Kill Zone

Lucy Guardino FBI Thriller #3

by C.J. Lyons

New York Times–Bestselling An FBI agent deals with a teenager’s death and a terrorist threat in one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Novels of the Year. It’s a vicious, horrific the brutal killing of a teenaged girl. When Pittsburgh detectives call FBI Supervisory Special Agent Lucy Guardino to the scene, their focus is on who—and why. Was it the girl’s Afghan father striving to regain his honor after she became too Westernized? Her Jewish boyfriend? Someone from Afghanistan settling an old grudge? Or one of the many drug cartels the father helped the DEA bring down seeking revenge? The answers seem clear when Pittsburgh becomes engulfed in flames as a violent narcoterrorist turns the city into a kill zone. But in the dark of night, surrounded by men intent on destroying the truth, Lucy learns that secrets hide in shadows…Praise for Snake “Very well researched with most details spot on. It is a compelling story. The characters were real, to the point of reminding me of an agent who was every bit as dedicated, smart, and fearless as Lucy Guardino. I highly recommend it.” —Mark B. Lewis, Former FBI Special AgentPraise for CJ Lyons and her Thrillers with “Everything a great thriller should be—action packed, authentic, and intense.” — Lee Child, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels “Compelling . . . I love how the characters come alive on every page.” —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times–bestselling author of The Never Game   “A pulse-pounding adrenaline rush.” —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Before She Disappeared “Breathtakingly fast-paced.” —Publishers Weekly

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Action

356 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 16, 2012

About the author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over forty novels, former pediatric ER doctor CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge Thrillers with Heart.

Two times winner of the International Thriller Writers coveted Thriller Award, CJ has been called a "master within the genre" (Pittsburgh Magazine) and her work has been praised as "breathtakingly fast-paced" and "riveting" (Publishers Weekly) with "characters with beating hearts and three dimensions" (Newsday).

Learn more about CJ's Thrillers with Heart at www.CJLyons.net

Reviews

[The Pirate Ghost (Formerly known as the Curmudgeon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, this is the best book in the Lucy Guiardio series yet. The action starts early and never lets up until the last page. Lucy Guiardino has grown much since her last book.

There are many likes and most of them are terribly simple. It's just a fun story. Fun stories have lots of things to like in them.

Here are some particulars (some of these go through all three books)

Lucy - I like her as a strong character, she's complex, she's tough, she's feminine (difficult to write a feminine action hero even when it's a woman) and she's in charge. She gets beat up, she makes bad decisions, she takes chances and feels guilty. You do need to read all three to understand her better here because she gets less face time than in the previous books. Lucy's just a winner with me as a pistol totin' tough FBI Agent in Pittsburg.

Nick - this is the best image of Nick we've seen yet. He's still the ultra sensitive insightful shrink, but this time we get to see him scared, angry and in danger and, he doesn't fire a shot. With words and wit he faces down gang-bangers and serial killers. He's got a good heart and more than a little hero in him and he cares about his patients (as a therapist).

It was refreshing to see Nick as a human for a change and not some insightful priest like figure married to Saint Mary.

Jennah- Jenna grows too. She's tougher than she looks and, flawed in very human ways. She's a tough pistol packin' sharp shooting woman. I mean, "don't mess with the US Mail" if you know what's good for you. She's a sour sidekick, with a batman like zeal and she really resnets Lucy which makes for interesting chemistry.

Andre - a new figure. A veteran of the Afgahn War with horrible disfiguring burns. I could gush about him for a long time. I'll just say this. Thank you Dr. Lyons for including this kind of human figure of courage and kindness.

Morgan - I actually hated Morgan as a character in the last book. I thought she was too young for the role she was cast in. This time, she's a bully, but she grows too, thanks to Nick. It must have been a tough balance to have her change thinking and still keep her sociopathic side. She makes a dark Avenging Angel, as much as a Dark Gardian Angle when she choses to be. And, even when she's being nice, she's scary. She's definately the girl you'd never think was dangerous, until she puts a knife in your gizzard!...or shoots you....or tries to burn you alive... or any number of unpleasant things.

Nick - Lucy - I still love the romance, the relationship and the fact that it's still a loving marriage at the end of the book, despite the hardships faced in the middle. It's really great that there's a female heroine out there who's not married to, or in love with a jerk, or single and having to sort through would-be-suitors to find Mr. Right while chasing serial killers and dodging the badguys. Nick's a bit on the perfect side, but, he's growing to meet us on the human side of things.

