Why are all the hard-core CIA operatives always men? They aren't.
Introducing Jamie Austen a CIA operative tasked with infiltrating sex trafficking rings and rescuing girls from some of the most ruthless and violent organizations in the world. When her assignment takes her to Belarus, she uncovers a ring that tricks girls into believing they are signing up become mail order brides to America only to find they are being sold into sex slavery in Russian and in the Middle East.
Jamie faces grave danger as she attempts to save the next busload of three hundred girls leaving in a matter of days, knowing she is the only one who can save them.
This book has everything best selling author, Terry Toler, is known for. Romance. Intrigue. Mystery. Suspense. And an ending you'll never see coming.
TERRY TOLER is a international #1 best selling and award winning author who has written seventeen non fiction books and thirty novels including the Jamie Austen and Alex Halee spy stories along with The Eden Stories. He is a public speaker, counselor, and retired entrepreneur. Impacting the lives of people worldwide through storytelling has become one of his passions in life. He can be followed at terrytoler.com.
"Terry Toler is well written, and a rising star in literary fiction." Michael DeAngelo (Reviewer)
The Longest Day won the 2020 Best Book Award for Religious Fiction sponsored by American Book Fest. Saving Sara and The Late Great Planet Jupiter were both finalists for the 2021 Best Book Award in the Thriller/Adventure and REligious Fiction categories.
Trying to determine how to rate and recommend this book was a bit of a struggle for me. I do think it is well-written. And I do believe that it deserves five stars. But I am going to add a bunch of disclaimers. This review is intended for adults.
This book is NOT for you if you have experienced any sort of sexual abuse. Because the topic is trafficking, a bit of background/explanation happens. I do not feel like descriptions are gratuitous. But there are definitely a few scenes that made me blush as a married woman. They also made me horrified for the girls that are being deceived and find themselves in these devastating situations. Without those strong feelings, I am not sure that I could relate as strongly to these girls needing to be rescued.
In my opinion, this book is NOT for younger readers. For one thing, they do not need to be scared. For another, they do not need to know that such things happen - innocence is a good thing to maintain. Personally I would not suggest this book to anyone before college.
Should guys read this book? Maybe. This book is written by a male author. Even though this title has a female lead, I do not think she would be off putting. But because of some of the necessary details provided to add realism to the topic, this book was not be recommended for anyone (male or even female) who is struggling with pornography or other sexual addictions due to some of the descriptions.
So then, who should this title? This is a great book for those who maybe need to care more. I found myself praying as I read the book - not for the fictional characters, but for those who need to be rescued around the word. (So grateful for groups like Love Justice and The Exodus Road who are on the front lines of stopping trafficking all of the time.) While I do think kids and even teens need to be somewhat protected from this reality, as an adult, I tend to want to pretend evil is not happening. Obviously that is not true. While I am not going to tell what happens, I will say that I appreciate the fact that overall good triumphs overall evil in this book.
What else I liked about the book ... Jamie is a CIA spy. She is controlled, but I liked how she ends up falling for a guy in the beginning. (A few other weaknesses of hers also become evident.) She does have a few flaws.
Personally I am a fan of international intrigue. I thought the author did a great job of including lots of details about what a spy would and would not do to evade being followed and to take down those who are causing problems. Jamie might be a bit larger than life for an actual spy, but because I read this as a fictional title, her character was believable to me. I do think the author did give enough explanation as to how a smaller woman who could take on a larger foe to make it seem possible.
This book is primarily set in Belarus. I liked the cultural explanations and the European setting. Because not very many books are set in this country, I think that adds to the enjoyment of the read.
During the first several chapters, I did waver as to if this was the right book for me. But the ending was definitely satisfying even if it was a bit grandiose. I am glad that I read it, and I am going to read the rest of the series. While it may not make sense to say that I only mostly recommend this book that I gave a high rating for (4.7 to be precise,) I think if you read the whole review, my hesitations would make sense.
This was a bit disappointing. The setup was good and the main characters were reasonable, but the writing style is not strong. This needed one more pass by an editor or beta reader with experience with spy thrillers. The knowledge of spy-craft is uneven. The plot is solid and exciting in places, but the payoff is off-page.
