The Child Riddler

The Child Riddler follows Zoe Lorel who is a high-level operative working for an international counterterrorist agency run by her uncle. She has been trained from an early age to be "The Wildcat", to handle sensitive and secret assignments and to kill when required. She is taking her relationship with her fiancé, Isabel, to the next level and moving in with her. She is suddenly sent on an urgent mission to retrieve a code for an advanced nano weapon from a little girl, Leah, whose father she assassinated as part of an operation. She finds herself growing to care about Leah, as she races against other nations to secure the code from the traumatized child. This fast-paced story is full of interesting tech, action, exotic locations twists, turns and morally grey scenarios. I appreciated the LGBTQ+ rep which is rare in espionage thrillers. The narrator Xe Sands creates an immersive experience with her ability to convey tension and emotion. The Child Riddler is set up for a sequel which I'm looking forward to. Thank you to BooksForward for a copy to review.

The premise was very promising and I was so happy when I was given an audiobook version to review. I'm sure you've read the book description, so I won't bother to say it again. The book cover could be better but, it's not bad. The audiobook narration was very well made in my opinion. The story is very interesting and I also like the characters. It is fast-paced but it was just too fast. I always feel like, there should be more to the story or more descriptive. It seemed like everything was being rushed. It wasn't as suspenseful or thrilling as I thought it would be from the action scenes that you would expect from a spy novel. The author has created an amazing set of characters but it would've been nice if there was more to know about them or to them. There are same-sex relationships, family issues, drug addiction and a lot more very interesting topics that add to the depth of the story but it was a bit lacking. I feel like I was just given little bits of everything and it's disappointing because I truly am invested in the story. This is coming from someone who hates it when authors put a lot of unnecessary stories or characters that don't add value to the book. But, I still think this book is worth checking out. It's a good story to listen to on audiobook. I am a hundred percent sure that the author will have more amazing stories in the future and that it'll keep getting better from here. Big thanks to @booksforward, #tantormedia # and angelagreenman for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.