(From Goodreads)

As a former field surgeon in Afghanistan, Heather Fontaine is used to life-or-death situations. She just didn’t expect them to follow her home. When she returns from a party to find that someone has broken into her house–and threatened her friends–she assumes it is the stalker who has been following her and creeping her out. She hopes to find safety and peace of mind by leaving the city and hiding out in a small town. But trouble has followed her even there.

Luckily, a stalker isn’t the only one watching Heather. Travis Walker has been secretly watching out for her for weeks. As owner of his own security agency, it’s what he does. Together, Travis and Heather must figure out who wants her dead–and why–before it’s too late.

For me, the best books always come down to the characters, and Active Defense has a great lead with Heather Fontaine. Her toughness and her compassion for others were incredibly compelling, and her story drew me in right from the start. While she fought against accepting help in order to protect those closest to her, I admired Heather’s quick thinking and keen observance of details that helped her avoid some difficult and dangerous situations. Too many stories rely on their main characters constantly missing important clues and making poor choices that get them into trouble, but this was not one of those stories.

Our other main character, Travis Walker, was just as brave and determined in his efforts to protect Heather – despite her attempts to deal with the stalker situation on her own. Heather and Travis lead a full cast of characters, each with unique backgrounds that I’d love to learn more about.

The action of this story was extremely fast-paced, which is perfect for this kind of suspenseful novel. There were very few let-ups in the action, which made it very hard to put this book down at all until I had finished it. The more I read, the more invested I was in finding out the identity of Heather’s stalker and the reason she was being targeted. Eason’s writing style was very enjoyable to read and perfectly complimented the action-packed nature of the book. I also really liked the twist reveal toward the end, but I won’t say more to avoid spoilers.

There’s not really much to say about Active Defense that is even the slightest bit negative. I will say that I felt the resolution was pretty brief with everything leading up to it – but it did feel like everything was resolved. Although I also would have loved to get to know the other characters more, I know that many of them have their stories told in Eason’s other books in the Danger Never Sleeps series – and I am very much looking forward to reading all of them.

• Romantic suspense
• Brave, adventurous characters
• Fast-paced action

I received this book as part of the Revell Reads program in order to write a review. The statements of the review are entirely my own, honest opinion of the book.