Morgan - Jenna - I liked that Morgan, a young girl, was Jenna's bully. Yes, Bully tactics work on adults too. You just have to "up the antee first." This is a twisted relationship and it's hard to tell if it's Thelma and Louise, Beauty and the beautiful beast or Beastie and the Beastier Beast but what ever they've got going, it only gets more interesting as the book goes buy, ends up just as convoluted and, gave room for both characters to grow and mature without looking like rediculous villains or helpless victims.


the Action-... I Mean "HOLY FREAKIN CRAP BATMAN!" Once this took off, it just didn't stop. When it slowed down, the character building scenes and tension kept things as tight as a circus tightrope and it just kept on going.

Healing themes - In this one, more than the other two, there are healing themes all over the place. Everybody has a wound, emotional baggage, fears, problems you name it and, most of the characters we've grown to care about find some version of healing and personal growth. Considering how violent this book is, how wicked, racy and lucivious some of the content is, these characters find a way to become closer to whole than they were before.

Plot - The plot was perhaps a bit transparent, but the subplots that carried themes over from previous books and new ones started here made ever step complicated and left me wondering "what's going to happen next" even when I had figured out who we were dealing with and even the bad guys next moves. Working the complexity in with all of this balls to the wall action must have been hard. This is a good story.

Place - Pittsburg PA? Who'd have thought something like this might happen in Pittsburg? I never did, but, it sure worked. There were times when it had the same confused feel that reminded me of the LA Riots and the Watts Riots even before that. Shooting at firemen trying to put out fires, chaos in the streets. Police as targets.

The Little' ol' Grandma's Auxilliary - I loved the ladies with Andre's Grams and the two nuns driving the projects in a pannel van to rescue those caught in the chaos. The little old ladies "We're Skyping" running their own Emergency dispatch unit in Grams's basement. It was a nice touch.

Warnings

Violence, all kinds of it delivered with lethal intent and vicious means. The Villain(s) are wicked, mean, horrible people who enjoy inflcting pain. The Victims never deserve what they get. It's Mob violence, it's Gang violence, it's police brutality and the D.C. Sniper all rolled into one. I think it's managed well and though there is a lot of it, it's not gratuitus or pointless (which is important to me). I can handle violence that, maybe I don't agree with, but has a human mission to solve or meet a problem head on.

Good story, over all 4.5 stars (Rounded up to 5). As good as I thought the first book was, this is better. As much as I liked the second book, this is much better.

Best Lucy G story yet.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a lot going on in this book. The only reason it took me so long to read it is because my busy work schedule allows more for keeping up on audiobooks then having time to physically read unfortunately. But this was an excellent book making you examine your own motives and asking yourself how far would you go to protect others and what could you live with. Lots of serious emotions and some pretty crazy and evil people make this is a deep novel despite its entertaining factor.

[Layla Darnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Psychopathic killer, a Mexican drug cartel, an afghan man and his family, a former marine, and local gangs make for one day of hell in the city of Pittsburgh. Lucy Guardino returns along with Jenna, Walden and Taylor to help save a city from ruins. The murder of two young girls brings Lucy and her team out to investigate but things don't add up and it only gets worse from there as they all fight to save themselves while attempting to protect innocent civilians. This dark thriller is a high octane ride packed with action and twists and turns around every corner. The dark subjects in this book may not be for everyone but the author tells a great story and her characters are brave and determined to see justice served at all costs. The storytelling in this book drags you right into this crazy and chaotic world making you feel as if you're experiencing the terror and shock along with the characters. So buckle up and hang on its about to get crazy in Lucy's world!
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[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kill Zone indeed. A fairly face-paced novel which takes place in Pittsburg, PA. A combined group of terrorists create complete chaos and gets many police agencies involved. Then to top it off, the psychopathic teenager from first two books in this series is hanging around on the fringe of this chaotic mess waiting for her chance to contribute.

Two young girls are massacred in their home and who happen to be the children of a questionable relocated Afghani. A severely injured, but well on the way of recovery (at least physically), marine is thrown into the chaos and literally all hell breaks loose all over town.

I liked this book, but had a bit of time with all the characters introduced in such a short time.

2 thumbs up and 4 stars.

[Karen Jarvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing, had read the first book and really enjoyed it, but having missed the second, there was too much back story that I didn’t understand. Perhaps it would have been better had I read book 2. Definitely doesn’t stand alone.

[Laurie Dohmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the series but this was a weaker plot.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the better Lucy Guardino novels. The city is under siege by drug cartels. No one is sure of which one or who is behind it. The other twist is Morgan, the teen sociopath killer who is stalking Lucy. Well done and will keep you on your toes.

[Michael Sherer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a high school freshman I took ancient history, which included, of course, Greek mythology. Learning the names and relationships between all the Titans and then the Olympians who came after (let alone demigods and mortals involved in all those wars) was a daunting task.