Also, the lack of swearing and sexuality didn't align with these hard-boiled characters. I understand that this is the author's preferred style, but the work-arounds to avoid swearing were either weak or silly.
I won't be reading anything else by this author unless strongly encouraged.
Wow!!! This is my first Terry Toler book and I’m now a follower! While, an underlying theme is sex trafficking, the book is also an awesome suspense thriller. When I couldn’t read I was wondering what was happening to Jamie, as if it were real life. Can’t wait to read the next book!
HMMN. It's not badly written, but I wouldn't say there was much intrigue & I think its been cropped a bit - I think I finished it out of stubbornness to make sure I was right with my grasp of the plot! It was like the author was told to chop a few chapters out for brevity, which was shame, as the bones of the storyline felt great - eastern European gangs/trafficking- could have been so gritty .... I just could not have seen it all wrapped up and resolved so swiftly by 1 CIA agent with a bit of help from another. The first half read at a decent pace and with enough detail to keep me in the story. Then once the female lead character heads off alone to resolve the secondary mission she sets herself, too much of it was skimmed over, made hard to believe by the ease of things falling into place/lack of detail/sheer speed at which the situation was resolved. The most interesting character interplay for me was actually the gumshoe Belarusian copper trying to make his mark by cracking his case & how he tries to catch Jamie. She as a main character wasn't believable for me; if she was so good at her job and skilled, she would not have been unprofessional/oddly distracted by an earlier brief romantic entanglement. That whole relationship wasn't fleshed out enough either- and I can't see me bothering to read the next in the series to see if it does develop. Another element I found hard to believe was the "baddies" tended to give up very easily, it was all a bit convenient to be able to tie up lose ends. I read the kindle edition and in the latter section of the book where's she's rescuing the twins the editing needs sorting as the writing gets 2 characters confused a few times.
This is a great story. That brings to light the Sex Slave Trafficing. This is the story of three young Belarus girls. One is tricked into working in the sex trade right in Belarus. The other two are tricked into believing they are going to America to meet their new mail order husbands. Instead they are shi;;ed elsewhere. I pray that their is people out their searching for the lost ones. I look forward to reading more about Alex and Jamie. Love their stories. Keep up the great work.
This book isn’t going to be for everyone due to the subject matter, but for those who are able to read it you are in for a real treat. The plot is intriguing, fast moving with action and suspense. The characters have depth to them and go through a lot in this book. A page-turner that had me up reading overnight.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
At first, I almost stopped reading it because of the plight of young girls being sold into sex trading. But then as the plot thickened, i became enamored with Jamie, the next Superhero! There was plenty of twists and turns and page-turning events. Cant wait for the next one.
Absolutely awesome. A definite must read. Very well written and plotted. I give it two thumbs up. I loved that I felt like I was actually in the place. Looking forward to reading other books from Terry Toler.
I liked everything about this book. I'm interested in trafficking so the book really spoke to me. I also thought it was very refreshing for the two main characters not to jump into bed with each other. Very good book!
This was an exciting action and suspense novel with just enough romance to keep it interesting! It also is a clean Christian book that I thought was beautifully written.
This is a good book, I love how the main character rescues girls in the sex trade. My only real complaint is that a few times Olga and Daria, their names were mixed up. Other than that, its a great book, well written and packed with action.
This was a great read. Lots of excitement and the characters were believable. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves action novels. I can’t wait to read the next Jamie Austen book.
Wow! This book was awesome. Lots of action and intrigue. Would make a great movie. When you’re an undercover CIA operative, you could go anywhere anytime. Jaime never knows where she will go next. It’s on her heart to save women and girls from trafficking. I highly recommend this book.
Under cover two Connery rescuers infiltrate a massive sex trade organization, incredibly realistic, you can't put it down until the very last word is read.
This book kept my attention from beginning to end. It was so refreshing to find this author. I hope he will continue to write good and clean spy thrillers.
Great book! Really enjoyed it!!! I like reading books that have this story line!! Kept my interest!! Seemed like this is a real world issue that we face in America!!
I noticed a few typos and some inconsistencies—most notably, it seems the character Olga was referred to as Nina in earlier drafts, and not all instances were updated. There were also several continuity issues, and a few events felt too implausible to be believable.