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Book Review: “Lights Out” by Natalie Walters

Walters is a new author for me this year. But she knows how to write quality realistic suspense stories with a great attention to detail and plenty of romance tossed in. I had read Initium, the SNAP Agency prequel, and it set me up for the team that I was soon to become very familiar with. Interestingly, Initium features Director Tom Walsh as the focal point and how he goes about setting up SNAP. However, he has a very minor role in Lights Out which surprised me but didn’t affect my view of this story.

This story moves fast and throws the reader into the action immediately which gets you turning pages which I love. Our two leads, Brynn Taylor and Jack Hudson, have a history and this creates an additional layer of intrigue and tension which adds to the reading experience. I liked the chemistry between them and also how Walters creates a positive encouraging vibe within the small SNAP team. They sound like a team that would function well and look after each other.

Walters is good with the detail too which I suspect has something to do with her military connections. This adds authenticity to Lights Out especially when it comes to cyber security and cyber terrorism. Tough concepts to write about but Walters does it well. In this story, what initially appears to be an isolated situation blows out into becoming a major domestic and global one that sure grabs the reader’s notice.

The supporting cast are well crafted especially Kekoa, the Jason Momoa-esque Hawaiian giant who also happens to be a crazy computer nerd and a very fun guy to have around. Garcia was the quiet one and I hope we see more of him in a later story.

My only reservation was the conflict got resolved a little too quickly and I thought some of the detail of the resolution was missed which took a little away from the authenticity of the detail that had come before.

Thoroughly entertaining story and I’m excited for the next instalment.

I was very fortunate to receive an early ebook copy from Revell as part of their Readers Program via NetGalley with no expectation of a positive review.