The Widow File (A Dani Britton Novel) Paperback – January 1, 2014

Finish time: 5 nights. Again I probably could have finished this in one sitting. It is the first book that I can honestly say I did not want to put down. I am tempted to use profanity to emphasize just how crazy this book is, but I don’t do that – so let’s just say it is INSANE!! Non-stop action from the first page. I was seriously holding my breath and each night this book entered my dreams as I could not stop thinking about it.Dani Britton is a great main character. So well described, that I could just picture the short, spunky, dark-haired, little firecracker that she was. I can only hoped if faced with a similar situation that I have half as much smarts and sense as she did. Not that I ever hope or expect to be in that kind of situation. She takes paranoia and planning to an extreme that I can’t even touch. Seriously, at the end this is just solidified (as well as many points throughout the book.)She keeps coming back to something her mother told her about being careful v. clever. An interesting question that gets the reader thinking throughout the book. At each and every challenge Dani is presented with, she is quickly able to read the situation, assess it, and act fast. She never knows who she can trust and has to go solely on her gut instinct, which in her case is usually pretty good.As a reader, you don’t know who you can trust too. You don’t know what is going to be thrown at her and the book keeps you guessing to the very end. And the ending is good, and maybe left open to a sequel?Read the description, as I don’t want to give away any details, but the book is definitely an action-packed thriller, mystery, suspense, and I even see love story thrown in there in one description. It’s not like any book I have read recently, but it removed me from my comfort zone and transported me into this crazy chase of a book and I enjoyed every second of it. If you want a book that is hard to put down, challenges your thinking, and really enjoyable, read this book!

A petite young data analyst named Dani works for a very secretive, exclusive security firm on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. The firm is doing a job for a defense contractor, attempting to determine who in the firm might be leaking its industrial secrets. Then out of the blue one day, Dani's boss announces that the job is over. The client has called them off and the team is to assemble all the material it has collected so that the client can pick it up later that day.Oops. Dani has taken some of the material related to the case home to her apartment so that she can work on it after hours. It's nothing critical, just routine scraps of paper and other such things that the target has thrown away. Dani's specialty is examining this sort of material and developing a profile of the subject.She races home to gather up the material so that it can be included in the package that is being returned to the client. But she arrives back at the firm's headquarters, which is in a secluded rural area, to find a black van blocking the road that the employees use to access the back door.In a thriller like this, it's never good news when a mysterious black van appears, and the knowledgeable reader is already yelling at Dani to turn around and get the hell out of there. Of course she doesn't, and when she enters the building, she finds that all of her co-workers have been killed. Even worse, the killers are still in the building and she is now effectively trapped.Dani has no idea what in the hell is going on, and neither does the reader. But since this is still only the beginning of the book, she will manage a narrow escape from the building. Sadly, though, the killers have a roster of employees and they know that Dani is missing. They also believe that she is in possession of the critical item that they were supposed to be retrieving from the security firm, even though Dani has no idea what in the world it could be.Now a skilled and savage hit man is on Dani's trail, determined to recapture the item and complete the job his team started earlier in the day and if Dani is going to survive, she's going to have to be very nimble, both of foot and mind.S. G. Redling has created here a tense, taut thriller with a very intriguing protagonist. There's a lot of action; the plot moves swiftly and the reader may well wind up turning the pages of this story well into the night.

This was one of those books that was perfect for when I read it. I loved the story but it had enough issues for me that took place in the short 203 pages which I feel if fixed would have made it a stellar read instead of a good read I am giving it "I LIKED IT" more like a 3.5 star.First off some of the aspects were convoluted and ridiculous and it would have been fine (I watch COVERT AFFAIRS) but the problem is there was not enough backstory to help me apply my complete dispelling of belief. Some characters were a bit unbelievable. The bad guy is rather awesome however his infliction of not feeling anything including cold was not portrayed right so everytime it was mentioned (including emotion right) I twitched. But those were only small parts.I love geeky stories and am a huge spy girl fan, and anything with computer hacking is always a blast. The main gal, Dani is absolutely wonderful. You fall in love with her RIGHT at the beginning! Everything that happens on her side is wonderful. The bad guy is fleshed out too. The whole mysterious reason why (spoiler so I won't mention what) everything is going belly up is so confusing and even though Dani does her magic trash puzzle building it still did not get fleshed out enough.Like I said 3.5 stars and I would honestly recommend this read to anyone into a good fast weekend thriller read! It is on sale all the time and it is totally worth it. I will be reading more from this author.

Read the second first and wasn't disappointed with first. Good having a non fighting strong female lead too. Hope there is a third

Good start to a series.

I do really recommend this book to anyone who likes thriller's reading.The writer is very skillful at structuring the plot by keepping a nice flow to it and thus delivering a credible story.I have to say that I first read her second Dani Britton's realese, therefore I kind of knew the possible outcome of this previuous book, however I was still able to enjoy it very much . This is mainly because of how good S.G. Redling is at writing .... nonetheless, I do suggest you first buy this book and then the second one: Redemption Key. Just to get the protagonist placement in the right order and to keep the surprise at its peak.I couldn't just understand why this book is so much more expensive than the second one and even of the other realese of S.G. Redling (Damocles) which I've just started reading.

From the first page I knew that this was going to be my sort of book. The way that Hunter mused about what he had to do and how to do it seemed so natural even though he was a killer. Dani was great as the lead heroine and was so resourceful. When she returned to work and was trapped in her office listening to the gunmen working their way through the office, my heart was pounding and I was jittery about how she would make her escape. Choo-Choo (yes it does seem a silly name but it fitted with his character) so reminded me of a lovely male friend and I thought he was gorgeous. I just had to keep reading and I was exhausted by the time I had finished the book. There are the thrills and the scary bits but there is also the friendship and the sadness. I absolutely loved it.

*contains spoilers*I purchased this book as I had recently read another book by this author and thoroughly enjoyed it. This book lived up to expectations (although I found the first chapters where the scene is set and their job is described quite dull and I nearly put it down - glad I didnt!!!). I really like the characters that the author creates, they are strong and smart without being unnaturally so. The overall premise of this book was good, I liked the twists that were mixed in, I thought Tom was well written and described lightly enough for you to draw your own conclusions whilst also having a solid enough character to being believable. I think what I liked most about this book was that it didnt take the 'obvious' route. For example *spoiler alert* it would have been so easy to make ChooChoo a traitor, we didnt know how he managed to escape unnoticed, we knew very little about him and he seemed too convenient - instead she kept him as a good character and friend throughout and I really liked this.Overall a strong book, a good read, and a nice way to pass a hungover bank holiday Monday.