A religious zealot has plans to bring the country to its knees. Lexi Mills is hellbent on taking him down. Brace for Impact!
ATF Agent and resident bomb expert Lexi Mills is on a mission. Commanding a task force of hand-picked specialists, she sets her sights on a terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers. A religious sect with a violent plan to cull the nonbelievers before the coming Rapture, the group is headed by its charismatic leader, Tony Belcher. The first time she crossed paths with Belcher, Lexi lost her leg—and her partner.
Now she’s determined to make him pay.
Vowing to end his reign of terror, the team hunts down members of Belcher’s organization. But underestimating him is their first mistake. And by the time they discover the ruthless intellect beneath his fanatical persona, it’s too late.
When Lexi becomes the target of Belcher’s rage, she’s forced to make an impossible choice: Prevent a bomb from killing thousands of innocents—or save the love of her life.
In a terror plot destined to be the worst in the nation’s history, Lexi must once again put her own life on the line to do what she does best…and the stakes have never been higher.
Stacy Lynn Miller is a retired Air Force officer who found her passion for writing after leaving the service. With twenty years of experience wearing a badge, working with computers, and investigating cases, she has created multiple award-winning thriller and suspense series packed with strong sapphic women, gripping stories, and a perfect blend of intrigue and romance.
Stacy is a visually impaired, proud stroke survivor, mother of two, tech nerd, and chocolate lover. She's also a terrible golfer who managed to get a hole-in-one! When she's not busy writing, you can find her playing golf or enjoying a glass of wine (sometimes both) with her friends and family in Northern California.
This is the third Lexi Mills book and it was my favorite so far. Lexi is an ATF agent, still on the hunt for terrorist mastermind, Tony Belcher. Lexi fiance Nita has learned how dangerous and import Lexi job is after being on the scene with her on book two. This time Belcher sends his mean after Lexi's parents and Nita, and a great deal of violence occurs.
This was action packed and I liked the realism it brought since most sapphic fiction doesn't include the MCs being in dangerous and life threatening situations. This also had multiple points of view including the MCs and several of the criminals, letting us into their mind set. The story moves along quickly, multiple plots to start a revolution are foiled by Lexi and several other federal agents.
I would recommend reading books 1 and 2 first to get to know the characters and the background stories first.
ARC received from Net Galley for an honest and voluntary review.
I received this book from the publisher and Net Galley in return for an honest review. I believe that I had asked for a copy of this book based primarily on the fact that I have read and reviewed a number of the books that have been published by Severn Publishing and hadn't been disappointed so far.
Apparently, this novel is the third one in the Lexi Mills series (which I would definitely recommend to anyone who is going to read this to have read prior as it certainly explains a lot of the backstory which I found missing when I read the third book in the series).
That said, the story is about a select joint task force of American justice officials (ATF, FBI, and other alphabet-soup agencies) led by Lexi Mills in continued pursuit of a domestic terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers, led by Tony Belcher, whose goal is to initiate a cull of religious nonbelievers before the coming Rapture. For the uninitiated, this is the second meeting between Lexi Mills and Tony Belcher, with the first meeting resulting in the loss of her leg and the death of her partner.
Personally, I think that this should and could have been sufficient in the build for this story - a desire for revenge for the death of her former partner and vengeance for the loss of her limb (in addition to trying to save the country). Shea and Miller also try to introduce multiple other plots that the reader has to try to follow to justify the pursuit of Belcher by Lexi Mills (which I have to admit tended to distract me as a reader and sometimes make the novel hard to follow). The story moves along quickly in some places and really drags in others.
I see now that this is in a series and may have been easier to follow if I had read others in the series.
For me, I had trouble keeping the timelines and characters straight. I didn't like the fact that the book jumped around in time and going back and repeating what has happened. I was reading in ebook format and thought I had accidentally flipped the pages back.
I loved that there was a strong woman leading this team who had a prosthetic leg. I enjoyed the characters on the team and the way they cared for each other. I enjoyed the non-stop action and how well-developed the characters were.
I definitely think there is a market for this book (and would recommend reading it in order) it just wasn't a good fit for me. With both my critiques and my praise for the novel stated above, I would rate this book a solid three and a half stars out of five (which rounds to four stars in both Netgalley and Goodreads).
As with all my literary ramblings, this is just my five cents worth.
