“If you’re watching this, I’m dead. And others will be soon if you don’t act fast.”


Maldonado is an auto-read for me. I’ve really enjoyed this Daniela Vega series: A Killer’s Game took Dani into an undercover ultimate escape room style only one person gets out alive situation; A Forgotten Kill has Dani simultaneously chasing down a serial killer and getting to the bottom of her father’s murder.

A Killer’s Code brings back the man she went undercover with in book one (Gustavo Toro): as a hired assassin he kept an ‘insurance policy’ on those who hired him, a treasure trove of evidence and information the FBI would love to get their hands on. With his final days he sets up a ‘treasure hunt’ of sorts with clues and puzzles to lead the FBI to the stash in an effort to keep it safe from those who don’t want to be exposed. From New York to Las Vegas to Arizona’s Superstition Mountains, the hunt is on for the prize.

[Also, cool teeniest of shoutouts to Des Moines in the book!]


Like most of her books, this was a fast-paced read and full of action.

In this book you start to worry if the FBI will come through because Foley and his ‘boss’ seem to always be a step ahead of them on the hunt. They have a lot to lose if they can’t get to the evidence first.

Each of these books was released a year from each other. I think it would have been a lot better if I could have read them back to back instead of waiting a year. I did not realize this but apparently book one happened only a few weeks before A Killer’s Code. It’s crazy to think all that happened in such a short span of time! Probably a bit unrealistic, but I suppose this one couldn’t be too long after the first one considering its content. I wonder if she had had that planned from the beginning.

The long time in between had me struggling to remember some of the details. In my review for A Forgotten Kill I noted there was some groundwork laid for a possible romantic interest for Dani that could develop but I couldn’t remember if that was with Detective Flint of with SAC Wu. I wish I could have remembered what some of those details were because that was definitely a thread of A Killer’s Code and without knowing those details, some of it seemed a little out of nowhere.



There were a few things I was hoping for that didn’t come to fruition the way I would have liked. I was hoping Dani’s siblings would have played a larger role. I wonder if Maldonado will do a spinoff series following Axel’s career in the FBI with Dani as a side character.

I was also hoping Dani’s mother’s drawing was going to be an answer to one of the clues.

And I was hoping after we found out who the ‘boss’ was (which was about halfway) that there was still going to be another big reveal of a good guy who turns out to actually be a bad guy and doesn’t want the evidence to expose them.

Toro says in his video- “You’ll be surprised at some of the people you’ll be arresting.” So I wanted to be surprised when they arrested someone!

It was a little strange to know who the bad guy was for so long without another reveal.

I still loved the book, but just a few of my ‘I wish’ moments.



Historically speaking Maldonado has written trilogies. If that pattern holds true, then this series is over and we need to be on the look out for something new! I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s been working on.

She has written strong female characters in law enforcement jobs as that is Maldonado’s background. I wonder if she will explore a different type of character or scene in her next books.



Some other random comments:

Maldonado sent me down a rabbit trail looking at synesthesia which is really fascinating. Apparently if you have this, you have a pretty decent chance at becoming a professional artist or musician because so many of them do. I’m still trying to grasp what it would be like to taste colors or see sounds. So trippy.

I just picture Patel exactly like Aram Mojtabai from the Blacklist. They seem like they have very similar personalities so that’s who I imagined while reading this book.

Foley kept trying to stage murders like accidents and suicides but I had to chuckle because it never worked for longer than a couple minutes. It would have just been easier to shoot the person then exert all the energy and resources and time to pretend it wasn’t.



Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this book and the other books in the series! They are action-packed thrillers with likeable characters and a strong female lead.

There are no caveats. Maldonado is just a great author!



[Content Advisory: 10 f-words, 26 s-words, 1 b-words; no sexual content]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**