“I know you and I have been through some things,” Reed whispered. “Some crazy, crazy stuff. But we have never – and will never – work a case as important as this one.”
Eighteen months ago, Detective Reed Mattox didn’t just lose his partner, the woman he met on his first day at the police academy and worked with for the entirety of his career thereafter. He lost his confidante. His sounding … his confidante. His sounding board. His support system.
His best friend.
Victim to a senseless shooting during a routine traffic stop, the details of that night are still as elusive to Reed as they were more than a year before. Months of scouring every detail, poring through every resource, have revealed nothing, heightening the guilt he still carries for being more than two thousand miles away at the time.
When the phone rings late one evening, Reed hopes it is the brass within the Columbus Police Department calling to let him know he and his new K-9 partner Billie have been reinstated. That the administrative leave they were placed on in the wake of their last major case has been lifted, freeing them from the personal Hell they’ve been stuck in for the last couple of months.
What he hears instead is something much bigger, cleaving straight to his core, and perhaps finally allowing them to close a case nearly a year and a half in the making…
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Another heart stopper that I had trouble putting down when life disturbed my reading…
I love this series so much and this book was amazing as it tied so much together and answered questions and as always Billie is my all time favorite, she is amazing.
This story was gripping and had me turning pages to find out what happened next and each page was amazing.
Another great adventure with Reed and Billie. If you like likable characters and a great storyline this book is for you.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
I was privileged to get an advanced readers copy of the book and here is my honest opinion. As always I do enjoy action none-stop, easy-to-follow storyline, well developped characters. This might be just the apex of the series and I really hope it will continue in same pace as I have really grown to love the characters. In my humble opinion it’s definitelly worth to read the previous books in the series to get best understanding of the significance of the story in this one, even though it could be read as a standalone. I highly recommend this thriller series!
How does a good person get sucked into being a criminal? The Driver leads you down that rabbit hole.
When a nearby small town experiences an armed robbery, leaving evidence that connects the gun used in the robbery to the unsolved murder of Reed’s former partner, Riley, the hunt for the robbers and the gun begins.
Plagued by guilt and determined to solve the murder, Reed partners with the police chief to find the weapon and hopefully, the murderer. With chapters detailing the path The Driver is forced to take, and Reed and Billie connecting the various, seemingly disparate yet interconnected crimes, the story will keep you reading to find how it all comes together, finally solving the murder of Reed’s best friend and partner.
The Reed and Billie books are all good, but this one really takes the cake. Reed once again starts investigating the shooting of his partner and friend, after accidentally receiving a lead. Be prepared for an emotional ride, with parts that really affect the heart. The characters are well developed and complex, with even a likable villain. You can’t have too much Billie in my opinion, and she has a bigger part in solving the crime then in the previous novel. This book was riveting and hard to put down. Can’t wait for the next one!
Although part of a series this can be read as a stand alone from a case perspective. Reading all of them though brings a better understanding of the characters on top of simply being a great series.
I liked how almost each chapter ends with a cliffhanger challenging you to turn to the next one and the next one.
Reed is waiting to be reinstated to active duty, after his last case, when he gets the call about an armed robbery that happened in another town an hour away. Turns out they used the same gun as the one that killed his former partner and best friend… a lead, finally, that will help bring closure after nearly a year and a half. Following the trail to find out who killed Riley and why, the investigation leads to arresting more drug dealers and ultimately shutting down an entire network. Prior cases and this one will bring some changes in his career that Reed does not want but may have no say in the matter. As always Billie is a favorite!
Reed Mattox lost his partner to a driver shooting her at a traffic stop. The driver is forced into doing deliveries for a man that says he will kill his mother and sister if he does not do as he says. He is told to shoot the police officer at the traffic stop. A while later a bullet is pulled from a robbery that matches the gun that killed Reed’s partner. Reed and his canine partner Billie go to where the robbery was and works with the local police officer Segal. This novel takes you on a thriller ride from beginning to the end.
I need a book to grab me right up front. I need a turn of phrase – a shattering event – an urgent question screaming for an answer. The Driver set its hook like that. I was in.
Lead characters Reed and Billie are a K-9 Team with the Columbus OH police department. They are bonded together as partners, a team, a pack. The complex relationship so effectively revealed by the author creates almost an envy in the reader.
The senseless killing of Reed’s former partner, Riley Poole, nearly two years ago left Reed almost crippled with grief, anger, guilt, and frustration that almost ended his career in policing. His friend and mentor, Capt. Grimes, offered a lifeline with a transfer to K-9 patrol paired with Billie, an ex military battle dog.
Skillful at case closure but awkward at city politics, Reed and Billie are currently on administrative leave when a ballistics match on the gun that killed Riley pops up in the system. The first actual lead in almost two years sends Reed and Billie to assist the Chillicothe police department – paired with local Chief Detective, Pam Segal. Through much shoe leather, cyber tracking assistance from super hacker Deke, and Billie’s K-9 pursuit the inept robbers are captured – along with the gun. Unfortunately, they are accidental owners of the gun – so the search for the source requires deep diving into the local underworld. That brings twists, turns, and disappointment – and a lot of excitement.
The Driver is introduced in a flashback chapter. A counter clerk at Burger King, he is more hapless than evil villain, but caused the first domino to fall. Flashback chapters flesh out complex characters and relate events and plots that are converging in the present. This backdrop feeds anticipation. Action in The Driver happens over just a few days. This immediacy of plot builds its own tension and as the reader is pulled into new plot twists. I liked the real feel of the characters having to deal with their personal lives through the chaos. Reed has aging parents in failing health, his temporary Chillicothe partner, Pam Segal, hauls the local baseball team to their evening games – schedule juggling is baked into the day.
The Driver – Jordan Pruitt, always a key player but beyond the turbulence he created. He is key to the outcome but never in the direct confrontations. More like vanishing while bullets fly in the opposite direction.
With the physical evidence sparse, Reed again calls in Deke, his cyber warrior, to sniff out electronic trails and footprints much like Billie does physically in foot pursuits. No matter how far off the grid you go there are always electronic crumbs – that aren’t washed away by the rain.
Stevens explores – subtly – the personal relationships of characters adding a dimension often lacking in the genre. The Driver held me from start to finish. The characters are all too human and artfully developed. The portrayal of Billie as Reed’s touchstone through the constant pressures of the case is fascinating. Many outcomes were possible and none were certain or what might be expected. Life is like that and change is what it is. I highly recommend The Driver
What an outstanding story!
Indeed, this book starts out and continues with chapters about the Driver’s life in December, 2017 and early January 2018 and his struggles with his family and his job.
Interspaced with these chapters is the “present day” story of Detective Reed Mattox and his female partner, a solid black K-9 Belgian Malinois named Billie. The two of them are on leave from a previous incident.
But always in the back of Reed’s mind is the senseless death of his partner eighteen months ago. That is until he receives a notice that changes everything: there is new evidence in the case! He now senses the case may now be finally solved.
The book is enticing as Stevens doesn’t reveal the connection between The Driver and the Reed & Billie team right away.
Stevens has a knack for allowing the reader to follow the thinking, conversations, and action of all the characters in the book. And in doing so, it makes the story easy to read.
But, at the same time, it makes it hard to stop reading until you find out what’s going on between the Driver and Reed & Billie. And along the way, it’s mesmerizing.