“Julie Rowe blends the perfect cocktail of action & romance.” — Brenda Novak, NYT bestselling author on Icebound CDC nurse Joy Oshiro is stressed to the breaking point. College students are dying and no one knows why. And her new partner Dr. Gunner Anderson is frustratingly annoying–and sexy, but mainly just plain annoying–and proving difficult to avoid. He spent three years with Doctors … avoid. He spent three years with Doctors Without Borders, and disillusioned is just the tip of his issues.
They’ll need to learn to trust each other if they have a chance at figuring out who is behind the attacks. She makes him laugh, makes him forget–for a little while. But each new clue keeps them one step behind the terrorists, with buildings and evidence being destroyed just as they near.
Now they’re in a race against time to not only find a cure, but also to avoid becoming the next targets themselves.
Each book in the Outbreak Task Force series is STANDALONE:
* Viable Threat
* Smoke & Mirrors
* Sleight of Hand
* Search & Destroy
* Hell & Back
more
CDC Doctor Gunner Anderson goes through partners faster than most men change clothes. His problem is he doesn’t have time to hold someone’s hand and coddle them. He needs a strong partner, someone who’ll go into battle with him and be able to handle it. His boss gives him one last partner and it’s Gunner’s last chance. Enter Joy Oshiro, a wise-cracking former military nurse who makes his body ache with urgings he hasn’t felt in years. But he doesn’t have time to stop and think about this attraction because there’s an outbreak of e coli infecting college students. As the cases and deaths rise, it becomes clear someone is poisoning a local brewery’s beer kegs. Gunner and Joy must race against time to stop the outbreak before more die. Can Gunner and Joy work through their PTSD issues together, forging a relationship and stop the terrorists or are they the next victims?
Sleight of Hand is an adrenaline rush start to finish and the best book in the Outbreak Task Force series. Having fallen for Gunner in a previous book, I was thrilled to read his heartbreaking story. Gunner and Joy are perfect partners, both professionally and romantically, with compelling backstories and off the chart chemistry. Rowe sheds light on how PTSD affects doctors and military alike for years, not just a few days. Plenty of twists and turns make this a must read, especially if you’re a fan of romantic suspense. Myself, I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. Highly recommend!
Disclaimer: I received and ARC from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley in the hopes I’d review it.
Favorite Character/Quote: Joy. Not only is she a fantastic nurse and the perfect partner for Gunner, she’s flawed and it’s her dark side which made me love her. Sarcastic, witty and has a flair for baking pumpkin treats. . . a wonderful character and a perfect example of what it takes to be a CDC/military nurse.
My Rating: 5 stars
Gunnar is a superb doctor, he’s just not much of a people person. He goes through assistants like a hot knife through butter! Most of his issues stem from the loss of his wife and the resultant PTSD.
Joy is a former Army nurse and has PTSD issues of her own. She handles prickly Gunnar like a pro. She outlasts his other assistants and they have an easy camaraderie. Joy saw combat but she doesn’t know which is more dangerous – that or her attraction to Gunnar.
Great tense storyline about an outbreak killing college students centred around alcohol. Lots of HMOG moments, plot twists and you are left wondering who is the real threat.
First read from Julie Rowe. Super hot. Super actiony. Ready for the next one.
Another edge of your seat story that blends suspense, deadly infectious diseases, and sizzlin romance.
I love this authors writing style. She writes balls to wall, edge of your seat, page turning thrillers.. In every book the characters backgrounds are just as fascinating as the story. This time we have Joy Oshiro, a CDC nurse whose previous job was 8 years as a Army nurse/combat medic. She is tough as nails but all the death she saw while in the Army has left its mark. She has just been partnered with a man whose grouchy demeanor has chased away his last 2 partners. Dr. Gunner Anderson also suffered devastating heartbreak during his time Doctors Without Borders which has left him with PTSD and walking a fine line of sanity. He struggles to keep his grief at bay with sarcasm and anger. Joy is the first person he’s met in 3 years that seems to calm his beast. There first case together is a deadly strain of E. coli that’s running rampant through the colleges in Atlanta.
This is the third book in the series and the culprit of all the three different outbreaks is still at large. Sucks for all the victims but means there will for sure be more books in the series.. Can’t wait for the next!!
