Book Review: Inside Threat by Jason Elam & Steve Yohn

After taking two football seasons off, Riley Covington is attempting to make a comeback in the league while trying to forget Khadi Faroughi, now on security detail for a prominent senator. 

But a new attack turns both of their lives upside down yet again. During a state funeral, terrorists overrun the National Cathedral and take senators, congressmen, and their entourages hostage, including Khadi. This new generation of The Cause is made up of homegrown terrorists--an inside threat to the security of the nation. They release most of the hostages, but Khadi and several others are kept behind as significant bargaining chips. 

The Cause pledges to behead one member of Congress each day throughout the month of Ramadan as a punishment for their own country's rejection of Islam. Despite the protests of Counter-Terrorism Division director Scott Ross, Riley races to CTD armed with a plan and a fierce determination to rescue Khadi at all costs.

Series: Riley Covington, #4 (can be read as a standalone, but I'd strongly recommend reading the series in order.)

My rating:

*Cries* *screams* *throws book across the room* WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS THAT?!?!?!

*Takes a deep breath* Okay. Um. I'm calm. I'm fine, everything's fine.

NOT.

Wowww. That was a WILD RIDE for the series finale! I still freak out when I think about it. *blinks* okay. Um.

I'll try to be more coherent. ;) I was disappointed by the fact that there was less football in this book than in any of the others, but I mean, Riley's life was changing. Big time. So I understood it. As always, his character was fabulous—even if he did basically assault his best friend and hold people at gunpoint so that he could—*stops before I give away spoilers* suffice it to say that he became one desperate man.

One thing that I've loved most about Riley is his commitment to his faith. No compromise, even when the woman he loves is of a different faith. I loved it so, so much.

Khadi's character, as always, was tough, yet her heart was soft as butter, and her courage was . . . wow. Khadi is one of the very few 'tough' female characters that I actually really liked.

Skeeter, my boyyyyy! I love this big dude so, so much! And his way with kids! *cries* so sweet!

Scott—hilarious, as always. I loved his character so much.

Okay so THE PLOT. The plot.

The plooooot.

Guys I'm stillll reeling. I'm not okay. I will never be okay. *SCREAMS* Um. It's so hard to put into words what I feel about the plot. It was so intense, so captivating. I loved it.

In fact, I'd give this entire book 5 stars . . . but, as you can see, I didn't. I originally rated it 5 stars. I loved it so, so much. But the 4-star rating isn't because of romance or swearing (though there were like 3 words that I didn't like) . . . it's because of beheadings.

Literal, cut-the-head-off-with-a-dull-knife beheadings.

Is this a spoiler? Probably but if y'all decide to read this book, you need to know what you're in for. The first beheading made me nervous. The next beheading made me cringe. The last beheading . . . freaked me out. I'm one of those people who won't skip parts of a book except as a last resort. I almost wish I would've. The beheadings freaked me out.

I mean, it's terrorists. So they're gonna be freaky. But this was just . . . extra freaky to me.

So yes, 4 stars instead of 5.

So, last but definitely not least, THE ENDING.

OH MY WORD THE ENDING YOU GUYS.

I'M NOT OKAY.

I KNEW IT WAS COMING. I TOTALLY SAW IT COMING. But I thought "nah, that won't happen."

BUT IT DID. AND I'M NOT OKAY.

*Coughs* I feel like though the ending ripped my heart into pieces, and it made me soooo mad, it actually really drove the point of the story home better than anything else could've. So THANK YOU to the authors for not shying away from putting the tough ending, even though it probably got you lower ratings.

Because wow, y'all. So impactful.

Have I mentioned that this book wrecked me?!