felt like I was in their heads and experiencing everything right along with them. 

In this type of story, the ending will make or break the whole rest of the book for me. If there are holes, or the story takes the easy, lackluster way out, a book will lose my recommendation no matter how good the rest of it was. Trust No One did not have that problem. I thought it had a very solid ending that made sense, was exciting, and wrapped everything up. Having said that, I did guess the bad guy and his motive about halfway through the book. Usually that takes something away for me, but I still really enjoyed the ending. 

Now here come the caveats. There is some bad language, but it's not profuse. While there were no sex scenes, there were some sexual references. Along with the dark motives behind the attacks in the opening chapter, this book makes my "Not for my Nieces" list. 

My only other complaint about this book was that I had a hard time liking Taylor's husband, Phil. He was absent in the book for so long, where as Cochran - a character I really liked - was present and involved in protecting Taylor. I found myself rooting for Cochran over Phil at times. I think if Phil had had more of a presence I would have felt differently. 

Overall, this was an entertaining and exciting book. The strength of the characters enhanced the story, and the plot was solid throughout. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes, absolutely. I enjoyed it from start to finish. 

Who would I recommend this book to? Just about any action and adventure reader out there will enjoy this book. Readers looking for a strong female character will latch onto Taylor. Many espionage enthusiasts will like this twist on the classic format. This is a book both men and women can get into as well. 

Trust No One is available now from amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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