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Tor Maddox #2
Embedded
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor's first mission may blow up in her face.
Volume 2 in the Tor Maddox series
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor's first mission may blow up in her face.
Volume 2 in the Tor Maddox series
306 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
326 people want to read
About the author
Liz Coley
19 books239 followersLiz Coley, playwright and author.
Pretty Girl-13 from HarperCollins has been released in twelve languages on five continents, in print, ebook, and audiobook.
There are secrets you can't even tell yourself.
Selfpubs include:
Teen romantic thriller series TOR MADDOX. Disarmed is a prequel short story, followed by the novels TM1: Unleashed, TM2: Embedded, and TM3: Mistaken.
A heroine for our times
Time travel/alternate history Out of Xibalba features a modern teenager thrown back to ancient Mayan times.
The story starts when the world ends.
Sci-fi tween/teen adventure The Captain's Kid is about Brandon Webb's first interstellar journey to a failing colony.
What happens when when the starship is sabotaged, the alien holds secrets about his past, the villain is on the right side, and the world isn’t ready to be saved?
Liz lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and crazed felines Pippin and Merry. When she's not involved in writing-related activities, she can be found sewing, baking, playing tennis, and singing.
Liz loves reading aloud. Check out her #UndercoverReading series on YouTube on the LizColeyBooks channel.
Pretty Girl-13 from HarperCollins has been released in twelve languages on five continents, in print, ebook, and audiobook.
There are secrets you can't even tell yourself.
Selfpubs include:
Teen romantic thriller series TOR MADDOX. Disarmed is a prequel short story, followed by the novels TM1: Unleashed, TM2: Embedded, and TM3: Mistaken.
A heroine for our times
Time travel/alternate history Out of Xibalba features a modern teenager thrown back to ancient Mayan times.
The story starts when the world ends.
Sci-fi tween/teen adventure The Captain's Kid is about Brandon Webb's first interstellar journey to a failing colony.
What happens when when the starship is sabotaged, the alien holds secrets about his past, the villain is on the right side, and the world isn’t ready to be saved?
Liz lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband and crazed felines Pippin and Merry. When she's not involved in writing-related activities, she can be found sewing, baking, playing tennis, and singing.
Liz loves reading aloud. Check out her #UndercoverReading series on YouTube on the LizColeyBooks channel.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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November 20, 2025This book series is awesome and should definitely be continued. Hopefully the adventures of Tor Maddox: Heroine for our times is continued even though it has been over 10 years since the book has come out. If you like chick-lit and spy books u should enjoy this!
May 22, 2018
Kept my interest from the first page to the last
June 1, 2018
The was not a book I would normally read, but overall it was a good book.
August 18, 2015
We're back at it with Tor in this second installment. Along with turning sixteen comes that coveted little piece of plastic that screams FREEDOM like William Wallace never could. You remember, don't you?
A driver's license!
But Tor's first outing behind the wheel without her parents ends in a multiple mishap she could never have foreseen - and brings hunky college boy and junior government agent, Rick Turner, striding back into her life to save her road privileges. This time, he needs her sharp-thinking skills to assist him.
Oh boy, oh boy - Tor's first, real, live, government agent-type assignment. To get close to a fellow student in her high school.
Boring! But hey, this is Tor Maddox we're talking about. The girl who thinks on her feet (and in her size eight pointe shoes). The girl who finds trouble where none could possibly be found. The girl who can't help but get everyone around her in trouble when they try to help, much to her parents' chagrin.
Tor's second adventure involves an issue straight off of the news screens - illegal immigration. No matter which side of the fence you're on, this is not an issue with a straight black or white answer. I have friends that immigrated here and spent years and thousands of dollars to do it in the legal manner. Then I know several people who were brought here by their parents when they were young and had no say in the matter, living life along the periphery with children now of their own - and living in fear of what will happen to their legal children if they are discovered as being here illegally. But then terrorists are known to use illegal immigration routes and team with coyotes, whose interests end with the money, to infiltrate the U.S. in order to wreak havoc. It can be an emotionally charged issue, one Tor finds herself facing when the grandfather of her dancing nemesis is shipped back to Mexico and in Tor's pursuits, finds herself crawling through a tunnel underneath the border.
