Book Review for Don't Say a Word by Allison Brennan

 

Angelhart Investigations #2

Don't Say a Word by Allison Brennan

Published:  September 16, 2025 by MIRA

Genre:  Mystery Thriller

 

Taken from Goodreads:  A tragic accident…or a murder?

The police ruled Elijah Martinez’s death an accidental drug overdose, but the teen’s grieving mother isn’t convinced. With the case officially closed, Angelhart Investigations is the only one who can help her find the truth. Margo Angelhart’s sure this will be an easy solve—she’ll talk to Elijah’s friends and employer, retrace his steps, and figure out what happened in his final hours.

Except none of his friends believe he did drugs, and the teacher who’s been vocal about the police mishandling the case turns up dead. Every thread Margo pulls leads back to a dangerous drug ring that once ran through the school.

When Margo’s brother Jack, a former cop, can’t get straight answers out of the police, they don’t know if it’s because of an active case…or a cover-up. Margo’s only sure of one thing—she has to find out what really happened to Elijah before more teens become pawns in a twisted scheme.

 

My Thoughts:  If you are a police/thriller/mystery reader, this is the book for you.   I could not put this book down.  I was invested in Margo’s investigation into Elijah’s death.  I knew that she would find the answers that she was looking for.  What would be the fall out of finding those answers?   

Margo is quite the character.   She is not afraid to step up to those in charge, whether it is her mother or the police.  She takes charge and follows the clues.   She does not walk away from danger.  I really enjoyed her and look forward to more.   Margo’s family is wonderful.  They are in her business but more so to be helpful and protective.  I look forward to learning more about them and seeing them possibly get their time to shine in future books in this series. 

Thank you MIRA for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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Meet the Author (taken from herwebsite):  New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan believes life is too short to be bored, so she had five kids and writes three books a year.

Born and raised in Northern California, Allison dropped out of college after two years and puttered around trying to figure out what to do with her life (bartender, campaign manager, graphic designer, administrative assistant, waitress—she tried a lot of things while also writing stories in her free time). She ended up working as a consultant in the California State Legislature for 13 years before taking a huge leap of faith and quitting in 2005 after she sold her first book. The Prey came out in January of 2006 and won the Borders Books “Bestselling Debut Author” of the year. September 2025 marks the publication of her 50th book.

After writing 12 romantic thrillers and a supernatural trilogy, Allison began her long-running Lucy Kincaid series which is currently at 17 books and 6 novellas. Remember the first sentence about being bored? Allison knows if she’s bored writing, her readers will be bored reading, so she also wrote five cold case mysteries featuring Maxine Revere, an investigative reporter, and then put Lucy on hiatus to write thrillers about Kara Quinn & Matt Costa. Make It Out Alive, book 7 in the Quinn & Costa series, comes out in January of 2026.

And just to keep things interesting, she wrote two books about former US Marshal Regan Merritt, and started an Arizona-based mystery series about a family of private investigators (Angelhart Investigations). When she gets a good idea she wants to explore, she also writes standalone novels. North of Nowhere is a thriller set in a blizzard in Montana, and Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds is a romantic mystery set in the Caribbean.

Allison continues to hit bestseller lists, though she is still waiting for the elusive New York Times hardcover list. Someday, she thinks with eternal optimism! She has also been nominated for best romantic suspense five times (RWA), won the Daphne du Maurier award twice, the RT Reviewers Choice award twice, and was nominated for the Thriller award by International Thriller Writers for Cold Snap. She’s also thrilled that the narrator of her Angelhart series, Hillary Huber, won an Audie for You’ll Never Find Me.

Allison loves research, and while sometimes she gets things wrong, she strives for accuracy and authenticity in her books. (However, entertaining readers will always come first.) To that end, she has gone through the FBI Citizens Academy where they let her blow something up, toured Quantico, visited the morgue, viewed an autopsy, participated in FBI SWAT training scenarios (as a victim and a bad girl!), and been on several police ride alongs. She even went on a “field trip” the Folsom State Prison where the assistant warden explained—seriously—that we needed to take care not to be taken hostage because they don’t negotiate with prisoners. Her exact words may have been something like, “If we won’t negotiate for our corrections officers, we certainly aren’t going to negotiate for a bunch of writers.”

In 2019, after Brennan #3 graduated from high school, Allison and her family moved to Arizona with their assorted pets (though they had to leave the chickens behind with a former neighbor). Now an (almost) empty nester, she and her husband of 30+ years thoroughly enjoy their grandson and (no pressure) any future grandchildren their kids grant them.

Allison is active on Facebook, X, and Instagram, so if you want to keep up with what she’s doing, what she’s reading, and what she’s writing, those are the places to follow. Check out her blog at Murder She Writes which she tries to write at least once a week, but usually it’s once a quarter. She responds to all email personally, so give her a couple days if you reach out.

For fun Allison reads (surprise!), watches baseball and classic movies, hikes, and enjoys her swimming pool when the weather turns hot.