Seized by Elizabeth Heiter

This is book three in The Profiler series, and it finds Evelyn unusually listless and adrift. After solving the one case her entire life revolved around, the kidnapping and murder of her best friend, in book two, she now finds herself at a loss and without a clear purpose. Even Evelyn's relationship with Kyle is suffering. After finally giving in and accepting his vacation invitation and enjoying just being with him, she now seems to be pulling away.

As a form of punishment for refusing to follow orders in book two, Evelyn is being sent on pesky mundane assignments. Following one of these in Montana, Evelyn is approached by a fellow agent and asked to take a brief ride along to check out and profile a survivalist cult holed up in the mountains. Evelyn goes even though it is against her better judgement but soon wishes she hadn't when she and the other agent are taken hostage by the group. She is quickly isolated and used for leverage when the FBI surrounds the compound. Kyle's HRT team is part of the force waiting for an opportunity to breach the walls and get Evelyn and the other agent out.

Evelyn is held captive for days, and even after her rescue, she has no time to reconnect with Kyle because one of her primary captors is dead and one escaped. The manhunt is on, and the stakes are high since Evelyn suspects the escapee has a series of terrorist attacks planned. Despite her lingering doubts about her job, Evelyn throws herself one hundred percent into the chase. In the meantime, Kyle is injured, and Evelyn has to choose between him and her job. She has no idea what she wants, and there is no way to know if she will decide before the terrorist catches up with her.

Like the first two books, this story kept up a great pace and a suspenseful atmosphere. It was much less about Evelyn and Kyle than the previous book and more about Evelyn's conflicts with her job. I enjoyed it and can't wait to see what comes next for these characters.

I received an ARC from Net Galley for review.