Sleight of Hand is my current favorite in the Outbreak Task Force series. I just love Joy and Gunner. You feel their connection and understanding of each other from the start. I love the suspense and the heat that Julie Rowe brings in this one. Gunner and Joy are amazing as they work together and go after who is behind the latest outbreak. You are brought to the edge of your seats in this one. I seriously loved this one and couldn’t put it down. You really need to meet Gunner and Joy. I can’t wait for more from this series.
I love action-packed romantic suspense and all three books in this series are fantastic!
As contemporary romance goes, this novel was spot on. The narrative itself was interesting and left the reader invested in the outcome. Rowe was able to create relatable characters with just enough internal and external conflict to support the plot. The added humor, the pressing danger, and the lingering sexual tension all blended together to make this a great book. 4 stars.
I love this series. It works best to read the series in order. The hero is a grumpy doctor, the heroine is a perky, snarky, take-no-guff-from-the-grumpy-doctor nurse. Her name? Joy, I love the irony as well as the appropriate name of the heroine that chooses joy even in the face of a horrible outbreak of Ecoli on college campuses. There is intrigue, chauvinistic alphabet agency jerks, good guys, stupid people galore that you just would love to reach through the pages of the book and slap them cross-eyed. Best of all? This isn’t the end of the series and there is partial justice and a HEA. Yay! Really good read.
Outbreak Task Force #3, The newest of the series and it is outstanding! Going from CDC home base in Atlanta and to New Orleans and back again this action packed romance is a great read. Former Doctor Without Borders doctor Gunner Anderson does not suffer fools gladly, and because of that he’s already gone through 3 partners. This is his last chance to prove he can work with someone so his boss partners him up with the woman he’s had a crush on since they met CDC nurse, former combat medic, Joy Oshiro.
For Joy it was hard not to notice Gunner, just around the office she noticed his surly attitude got slightly better after coffee and something to eat, usually anything pumpkin flavored so going into this partnership she used this knowledge to her advantage; her take no shit straightforward attitude helped too. Their first case together ends up quite a doozy, a frat house full of sick kids and one dead. Soon another house full of sick kids and more dead and another that only connection the keg. With the CDC stretched thin with a number of other outbreaks around the globe Joy and Gunner are left to track down and stop this outbreak before it gets any further but just when they think they have it figured out it gets much worse.
Overall, a great read. Joy and Gunner have to deal with not just the outbreak but for their feelings for each other and working together. They each have emotional baggage to deal with and they are both very aware what hurting the other will do and Joy especially has to realize it’s worth the risk of loving each other. There is a continuing story arc in the series but each book can be read as a stand alone.
This is the third book in Julie Rowe’s Outbreak Task Force series and I think it’s one of the best. This story takes us on a wild ride as CDC agents nurse Joy Oshiro and Dr. Gunner Anderson attempt to track down the source of the current deadly outbreak and bring down the responsible parties. Suspense is high with lots of action as these two race the clock while trying not to be the next targets. I definitely recommend this one.
A riveting story filled with lots of drama. Gunner and Joy make quite a team. They are both ferociously dedicated to their job. They are both fighting battle scars and demons from their pasts. The plot is fast paced. The dialogue is smart and witty. The characters are well defined and not superfluous.
As Joy and Gunner get to know each other and their relationship develops at work and personally, they protect each other’s back in all things. They have fireworks in and out of the bedroom. With all the dangers presented as the try to solve the case, they do manage to still find time to begin the healing of their hearts together.
Sleight of Hand by Julie Rowe is a fast paced, action packed story with enough emotion to keep this little, not so closet, romantic heart happy.
The main story is an action/suspense theme with a ‘how are we going to save the day’ type of plot; but the characters ensure that it’s not merely a superficial ‘James Bond’ type of tale, instead, it has emotional depth with the traumatic pasts of both main leads, and many of the secondary characters, and a constant sense of unease as it is hinted that not all of the ‘good guys’ are necessarily good. The idea that not all individuals working on this threat have good intentions is not resolved in this book, I get the feeling that it will carry over to at least the following book. I can’t wait to see if my suspicions are correct!
This book is definitely a romance, but it doesn’t overwhelm the story. The main focus is the biological threat, and who, where and why it is happening. The romance gives the story depth and, through changes of points of view of the two main leads, gives you a look into the traumatic history of the characters and insight into how, and why, they interact with each other, and the group at large. Although it is not central to the story, the romance is definitely there, and the emotion, and heat, between the two main leads, is palpable, and oh, so good!