Adding the name of another goddess in the pantheon of authors who populate the Mt. Olympus of thrillers is just plain pleasurable. Seems to me that these days, some of the best writing, not to mention some of the most ingenious premises and unique characters, are coming from the pens (or laptops) of the likes of Alafair Burke, Gillian Flynn, Megan Abbott, Nancy Pickard, JT Ellison, Allison Brennan, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and now CJ Lyons.

I met CJ Lyons at a mystery conference some years ago, but had not gotten around to reading her oeuvre (too many authors, too little time!) until I recently got my hands on a copy of KILL ZONE, the third Lucy Guardino FBI thriller. Though she shares a name and vocation with the heroine of another goddess’s series (Allison Brennan’s Lucy Kincaid), she is her own kick-butt character, and this entry in the series solidly establishes her as both an FBI Special Agent and a woman to be reckoned with.

From the discovery of the bodies of two girls horrifically murdered that opens the book, the action is nearly non-stop. Lyons knows how to ratchet up the tension by stacking up the odds against the good guys as a Mexican drug cartel and a Philadelphia gang join forces to take over the streets. She throws even more into the mix by bringing in a couple of potentially loose cannons in the form of a teenage serial killer intent upon revenge against Lucy and a former gang member turned Marine who comes back from Afghanistan burned beyond recognition.

Lyons cleverly interweaves all these threads into the action, but doesn’t sacrifice her characters’ humanity or individuality to do so. Lucy continues to face down danger ultimately to protect those she loves, and we get to see that first-hand in her relationship with her husband Nick.

Lyons calls her books “thrillers with heart,” a play upon the notion that they fit into the sub-genre known as “romantic thrillers.” But KILL ZONE, at least, as I’m sure is true of the rest of the series, plays more like a straight-ahead example of the thriller genre at its best. Which is why CJ, too, is one of the goddesses in the thriller mythology.

[David Freas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story had many elements in the beginning that made it hard for me to get caught up in the story. Some of those elements were a bit too ‘over the top’ for me to buy into, making it impossible to accept the story as realistic. Lyons did, however, mesh those multiple elements into a neat and more realistic whole by the end. And the tension is almost unending as the whole story takes place over the afternoon and night of one day.

The bad guys and their environs were also a little too ‘right out of central casting’ to be believable. Many thriller authors have the bad guys outthink and outmaneuver the good guys throughout the book until they suddenly suffer an outbreak of the stupids or the good guys get a sudden infusion of smarts near the end – another thriller convention that I find hard to believe. Lyons made the good and bad guys fairly equal with the edge shifting constantly from one side to the other.

One more thing I found a little hard to accept was the complete personality reversal one person underwent.

I liked the first book in this series but was a little let down by the second. Sadly, this one didn’t undo that. So, I doubt I’ll be back for more in the series.

[Gabby-Lily Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first read via Ms. Lyons' newsletter that a new Lucy Guardino book was coming out, I was quite excited. The titles may be off-putting to some readers, but they make perfect sense in context of the stories and the stories are excellent.

What I really love about this story (about all of her books really) is that it's of the edge reading. There is violence, yes, but it isn't gratuitous violence. There is, from my viewpoint, just the right amount to make the story realistic -- if there was either more or less something would be lost. There is mystery, action, and jurisdictional squabbling.

The characters also make the story. They are ordinary people you might know. They think, they are tempted, they must choose their paths, and their choices are ones that the reader could -- conceivably IF in the circumstances with that personality -- choose for themselves.

Looking forward to the next installment in the series!

(Cross-posted to Amazon.com, Librarything, Goodreads, B&N)

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite Lucy book yet. Fast paced and nonstop action. I am usually the first to figure out who's the bad guy or good guy.
This one had me guessing until the very end. I like that the author doesn't try to make Lucy out to be perfect in every way. She is an FBI Agent, wife, and mother and is very likable but not perfect. In this one a few character's from the 2nd book but gives a brief account of them. However because I love this series would strongly recommend them as well and if possible, in order. That being said, don't not read this book just because you may not have read the others. It's a good book and I hope this is not the end of Lucy.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kill Zone, like every book written by CJ Lyons is a must read. The book captured my attention and I had a difficult time putting it down. It was great to get to see the next chapter in Lucy Guardino’s life. The book was realistic enough that you could picture it happening. The drug cartels in Mexico are not for the faint of heart and neither is this book. It takes things we read about and watch in the news and places it in our backyard. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you enjoy fast paced, with kick butt characters I would recommend this book for you.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite series of the year. I hope there will be more.

