Jade Collins is on death row awaiting execution. CIA agent Mark Brand offers her a chance to escape in exchange for using her deadly skills to take out a drugs boss. Can the pair trust each other when their lives depend on it…?
The Woman From Death Row is a tense spy and crime thriller set in America.
Jade killed an abusive man and is utterly unrepentant. She has killed before and the victims always deserved it. She faces her execution with the same cool detachment but is offered a deal. The CIA want her to kill for them and they will fake her death and set her free. Jade accepts the deal but not everything goes smoothly.
The book is written from Jade and Mark’s perspectives. I really liked both main characters as they are complex, brave and determined. However, neither of them is entirely trustworthy yet they need to rely on each other in order to survive. Both of them have suffered which creates an emotional link between them and the reader as we want them to overcome their pain and succeed in their mission.
The plot twists are fast and furious and it was difficult to know whether Mark or Jade could be trusted or where the plot was heading. I don’t want to give big spoilers but there is plenty of double dealing and massive danger to both main characters. Some of the medical detail is a little grisly but I found it fascinating. This looks to be the first book in a new series and I would definitely want to follow Jade’s story.
The Woman From Death Row is an entertaining, fast paced and tense thriller.
Jade Collins grew up on the seedy side of Los Angeles, but her tenacious nature pushes her to strive for a better life. After attending college and earning her medical degree, she feels good about where her life is going. But, bad things happen to good people, and Jade finds herself on death row after killing a man who had been abusing one of her patients.
Just three years after his marriage, Dr. Mark Brand’s wife passes away and his life is sent into a downward spiral. Depression steals everything from him—his medical license, his livelihood and his will to go on. Only a reunion with a powerful man he once knew gives Mark the strength to pick himself up again. He has a new job and a new life, but he is paying a steep price for his second chance. Nothing in life is free and this powerful man has plans for Mark.
Mark is sent to San Quentin to meet Jade and offers to get her off death row if she agrees to team up with him in a dangerous assignment. With no other choice, Jade agrees but aims to get out of the game at the first opportunity. Mark wants out too, but he’s sold his soul to the man who rescued him, and his only option is to follow orders and get the job done.
As danger mounts, Mark is pitted against the man who saved him and he’s forced to rely on Jade, a woman he hardly knows and doesn’t fully trust. The situation is made worse by the feelings he’s developing for her.
Will the opportunist destroy Mark’s life once more?
Will this game put Jade back on death row?
About the author
Peter Hogenkamp is a practicing physician, public speaker and author of medical fiction and thrillers living in Rutland, Vermont. Peter’s writing credits include The Intern (TouchPoint Press, April 2020); The Vatican Conspiracy book and audiobook (Bookouture/HachetteUK, October 2020), The Vatican Secret (Bookouture/HachetteUK, April 2021), The Vatican Secret audiobook (Saga Egmont, March 2022) and Cospirazione Vaticano (Newton Compton Editori 7/2021.) The Woman from Death Row, book one of the new Jade Stryker thriller series, will be published Spring 2023 by Tirgearr Publishing. Peter can be found on his Author Website, as well as his personal blog, Peter Hogenkamp Writes, where he writes about most anything. He is the creator, producer and host of Your Health Matters, a health information program, which airs on cable television and streams on YouTube. Peter was a finalist for the prestigious 2019 Killer Nashville Claymore Award as well as the 2020 Vermont Writer’s Prize. He tweets—against the wishes of his wife, four children and feisty Cairn Terrier, Hermione—on Twitter. He can be reached at his FaceBook Page and at peterhogenkampbooks@gmail.com.