I received an ARC through "Severn Publishing" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
The story begins with Lexi leading a task force to stop "The Gatekeepers" from terrorizing the country. Lexi is taking a break and meeting, Nita her fiancée to her parents' house, but is tied up in traffic so she is late getting there. Once she arrived, they eat and then later go to bed. The next day is Lexi's mother's birthday and they are all going to a restaurant to celebrate. Lexi receives a call and needs to go back and interview a suspect. This individual is one that they have been looking to find for quite awhile. Lexi gets tied up and then is not able to make the dinner. During the interview, this interview wants a deal and will provide information that would help in the pursuit of the Gatekeepers. Lexi has her team set up a trap to capture an individual that Porter, the individual looking for the deal, made arrangements to meet. The meeting did not go the way Lexi planned. The end result was that Lexi's parents were assaulted and Nita taken.
Later Lexi's team learned about a plot from an unexpected party. Lexi tried to warn the people that were doing a transport, but they felt they had it all under control. The attack on the transport happened and the item being transported was taken and the members of the protection were almost completely wiped out. They recaptured the individual who had escaped from them earlier. Lexi laid out another plan that was risky. This time they were able to apprehend another person.
While this was going on, Lexi had still not rescued Nita yet. Lexi later received a call from Tony Belcher, the Gatekeepers leader, that provide a clue where Lexi could find Nita. Unfortunately, the clue could be associated with one of two places and Lexi could only go to one. Lexi was lucky that she had another bomb disposal expert on the task force and that person would handle the location that Lexi was not going to.
After the action at the two locations happened, Lexi learned that Tony had a plan to explode a bomb that would kill a great deal of people, make the area where the bomb exploded unhabitable as well as kill Lexi. Tony made a promise to his brother to make it happen.
The ending is done quite well. Who was the mole that was found and where the final confrontation between Tony and Lexi happened, then you need to read this book.
Impact by Brian Shea and Stacy Lynn Miller Pub Date 09 Mar 2023 | Severn River Publishing 3 🌟🌟🌟 Description A religious zealot has plans to bring the country to its knees. Lexi Mills is hellbent on taking him down. Brace for Impact! ATF Agent and resident bomb expert Lexi Mills is on a mission. Commanding a task force of hand-picked specialists, she sets her sights on a terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers. A religious sect with a violent plan to cull the nonbelievers before the coming Rapture, the group is headed by its charismatic leader, Tony Belcher. The first time she crossed paths with Belcher, Lexi lost her leg—and her partner. Now she’s determined to make him pay.Vowing to end his reign of terror, the team hunts down members of Belcher’s organization. But underestimating him is their first mistake. And by the time they discover the ruthless intellect beneath his fanatical persona, it’s too late. When Lexi becomes the target of Belcher’s rage, she’s forced to make an impossible choice: Prevent a bomb from killing thousands of innocents—or save the love of her life. In a terror plot destined to be the worst in the nation’s history, Lexi must once again put her own life on the line to do what she does best…and the stakes have never been higher. 🚨MY REVIEW🚨 IMPACT is the third novel in the Lexi Mills series by thriller writer and US Air Force veteran Stacy Lynn Miller and former detective and WSJ Best Selling author Brian Shea. I found The Impact somewhat difficult to get into . The story moves along quickly in some places and really drags in others. It's told from multiple points of view and has several plots going on as well. No matter how much i tried to like this book it just was not for me. I received a e - arc copy from Severn River Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m not given compensation to read and discuss a book and I’m not told how to rate a book. I am given a book in exchange for my opinions on it, and I am truthful in all my reviews whether I loved them or not.
A religious zealot has plans to bring the country to its knees. ATF Agent Lexi Mills is hellbent on taking him down. Commanding a task force of hand-picked specialists, she sets her sights on a terrorist organization known as The Gatekeepers. A religious sect with a violent plan.
Impact by Brian Shea and Stacy Lynn Miller is the third book in the series. I did not read the other two books. I don't feel I missed anything by not reading the other two books.
The cover is nice and is what drew my attention to the book. Impact was a kind of drawn-out storyline. Unfortunately, I found myself just wanting to get to the end. I didn't really think about the characters when I wasn't reading the book.
The story was okay, a bit slow in parts. Impact has a good conspiracy plot line, solid characters, and a sad but also nice outcome with some of the characters. Seems there will be more in the series on how it ended. I may read more from these authors.
I would give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars (rounded to 4).
This episode in the Lexi Mills series is non-stop action filled with heartache, violence, and double-dealing intrigue from numerous players in the story. I hate to admit I read this prior to any of the earlier installments, but there is enough backstory to make this work extremely well as a stan alone story. I will however be going bac to read all previous stories in this series, Lexi mills is a genuine bad ass. All the characters, both law enforcement and bad guys are well developed and this story flows so well you suddenly realize you are near the end and horror of all horrors, bedtime was a few hours ago…. So let this be a lesson, don’t start reading this book unless you are willing to forgo the things you need to do. I received an advance reader copy from the publisher and chose to provide this review.