This book can be read as a standalone. I hadn’t read any of the earlier books and it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this one. Looking at the premises for the other books, they would give backstory to a couple of the characters that appear in the book, and to be honest, it may just give that extra element. But it isn’t necessary to read them first and still completely enjoy this book.
I’d highly recommend Sleight of Hand by Julie Rowe.
*I received a copy of this book by the publisher. This voluntary review is unbiased and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
** I received a copy of Sleight of Hand from Entangled Publishing and Net Galley in exchange for a voluntary and honest review. The opinions expressed are my own and not solicited in any way**
Alright of Hand by Julie Rowe is the third book in her Outbreak Task Force series. This is Gunnar and Joy’s story with DS, Henry and Dozed making brief appearances. I’ve read all of her Outbreak Task Force and Biological Response Team books, I’d highly suggest reading prior stories but you can read them as stand alone even though I don’t recommend it as each as characters who’ll pop up in the current one.
Dr. Gunnar Anderson goes through assistants like wildfire due to lack of patience and no filter on his opinions but one person may be his kryptonite, Joy Ashiro. Who he’s been warned by his boss Carmen Rodrigues to play nice or she’ll reconsider his tenure in the force.It will take Gunnar, Joy, Henry, Dozer ( Could it be possible that Carmen and Dozer are the next couple?) and others to solve a E. Coli bacteria outbreak at college fear houses. With Spring Break fast approaching the death toll
will rise fast unless they can find the source in time.
Joy Ashiro is a former nurse is willing to take on Gunnar as a partner even though they have a chemistry together. But she has her own demons from her deployments to the middle east and will have to get past them when they get to their first frat house. But after the e.coli spreads beyond Atlanta Gunnar and Joy may give into their wants. Can they find the source of the outbreak and stay alive when a splinter group leads to New Orleans during spring break?
I love the ending snippet about Carmen Rodrigues which leads to my musing that perhaps Dozer will play a part in the next addition.
Sleight of Hand by Julie Rowe a four-star read you will want to play. This is book three in the Outbreak Task Force series, but they can al be read as stand-alone, this was my first novel in the series and it really was stand-alone. The drama and romance where great and the twists will have you guessing, this read gave me such a great story that I have just gone and bought the rest of the series to go back and catch up on. Joy and Gunner just had a great chemistry and biology to them.
So I kind of read this out of order. I read the first one is series Viable Threat, and since it was months ago I couldn’t remember until I started reading this one and some of those characters were mentioned in this one so saying that I think that these can be read as standalones and I finished this one now I had to read the previous one. This was Joy and Gunnar story and how they had to deal with a e.coli breakout that they had to figure out who was doing it and why. Both Joy and Gunnar were two broken people who were dealing with losses of either loved ones or fellow friends so they were suffering from PTSD. They both felt like they couldn’t seem to connect with others but they were attracted to each other and now it seemed forbidden since they were partners. As they were working they ended up giving in to their chemistry but they couldn’t put that relationship to the forefront because they had this serious outbreak that was killing college kids. Grab a copy and Enjoy! And now we wait for the next one.
Rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) Voluntarily left my own thoughts and opinions.
Sleight of Hand is the first book I’ve read from Julie Rowe, but it definitely won’t be my last! This was the third book in her Outbreak Task Force Series, but I never felt like a was a step…or two…behind. She was able to weave in previous characters and give tidbits of their storylines without giving away too much or spoiling a book I now want to go back and read!
I loved how Julie Rowe was able to put together a fascinating investigation with high tension and even higher stakes, but my favorite part of this book was the relationship between Joy and Gunner. There’s nothing more satisfying than two damaged souls finding each other and wanting nothing more than for the other person to see how wonderful they are. Joy sees past Gunner’s grumpy exterior to the man who has a painful past that drags him down every day, and Gunner understands the survivors guilt nailed to Joy’s psyche. They understand each other and grow closer because of the past hurts they’ve experienced. I can’t wait to go back and read the first two books in this series!
The real possibility of biological weapons is something we live with every day. It is heart warming to read stories that give hope, and identify hero’s who help keep populations safer.