‘My heart’s racing, a voice in my head screams, “run, just run”.
I want to, I surely do, but I can’t.
For all that’s gone down, someone has to pay.
It’s time for me to pony up’
Phew…..I’m bloody knackered!!
Deep Down Dead is the unbelievable debut from blogger turned author Steph Broadribb. Another fantastic read from Orenda Books, Deep Down Dead was just published on 15th January 2017.
And the good news *DRUMROLL* Deep Down Dead is Book 1 in the Lori Anderson Series, which can only mean one thing folks…Whooohooo THERE IS MORE!!
Read on for my thoughts on this exceptional debut..
Book Blurb:
Lori Anderson is as tough as they come, managing to keep her career as a fearless Florida bounty hunter separate from her role as single mother to nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia. But when the hospital bills start to rack up, she has no choice but to take her daughter along on a job that will make her a fast buck. And that’s when things start to go wrong.
The fugitive she’s assigned to haul back to court is none other than JT, Lori’s former mentor – the man who taught her everything she knows … the man who also knows the secrets of her murky past. Not only is JT fighting a child exploitation racket operating out of one of Florida’s biggest theme parks, Winter Wonderland, a place where ‘bad things never happen’, but he’s also mixed up with the powerful Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on their tails, just three days to get JT back to Florida, and her daughter to protect, Lori has her work cut out for her. When they’re ambushed at a gas station, the stakes go from high to stratospheric, and things become personal.
Breathtakingly fast-paced, both hard-boiled and heart-breaking, Deep Down Dead is a simply stunning debut.
Lori Anderson ~ wife, mother and, how cool is this….bounty hunter!!
Having suffered the anguish of having a very ill child, Lori is now struggling with medical bills. In an attempt to buy herself some time, she takes on a case that will change the direction of her life. There is a very generous bounty on the return into custody of one Robert James Tate aka JT.
Lori and JT have a history going way back, one that Lori had hoped not to have to relive but fate is against her and needs must be met. Lori agrees to take on the case. With the information provided to her, she prepares for what she assumes to be a straightforward collect and drop.
This one time Lori has no babysitter for nine-year-old Dakota and as it is a three day job, she decides, against her better judgement, to take Dakota with her.
From the outset, the stakes shoot up and Lori finds herself fighting for her life and protecting Dakota from some very bad people.
JT knows Lori. He knows her history and he knows what makes her tick. As Lori discovers the full scale of the danger both she and Dakota are in, all her survival instincts kick in. JT is mixed up with some very nasty folk, from the Miami Mob to a very despicable business man. JT’s name is being dragged through the mud, as accusations fly and the media get wind of this dangerous fugitive on the run.
A high speed, adrenaline fueled, kick-ass roller-coaster of an adventure follows where, as a reader, you are rooting for Lori, as you turn the pages faster that you thought possible.
As Lori and JT drive across state lines in a heart-stopping race for survival, old memories start to resurface and Lori has to face up to a few truths. JT may have been a part of her past but can it remain that way? How far do you have to run to escape the truth of what you have done, of who you really are?
As a mother Lori has always striven to protect Dakota from the many horrors of the world around her but the horrors she now faces are beyond Lori’s worst nightmares. Dakota is now in danger and Lori will stop at nothing to save her.
It would be really very easy to unveil one too many details of Deep Down Dead but I’m not going to. Suffice it is to say….it’s a bloody great read!!
Steph Broadribb has really blown my mind in a number of manners.
Firstly, she’s English…whoa I hear you say!! I know. Seriously, she has nailed the American dialect in every word spoken and every mannerism portrayed. When reading Deep Down Dead, the reader’s imagination is instantly grabbed hold of and dragged, very willingly I might add, onto a Hollywood set. Please somebody tell me this will be hitting the MAXX some day soon!!
Secondly…wait for it….Steph Broadribb is now a trained Bounty Hunter!! That’s what I call research…
Not to get too carried away (ok maybe a teeny bit) …..*eeek*….Book 2, Deep Blue Trouble is coming in 2018!!
But in the meantime may I recommend….
Purchase Link ~ Deep Down Dead
Meet Steph Broadribb
Steph Broadribb 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 her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at www.crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases.
Steph is an alumni of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California. She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens. Deep, Down, Dead is her debut novel.
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