Lights Out by Natalie Walters

Lights Out
by Natalie Walters

ISBN-13: 9780800739782
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Revell
Released: November 2nd 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
CIA analyst Brynn Taylor developed a new program to combat terrorism, and she invited members of foreign intelligence agencies to America to foster cooperation between countries. Now one of them, Egyptian spy Remon Riad, is missing.

Jack Hudson has been working for the Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency (SNAP) for almost nine years and takes the lead in hunting down the missing spy. But he isn't at all pleased to find out Brynn is involved. It's hard to trust a woman who's already betrayed you.

Every lead they follow draws them dangerously deeper into an international plot. Kidnapping, murder, explosions, poisoning--the terrorists will do anything to accomplish their goal of causing a digital blackout that will blind a strategic US military communications center and throw the world into chaos.


My Review:
Lights Out is a Christian romantic suspense/mystery. I felt slightly exasperated with the romance. The whole thing started with Jack saying that he didn't trust Brynn because she betrayed him, but it turned out that all she did was choose her dream job over a budding relationship with him. Years later, they're still attracted even though he still struggled with her going into danger and wanting to spend so much time on the job. I'm not saying that it's a bad relationship, but Jack seems to love her "despite" these stress points rather than learning how to make the relationship work.

Anyway, the characters reacted realistically to events and came across as real people with genuine struggles. The suspense came from an unknown terrorist threat that they slowly uncovered (will it be in time?) and the danger that it put them in. Brynn was able to protect herself in unarmed combat. But I appreciated that, after Jack repeatedly tackled Brynn (and it really was to save her life), she finally got injured from it. I've long thought that having a large, brawny man knock a woman down would result in some injury.

Brynn didn't quite trust that God was both good and in control. She learned to "anchor" herself in God to find peace when life was out of her control. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this exciting novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.