The story is again exciting and we get to see more of the interactions of high school life without it becoming too much of an angst-ridden hormonal mess. Tor inserts herself into the lives of the swim team, specifically Hamilton, in order to discover what it is Hamilton's dad has in play concerning what's happening across the border. In the process, her best friend Sasha's dance legs are ripped out from beneath him - quite literally - and he ends up spending most of this book in the hospital, which was a disappointment for me because he provided some necessary breaths of humor in book one. Tor's brother, Rody, continues to show how capable he is in trying to keep his sister out of trouble while doing a lot of CYA for her with the parents. And sparks continue to fly between Tor and Rick - which is a little difficult for me at times since he's twenty-one and she's barely sixteen. At least this problem is addressed and dealt with early on in the book, though the connection these two have made the ending rather nice. Just when you thought it was over, surprise!
Plotting and pacing are again handled well. We follow along with Tor during her adventures, keeping the story moving along in showing mode instead of resorting to telling, which can be difficult to do in first person narration. There's a little more teen angst here than in the first one, but the more mature subject matter of dealing with illegal immigration kept it from devolving into fluff. I did find the characters of Hamilton and his dad to be a little extreme, falling into the caricature of bigoted redneck as very one-dimensional. Maybe I just haven't been exposed to such an extreme in real life, but it felt to me a bit overwrought with no balance or redeeming qualities. Only one or two minor editing errors revealed in this one.
Content Warning: There are a few more and varied cuss words in this second outing, but probably much less than anything teens already hear in school. There's the whole lying to parents thing and using one's siblings and friends for CYA that rubs me a little the wrong way - then again, I'm a parent. :-) A potential relationship between a twenty-something and teenager is probably many girls' dreams, but it isn't gratuitous.
Overall, another smart read for teens and adults. I give this one four stars.
I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for review and was not financially compensated for my opinion.
A driver's license!
But Tor's first outing behind the wheel without her parents ends in a multiple mishap she could never have foreseen - and brings hunky college boy and junior government agent, Rick Turner, striding back into her life to save her road privileges. This time, he needs her sharp-thinking skills to assist him.
Oh boy, oh boy - Tor's first, real, live, government agent-type assignment. To get close to a fellow student in her high school.
Boring! But hey, this is Tor Maddox we're talking about. The girl who thinks on her feet (and in her size eight pointe shoes). The girl who finds trouble where none could possibly be found. The girl who can't help but get everyone around her in trouble when they try to help, much to her parents' chagrin.
Tor's second adventure involves an issue straight off of the news screens - illegal immigration. No matter which side of the fence you're on, this is not an issue with a straight black or white answer. I have friends that immigrated here and spent years and thousands of dollars to do it in the legal manner. Then I know several people who were brought here by their parents when they were young and had no say in the matter, living life along the periphery with children now of their own - and living in fear of what will happen to their legal children if they are discovered as being here illegally. But then terrorists are known to use illegal immigration routes and team with coyotes, whose interests end with the money, to infiltrate the U.S. in order to wreak havoc. It can be an emotionally charged issue, one Tor finds herself facing when the grandfather of her dancing nemesis is shipped back to Mexico and in Tor's pursuits, finds herself crawling through a tunnel underneath the border.
The story is again exciting and we get to see more of the interactions of high school life without it becoming too much of an angst-ridden hormonal mess. Tor inserts herself into the lives of the swim team, specifically Hamilton, in order to discover what it is Hamilton's dad has in play concerning what's happening across the border. In the process, her best friend Sasha's dance legs are ripped out from beneath him - quite literally - and he ends up spending most of this book in the hospital, which was a disappointment for me because he provided some necessary breaths of humor in book one. Tor's brother, Rody, continues to show how capable he is in trying to keep his sister out of trouble while doing a lot of CYA for her with the parents. And sparks continue to fly between Tor and Rick - which is a little difficult for me at times since he's twenty-one and she's barely sixteen. At least this problem is addressed and dealt with early on in the book, though the connection these two have made the ending rather nice. Just when you thought it was over, surprise!
