Deep Dark Night – Steph Broadribb – Blog Tour Review

My great thanks to Anne Cater, for inviting me to read Deep Dark Night, the fourth book in Steph Broadribb’s Lori Anderson series. Published by Orenda Books.

The fourth book in the award-winning Lori Anderson series, Deep Dark Night sees daring bounty hunter and single mother Lori Anderson journey from Florida to Chicago to take down a notorious crime family. Published to coincide with International Women’s Month, it will see the full series rebranded a fresh, contemporary new look.

Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.

An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.

When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.

And that’s just the beginning…

Our Author – Steph Broadribb

Steph was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter- ego – Crime Thriller Girl – she indulges in her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases. She is also a member of the crime-themed girl band The Splice Girls. Steph is an alumni of the MA Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California, which inspired her Lori Anderson thrilliers, She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens. Her debut thriller, Deep Down Dead, was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Awards in two categories, and hit number one on the UK and AU kindle charts. My Little Eye, her first novel under her pseudonym, Stephanie Marland was published by Trapeze Books in April 2018.

My Review – Deep Dark Night

As always being an Orenda Books publication, I knew this book is going to deliver, I knew that before I even opened it. I knew it was going to wow me and leave me wanting more and of course I was right – as always with any Orenda book, I have been left wanting more.

What a pleasure it is to be back in the world of Lori Anderson, I love this feisty, tenacious character. Deep Dirty Truth (Book 3) left Lori in a blood bath of a shootout. She’s back, stronger than before. She’s a bounty hunter willing to risk her all to get what she wants and this time, Lori wants out of being under Special Agent Alex Monroe’s hold. She owes him one and he wants her to help him bring down the main man of the Chicago Mob – Cabressa, he has run Chicago for twenty years under his rulings and Monroe is calling time on it.

Monroe’s got Lori to be part of a high stakes, big money poker game, playing with some high profile people – including sporting legends and Mr Cabressa himself. Monroe has got her FBI dollars to use as entry to the game and a one off chess set, used in a game Cabressa took his son, days before his death in a car accident back in 1986. Cabressa wants that chess set and seems he will do anything to get it.

Now that seems fine, until Lori reveals she can’t actually play poker. This is where JT, her partner and father of Dakota their beloved daughter comes in, intensive training begins – now I wouldn’t stand a chance with this, as I struggle to get my head around the fact that an ace is higher than a 10. But I do have dyscalculia (dyslexia, but with numbers) but clearly Lori is ok and quickly takes the rules on board, though her tells are harder to hide. JT tells her she needs to work on her ‘poker face’.

The evening arrives, Lori and JT head up to the exclusive venue – 63rd floor of the Skyland Tower. JT is acting as Lori’s bodyguard. He’s unnerved when he gets taken to a different floor and only the players are allowed in the room to play the game. Both him and Lori have to go this alone, but both stay on high alert. It’s going well, everyone else drops out the game one by one, until it’s just Lori and Cabressa left – he wants more than the cash – what can she offer? The pure gold chess set, worth over a million dollars. Suddenly the whole area goes into total darkness, the powers out and the building goes into lockdown. No one can leave, but a voice starts to take control via loud speakers and that’s when the real fun and danger begins.

Lori and JT work so well together, its real nail biting stuff. Steph writes with such passion and leaves Lori in some really nasty situations. But Lori has done her research and isn’t afraid to take a risk, she thinks out the scenarios and takes the best route she can. I love these books and see a real bit of Jack Reacher in Lori, and Lee Child would know – he said that this book is ‘Fast, Confident and suspenseful’ and I totally agree.

Fast paced, powerful and full of threat.

A huge YES and 5 stars for me – more please Steph – #TeamLori

Also I’d like to Thank – Jen Lucas – @JenMedBkReviews for getting me this signed copy from the recent #OrendaRoadshow – and to say Thank you to Karen Sullivan for organising such brilliant bookish events.