Save Her Life

Heart-pounding suspense kept me fully engaged throughout Save Her Life by Carolyn Arnold. This is the first book in a new series featuring FBI Special Agent Sandra Vos. She was introduced in the thirteenth book in the Detective Amanda Steele series and I’m thrilled she now has her own series.

Sandra is alerted to a hostage situation at a local grocery store and races to the scene after the initial negotiator needs to leave. A man has pulled out a gun and is refusing to talk or let anyone of the building until his demands are met. Later, she gets a call – Sandra’s teenage daughter Olivia didn’t show up for her violin lesson. The abductor makes demands that push Sandra to the limit. While she knows she should step aside, she only trusts herself to bring Olivia back alive.

Sandra is one of the FBI’s most successful negotiators. She remains calm in stressful situations, is empathetic, sets a high standard for herself, and has an infallible memory. She’s dating a Washington D. C. metro police department detective, Eric Birch. Eric is extremely supportive and understanding of Sandra and they both have high profile and stressful jobs. The other characters are well-developed, especially the antagonist, who is angry, hostile, and emotional.

As always, Arnold’s writing style quickly pulled me into the story. The plot is well-written and the character development was excellent, especially for the first book in a series. Readers also get chapters from the antagonist’s point of view which adds to the unsettling and disquieting feeling that something could go wrong at any time. The atmosphere and tension in this novel were fantastic. While the grocery store hostage situation with not rushed, it was a powerful and dramatic event. However, the abduction and attempted recovery of Olivia was a race against time. In both situations I was rapidly turning pages to see what would happen next. The story is part police investigation and part action thriller. It also does a great job of showing different approaches to hostage situations as well giving readers Sandra’s background that led her to her current job. Other themes include anger, impatience, greed, family, relationships, friendship, and much more.

Overall, this was suspenseful, thought-provoking, and action packed with compelling characters that kept me engaged throughout. If you enjoy thrillers, then look no further than this novel. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in both series.

Bookouture and Carolyn Arnold provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date is currently set for May 27, 2025.