I wanted to like this one. I loved the idea od this book but just couldn't get into to it. I see now that this is in a series and may have been easier to follow if I had read others in the series.
For me, I had trouble keeping the timelines and characters straight. I didn't like the flipping around in time and going back and repeating what has happened. I was reading in eboom format and thought I had accidently flipped the pages back.
I loved that there was a strong woman leading this team who had a prosthetic leg. I enjoyed the characters on the team and the way they cared for each other.
I definitely think there is a market for this book (and would recommend reading in order) it just wasn' t a good fit for me.
Thank you to the publisher for gifting me an e-copy of this book.
This is the third installment in the Lexi Mills series. Lexi’s hunt for Tony Belcher has always been personal since he orchestrated the bombing that caused the death of her partner and cost her her leg. But now he’s made it even more personal by targeting her family and hijacking lethal weaponry that will create catastrophic damage. Lexi and her team are in a race to end Belcher’s reign of terror before he has the chance to implement his diabolical plan.
This is an action packed well developed series. The tension rises with each new installment and you’re left wondering what could possibly happen next. Start with book one and buckle up for an interesting ride.
Impact (Lexi Mills Book 3), my eighth read from author Brian Christopher Shea and the third in the Lexi Mills ATF series. Outstanding fiction, well-written with characters & plot you can buy into with unexpected twists & turns. Shea is a master character creator. Those who like Lee Child's Jack Reacher will be drawn to Lexi Mills. I look forward to Pressure (Lexi Mills Book 4), when it's published in September “I received a free Kindle copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).
Tony Belcher is a fanatic with an agenda to bring all unbelievers to their knees. Lexi Mills is determined to foil his plans and bring him to his knees. Unfortunately, the love of her life becomes a pawn. Will Lexi be able to save her from a horrific death? Time is of the essence. A suspenseful thriller about Lexi's dance with death which set my pulse racing
None stop action and more guns and explosions than WWII. Lexi and Noah make a fantastic team built of fortitude, devotion, and loyalty to each other and to the people they swore to protect and serve. Entertaining, emotional, tragic, and intense., this is one book that's hard to put down. Highly Recommended.
Just as good as the other books in the series. Probably the best one yet. There's yet another book coming, but the reader wasn't left hanging at the end. This book is well-written, the author paid attention to details and left room for emotion. If you're into action-filled, adventure/murder mystery, this series is for you.
When the plot turned in the direction of the villain capturing the hero 's family and fiance -Wham! Plausibility issue. What? Never a thought of retaliation? Well that makes for easy plotline extension. And change a the whole feeling of the book. And the plausibility issue strikes again at the very end of the action
This series of books is entertaining and suspenseful. However the author and editor don’t seem to know the difference between an adjective and a noun. Prosthetic is an adjective describing a prosthesis. Prosthesis is a noun meaning the actual prosthetic device. One cannot put on a prosthetic; but one can put on a prosthesis.
Retired from the army on a failed mission, now Major Jamie has a new purpose Agent Lexi Mills is determined to bring a certain group down before destruction happens in the country. Good plot, with good characters. Have read other books by author and enjoyed. …..March 9..’23
ATF agent Lexi Mills is a bomb expert. She and her team are trying to take down a dangerous gang, the Gatekeepers. Her arch enemy, Belcher, has tried to kill her and a member of her family. Missing plutonium and a bomb. A page turning thriller.
Book 3 - Lexi Mills (ATF Agent) and her hand-picked team are concentrating on every lead to being down the terrorist organization The Gatekeepers. Their leader Tony Belcher is making it personal and goes after the people Lexi loves. Fast pace – every time you think it can’t get worse it does.
This is one of the best series of books I have read. The action, the excitement and the anticipation is unbelievable. I can't wait to read the next book, Pressure!
There is a lot of intrigue in this story. There's also a dose of romance, if that's what you're up for. It's a pretty good book that gets a bit predictable at times.
Lexi and her team continue to go after Tony Blecher. He sends several of his team to kill her so can she service all of those attacks? Can he get her family and Nita if he cannot get her? Good characters, but the action is the best.
Once again Lexi Mills is on the job. This time it’s a religious zealot, Terrorism at its worst. Will she be able to catch him on time. Well written, full of action that will keep you gripped.
Nice story not the best from Shea but interesting. Sometimes there is too much detail and it seems to be repeating on facts we already know and have heard before.
The Lexi Mills series has been one of Brian Shea’s best work. Teamed up with Stacy Lynn Miller, the third book in this series does not disappoint. Cover to cover action, great developing characters and a gripping end.