Plotting and pacing are again handled well. We follow along with Tor during her adventures, keeping the story moving along in showing mode instead of resorting to telling, which can be difficult to do in first person narration. There's a little more teen angst here than in the first one, but the more mature subject matter of dealing with illegal immigration kept it from devolving into fluff. I did find the characters of Hamilton and his dad to be a little extreme, falling into the caricature of bigoted redneck as very one-dimensional. Maybe I just haven't been exposed to such an extreme in real life, but it felt to me a bit overwrought with no balance or redeeming qualities. Only one or two minor editing errors revealed in this one.
Content Warning: There are a few more and varied cuss words in this second outing, but probably much less than anything teens already hear in school. There's the whole lying to parents thing and using one's siblings and friends for CYA that rubs me a little the wrong way - then again, I'm a parent. :-) A potential relationship between a twenty-something and teenager is probably many girls' dreams, but it isn't gratuitous.
Overall, another smart read for teens and adults. I give this one four stars.
I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for review and was not financially compensated for my opinion.
May 26, 2015
The unstoppable Tor Maddox is at it again, this time on a covert spy mission set right in her own high school. Of course, Tor can't keep her enthusiasm in check, so she takes the mission into her own hands in order to track down the secrets behind the assault of her best friend, Sasha and the disappearance of immigrants from nearby Mexico.
The danger is real and suspenseful throughout the entire book - Tor gets herself into trouble and the action will keep you turning the pages faster than you thought possible. The dialogue is very well-written and witty, and Tor's inner monologues create a hilarious contrast to the dramatic tension of the overall mystery. Characters we fell in love with in the first Tor Maddox book, Unleashed, are back and just as delightful as before.
Highly recommended for fans of political thrillers, contemporary mysteries, or those just looking for a good, clean, fun read.
The danger is real and suspenseful throughout the entire book - Tor gets herself into trouble and the action will keep you turning the pages faster than you thought possible. The dialogue is very well-written and witty, and Tor's inner monologues create a hilarious contrast to the dramatic tension of the overall mystery. Characters we fell in love with in the first Tor Maddox book, Unleashed, are back and just as delightful as before.
Highly recommended for fans of political thrillers, contemporary mysteries, or those just looking for a good, clean, fun read.
June 10, 2015
I plowed through EMBEDDED, the second in Liz Coley’s Tor Maddox series, in two sittings. This was a serious page turner. It had everything I love in a YA novel – a quick pace, characters I can relate to, and romance. Lots and lots of romance.
This time Tor finds herself on an assignment that involves getting up close and personal with drop-dead gorgeous senior Hamilton Parker. Not to worry, though; Special Agent Rick still makes lots of appearances, being the all-around good guy (who just happens to be dreamy) that we got to know in UNLEASHED.
I loved watching Tor navigate her way through a tangle of complex situations. She has to deal with everything from ballet auditions to exposing diabolical plots driven by racial discrimination. And of course, there was everybody’s favorite male ballerina: Sasha. Sweet, forgiving Sasha who Coley decides to really rough up this time around!
EMBEDDED was another great read and I’m looking forward to Tor’s next adventure!
This time Tor finds herself on an assignment that involves getting up close and personal with drop-dead gorgeous senior Hamilton Parker. Not to worry, though; Special Agent Rick still makes lots of appearances, being the all-around good guy (who just happens to be dreamy) that we got to know in UNLEASHED.
I loved watching Tor navigate her way through a tangle of complex situations. She has to deal with everything from ballet auditions to exposing diabolical plots driven by racial discrimination. And of course, there was everybody’s favorite male ballerina: Sasha. Sweet, forgiving Sasha who Coley decides to really rough up this time around!
EMBEDDED was another great read and I’m looking forward to Tor’s next adventure!
June 2, 2015
Tor thinks in so many different directions and levels at once. Multi-tasking and creative thinking are her strengths.
I enjoy how every twist and turn is unexpected and how Tor's girl friends who help her dress for certain occasions are fun to listen to. I thought Cocoa was taking a back seat in this book, but........
I enjoy Liz Coley's writing style and look forward to her other books.
I enjoy how every twist and turn is unexpected and how Tor's girl friends who help her dress for certain occasions are fun to listen to. I thought Cocoa was taking a back seat in this book, but........
I enjoy Liz Coley's writing style and look forward to her other books.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews