I really enjoyed this book. It kept my attention throughout and I couldn't put it down. I certainly didn't expect the ending but it has left it open for the next book hopefully. I will watch out for it.

great start to a series ... powerful characters and story telling, including terrifying descriptions of how a cult recruits members and achieves blind loyalty ... and oh so similar to the Republican cult of Trump

Launching a new series is always a bit of a risk, but Mike Omer has some stellar writing under his belt already and his stories pull the reader in from the outset. Abby Mullen is a hostage negotiator with the NYPD, as well as being a single mom. She’s adept at balancing both, but when she is approached by a woman from her past, Abby cannot help but remember a time when she was suffering a great deal of pain. A young boy has been kidnapped and a large ransom is being sought. While the family cann...

This was my Kindle First choice this month. I struggled to make a selection this time out as none really stood out for me. However, I got to 31% and I'd read enough. It just isn't for me. I never bother with stories based around cults and I did know this one had the ladies' pasts based in living in one but then it started heading to present-day ones as well and I glazed over. It just doesn't interest me in the least. I also wasn't a fan on the role-playing stuff she did with Will. I just found i...

First of all, I cannot understand, how come Eden did not controlled better her daughter? After all, they were running from a cult! Abbey Mullen, a crisis negotiator has to find Nathan, who was abducted and they are asking for lots of money.Great suspense!Thank you Netgalley for this book.

Wow!! I did not see that coming and I must read the next book!If you want a book that is captivating and action packed this is it! From start to finish it had me guessing and I can tell you I was so wrong. I don’t want to spoil the read but Abby is fantastic and I look forward to seeing where Abby and Carver’s friendship goes. Storyline was fantastic and now I must know who she was talking to!!! Fantastic book had me on the edge of my seat and a must read for any thriller enthusiast!!

A Deadly Influence was good but not as good as other novels i have read by the author. The novel felt dragged out and its length was unacceptable when compared to its content.

'The way you wanted?” she repeated his words. It was the number one tool in any negotiator’s arsenal—mirroring. Repeat the subject’s words, demonstrate that you were listening, and make them elaborate more.'Abby Mullen is a hostage negotiator and she's one of the best. She has a dark past from when she was 7 involving a cult. Which plays a huge part in who she is.I found her to be a brilliant character, her past and present neatly tie up together to form a character that you love and want to kno...

Omg what a book!!! Abby is a single mum, law enforcement agent the negotiator. She has to juggle her work, kids and of course the ex husband. She has a chilling past that she can’t let influence her job or her future, which becomes almost impossible when her past comes knocking. Abby is an amazing charter that grabbed me from the very first chapter too the very last word!! And the world and charters that are built around her are just as enthralling. Seeing the story from everyones prospective gi...

Abby Mullens is just your average single mom trying to raise her two kids while saving lives at work. Her current case involves the kidnapping of a young boy whose mother has a past with Abby that she'd like to forget about. Until the case takes a turn and she ends up in a place that brings all her memories flooding back, forced to face the past and what really happened that night. But someone has been lying to her, and its not her teenage daughter.This story was amazing. It was a little slow at...

Rounded up to 4/5My Kindle freebie for March and WOWZA what a ride! I stepped away from Kindle first reads, because the selections were so awful, but this book was great. The main character actually had depth and a back story, which weaves it’s waves throughout the book. Great mystery and well paced, too. Oh, and that back story sets up Book 2...which I just pre-ordered.

Very well-written police procedural thriller, with the twist being that the investigating officer into a child's kidnapping was a survivor of a cult, adding another dimension to the story. The kidnapper is not revealed until nearly the end, and I did not guess the perpetrator's identity so the author did a good job keeping me guessing (and I can usually figure these out before the "big reveal"). There is another twist that I did see coming but won't say more about that. This book leans into the

Keep ReadingI received this from Junes First Reads as a prerelease, thank you. Reading about the method of a negotiator for police departments in this book gave me insight to their psychological skills and I found it interesting. Reading about the cult involvement have a lot of insight on how they recruit members There is a lot of true insight to how social media can be dangerous when releasing personal information. That being said, as a work of fiction sometimes there are truths to be found in

This is a promising start of a new series with Lt. Abby Mullen as the Heroine. She is a hostage negotiator and a very good one at that, probably because of her personal experience as a hostage, when she was only 8 yrs old. The characters, story telling and the plot are engaging. The details of how cults 'recruit' followers is terrifying. After reading the real horror stories of how young children are abused by such cults and godmen, I know these are not made up. I don't understand the concept of...

I picked up 'A Deadly Influence' for free from Amazon Firsts. All I knew about it was what it said on the publisher's summary which pitched it as a police procedural / psychological thriller about a kidnapping of a child of a cult survivor and as the first of a new series featuring NYPD negotiator Abby Mullen. I looked up Mike Omar and saw that he'd already published seven books in two other series and thought I'd give it a try.It turned out that this isn't my sort of thing. I put it aside after...