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Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Review Tour & #Giveaway for Power Struggle by Carolyn Arnold


Welcome to my stop on the Review Tour, presented by Goddess Fish Promotions, for Power Struggle by Carolyn Arnold. Please leave a comment or quesiton for Carolyn to let her know you stopped by.  You may enter her tour wide giveaway by filling out the Rafflecopter form below. You may follow all of the stops on the tour by clicking on the banner above, the more stops you visit, the better your chances of winning.  Good Luck!

Power Struggle
Carolyn Arnold
Detective Madison Knight Series, Book 8

Publisher:  Hibbert & Styles Publishing, Inc.
Release Date: November 28, 2017
Genre: Police Procedural/Thriller/Suspense/Mystery
Length: 460 Pages
ISBN: 978-1988353647
ASIN: B07588XD65






About the book:

One hit man who’s back for revenge.
One detective who’s not going down without a fight.

It’s been ten months since Detective Madison Knight almost died at the hands of Russian Mafia hit man Constantine Romanov. She hasn’t seen hide nor hair of him since he escaped police custody and fled to Russia soon after his arrest, except now her latest murder investigation gives her reason to believe he’s back in town. Seeing as the victim is the man who killed her grandfather, her perspective may be a little skewed, but with the MO smacking of Constantine and the victim’s connections to the mob, she finds it hard to be objective. Still, she’s doing her best to consider all the evidence.

When she receives a threatening letter from Constantine, however, her suspicions are confirmed. And he’s made it abundantly clear that not only does he plan to finish what he started but he has her family and loved ones in the crosshairs, too. Madison vows to do whatever it takes to save them, but as the hours race by, the body count rises. And the stakes only get higher when Madison’s sister, Chelsea, goes missing.

Now, Madison’s only play is to take Chelsea’s disappearance for what it really means: Constantine is calling Madison out for one final showdown. And they won’t both survive…



EXCERPT

As she walked to her car, the air was cold and bitter. Snow was in the forecast, and she hugged her coat to herself. Goose bumps formed on her flesh, but it wasn’t from the chill. Something was tucked under one of her wiper blades. It could just be a flyer of some kind, but her instincts were firing off warning signals in rapid succession. As she got closer, she saw it was an envelope. She plucked it off the windshield and read the outside: Detective Madison Knight.

Shivers sliced through her body, and her breathing quickened.

Did she really want to open this? What if it somehow confirmed all her paranoia as fact, that Constantine was in town and she had his attention?

Swallowing hard, she slipped a finger under the unsealed lip of the envelope, pulled out a tri-folded piece of paper, and read it:

Were you missing me? No need to any longer. I’m back, and I have my eye on you and yours.
C

She dropped the letter and braced herself against the hood of the car. Her head was spinning and her heart hammering. She felt all the blood drain from her face as dread washed over her, weighing her down to the concrete.

This couldn’t be happening. She’d become complacent, lulling herself into a false sense of security by hiding behind words and faulty logic. And for Constantine to have left this here, he would have been here in the last hour. That meant he must have been following her. And the parking lot was aboveground with automated gates… He had been brazen enough to expose himself in the light of day.

She spun around, frantically studying her surroundings, but she saw no one. Her gut knotted and breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. It was clear he had every intention of following through with his threat. She looked down at the piece of paper that lay on the ground at her feet and went to pick it up. She found herself hesitating, as if it were a serpent that would bite her hand. Any hope that Constantine was long gone disintegrated, because the truth was, Constantine was still in town and he was coming for her. And, from the sound of it, her loved ones.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has four continuing fiction series—Detective Madison Knight, Brandon Fisher FBI, McKinley Mysteries, and Matthew Connor Adventures—and has written nearly thirty books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy to hard-boiled mysteries, and thrillers to action adventures.

Both her female detective and FBI profiler series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining, leading her to adopt the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.

Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.

She currently lives just west of Toronto with her husband and beagle and is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.

Connect with CAROLYN ARNOLD Online:

And don’t forget to sign up for her newsletter for up-to-date information on release and special offers at http://carolynarnold.net/newsletters.

An emotionally action packed police procedural, Power Struggle by Carolyn Arnold reinforces why Ms. Arnold’s books are branded as “respected by Law Enforcement”. The eighth installment in the Detective Madison Knight series, Power Struggle starts out strong and fast and never slows down.  Well-developed characters pull you into the action and never let you go from the very start.  Even if you’ve never read any of the previous books in the series, Power Struggle will intrigue and entertain you from start to finish.

Ms. Arnold’s continued development of her main character, Madison Knight, comes full circle in this installment as Madison is forced to face both her past and her possible future while dealing with a lot of emotional baggage and physical danger.  A strong, independent woman, Madison is a fantastic character who is both likeable and honorable.  I easily reconnected with Madison right from the start of this installment; she’s my 2nd most favorite female cop in crime fiction to date.

The secondary characters are also well developed and I enjoyed getting to reconnect with Troy, Madison’s love interest (and a fellow cop) and her partner Terry Grant.  I also enjoyed getting to know more about Madison’s family and their past.  While this is the 8th installment in an established series, Ms. Arnold does a good job of providing plenty of backstory so that new readers can read and enjoy this installment on its own, something that is actually true of each book in this series.

Ms. Arnold also does a good job developing the villains in the story; while the “mafia” is a staple as far as villains go, Ms. Arnold keeps them interesting.  They certainly grab your attention when they are on the page.  The mystery takes several twists and turns and there is more than plenty of action to keep you turning the pages.  Ms. Arnold’s voice is well established and enjoyable to read, which is really good since this might be the longest installment in the series to dateJ

Will Madison discover a way to deal with the past while trying to stay alive in the present and keep her eyes on the future?  Will a villain from her past manage to follow through on his threat to kill her and destroy her family and friends?  And will her love life survive the emotional hits both she and Troy are forced to deal with?  You’ll have to read Power Struggle to find out. I really enjoyed it and can’t wait for the next installment in this series.

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns  



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