I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.A Thin Disguise didn’t wow me as I hoped it would be based on the premise of the FBI agent falling for an assassin. I thought book one was better in comparison.

The story was classified as a romantic suspense, but personally I thought it was lacking in the suspense. The story began on an exciting note, but the excitement ended after the heroine, Olivia, lost her memory. From that moment, the focus was on her trying to regain her memory and her growing relationship with Leo. I expected a change with the return of her memory, however this was not forthcoming. It was not until near that some action was forthcoming. It did not give me the adrenaline pumping feeling one would expect from the genre.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t relate to the characters. I know Olivia has been through a lot. Orphaned at an early age and sent to study at Richter, and on completion of her studies was forced to become an assassin. She now seeks to make amends for her past actions, hence her current situation. Despite this, I found it difficult to feel anything for her. Too aloof for my tastes, I guess her being an assassin made her that way.

Leo was adorable. Having met him in book one, I was happy to know he would get his own story. I like how he stepped up to protect Olivia at the risk of his job. Even after finding out about her past, he stuck by her.

I never thought I would say this, but the romance was boring. They shared flirtatious moments, but their chemistry was non-existent and don’t get me started on the intimate scenes, which felt off. I never felt the passion one would expect from these scenes.

The pacing was not what one would expect from the genre. Parts of the story dragged and there were a few times when I lost focus.. Honestly, I kept reading, in the hopes it would get better.

For me, the best parts of the book were the camaraderie between the characters and the epilogue. The characters shared a few humorous moments, which had me smiling on a number of occasions. The author delivered a swoon worthy epilogue.

Conclusion/Recommendation

To conclude, A Thin Disguise did not deliver as I hoped it would. However, don’t let m opinions discourage you as it appears I am in the minority based on the many rave reviews I have seen for this installment.

Narration

When I discovered that the audio version was available through Kindle Unlimited , I chose to listen. Once again Joe Arden and Lori Prince narrated. The male did a wonderful job in his portrayal of the characters. With regards to the female narrator there was improvement when compared to Changing The Rules. However, her accents needed more practice.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

Jeff Sexton

Written on May 26, 2021

Solid, But With A Glaring Error Early. As a romance between an amnesiac assassin and an undercover FBI agent, this story works great. As a continuation of this new Richter series (which is apparently a spinoff from the First Wives series, though I did not know that until perusing the reviews on Goodreads for this book), this works quite well. As a forced-proximity romance, this is actually fairly inventive, as the leading couple is not alone in the house... *and* there are cameras and sensors (almost) everywhere to boot!

But there is one *blinding* in its glaringness issue that needs to be mentioned, even though it isn't objectively strong enough to remove a star over (though I know some who would likely 1* the book on this issue alone). And that issue is the very moment the assassin becomes an amnesiac. When she is shot on a crowded Las Vegas street in a drive by shooting with a "silenced" weapon. That nobody hears.

Why is this so glaring?

Because I know from both handling firearms and speaking/ listening to others who do that suppressors - they aren't actually called "silencers", for one - don't actually silence a weapon, unlike what happens so often in Hollywood. Depending on several factors such as barrel length of the gun (usually shorter, in drive by situations), temperature, humidity, etc - all of which would be known and factored by professional hitmen/ security / assassin types - a suppressor *at best* takes a gun shot from sounding like you're standing beside the speakers at a rock concert to sounding like your is using a chainsaw to cut down a tree on the other side of the fence you are standing beside.

In other words, for the shot not to be heard by *everyone* nearby - inside or outside - is so implausible that it brings the reader out of the story if they know the realities of these devices *at all*.

And since Bybee herself noted during the discussion of her Canyon Creek series that she knows her way around a shotgun, it is implausible that the author is not aware of these issues directly. Which makes them being written this way even worse. Though again, because it was a singular point in the book and not a recurring problem, it isn't a star-deduction level error.

Ultimately, this is a quite solid book for what it actually is, and I'm still very much looking forward to seeing where this series goes from here. (And I'll need to go back and read the book this series spins off from, since I bought it years ago and have yet to read it. :D) Very much recommended.