[(NurseLisa) Square Granny from Ohio · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5!!!
I LOVE this series! It's based on true events and is fabulous.
Hiiiiighly recommend.

[Dorothea Müller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucy ist zurück. Mit einem brutalen Mord eines Mädchens. Der afghanische Vater wird verdächtigt. Doch als alle auf den Weg zurück, kommt es zu einem Zwischenfall, der ganz Pittsburgh heimsucht. Andre Stone kommt zurück nach Hause und denkt nur Rache. Rashid Raziq, doch er weis nicht das man ihn im schon im Visier hat.

Die Geschichte fängt wie bei jedem Krimi mit einem guten und bösen Mord an. Doch dann fühlt man sich als ob man falsch abgebogen ist und in einer Action / Endzeit Film gelandet ist. Spannung steigt, Atmung auch. Man wechselt immer wieder die Perspektiven, die Personen. Lucy ist die Konstanze, die anderen geben eine Information oder lenken einen in die Irre. Man kommt nicht zu Ruhe. C. J. Lyons macht Pittsburgh zu einem Schlachtfeld für eine Verschwörung die einen in ihren Bann zieht. Bis zum Ende weis man nicht ob es zu einem Happy End in irgendeiner Form kommt. Manchmal weis man nicht mal ob es irgendjemand überlebt. Viele Kämpfe, viele Tote und Wendungen, die plötzlich aus dem nichts kommen.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual saint Lucy is back with plenty of action adventure and a crazy mystery. We get old friends making their presence known in a way no one expected. Old actions bring about people and circumstances no one expected somehow throwing together the past and the present and exploding in a world of chaos. The city is at war and didn't even realize it lives will be lost some will be saved but the blood will still flow freely. It's Lucy and her team to the rescue as long as they can stop fighting each other. Great read wasn't a big fan of her first book but I actually have enjoyed these last two and the series stand alone reads with carryover characters I will probably read more

[Todd Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book starts off with a horrific crime, which grabbed my attention immediately, and gave me hope for a great read. But the remaining pages were filled with the ridiculously implausible, which left me wondering where Lucy Guardino hides her Supergirl cape. Drug cartels, gangs, a 13-year old psychopath, nuns, and a zoo all play a role in this 1 day of action.

I've read a few other CJ Lyons books and enjoyed them some, but these aren't on my must read list. I'll read more as time and opportunity allow, but this wasn't the great read I was looking for.

[Bob Burch · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the prologue, the author said she had to reduce the level of violence so that readers would find it believable for good old USofA.
Ironically, a couple of weeks before I started reading this book, I'd been offered employment in the US. I declined it because I won't live in, or visit, a country where lunatics have guns ... this book confirmed I made the correct decision.

[Debra Chiaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

What a fast paced story. It seems as though every page has a new and different way of keeping Lucy busy with her job. She tends to be involved in some pretty close shaves. And this time hubby Nick joined her, which gave him a new perspective on the job she takes on every day. Exciting story lines are what keeps me looking forward to the next book. So thanks CJ!😃

[Addie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So entertaining!

I’m so happy I’ve found this series! The reads are quickly and so engaging. I love the formatting as well. The reader gets to sort of experience the thrill from the perspective of different characters.

[Linda D. Keenan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but tedious reading.

Took a long r one to read. Book was good but very tedious to read more than a couple of chapters at a time. I dislike the ending but will take a break before reading anymore of this author's books.

[Daniela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best one of the series (IMO). Action packed from word one and didn't stop until the epilogue. I didn't really care for Jenna in the previous book and that just intensified in this one. That girl's got issues!!!! Morgan is a very scary character. On to the next.

[Neena Christianson Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take over.

That's what is happening when a drug cartel and gangbangers team up to take over Pittsburgh. It's up to Lucy and her team and some committed civilians to stop them before more lives are lost.

[Thomas J McCallister]

Not at all what I expected. I have read several of the “Lucy Guardino”. Books. This was a complete departure from what I have known. This book was specificantly more entence and with brutal non stop action forced from beginning to end. It was a good read but my expectations were not we’re not met.

[Bernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kill Zone is the third book in the Lucy Guardino F. B. I. thriller series written by author C. J. Lyons.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Fast paced thriller. Intriguing characters.

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book was good, not the ending I expected. Book was a little slow in the middle but it picked up.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best of the three books I’ve read in this series. Action right from the start and a great blending of three different story lines to form one complete adventure.
Thoroughly enjoyable.

[vicki carnicle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kill zone

Great reading this book kept me interested from beginning to the very last word in the story the characters were amazing the plots of the story were great

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost 3 stars. This book was a bit boring for me, perhaps a little bit too much carnage.