Blake Sullivan seriously messed up during a training exercise, and because of his lack of team spirit, his chief fires him. Blake hadn't been with the Destiny Tennessee PD a long time, he had been training with Donna Waters for four months, and had it the exercise been a reality, Blake would have endangered Donna's life. What makes it even worse is that he really likes Donna. Dejected, Blake finds a bar where to drown his sorrows and ponder on his future, all the while trying to reach his boss to apologize, but the latter is not answering, which does not overly surprise Blake, who was never his chief's favorite detective. Donna had also been calling around, to no avail. When she catches up with a rather drunk Blake, he spouts that he suspects that their superior has gone missing. But as they soon discover the rest of their team has gone missing; Blake will need to step up, as he and Donna now have to find what happened to them.

Ms. Lena Diaz has this uncanny talent of grabbing the reader from page one and writing such captivating stories that you feel like if you stop reading, something bad will happen while you're away. I immediately adored Donna: she's a tough, no-nonsense cop, and yet, Diaz still found a clever way to show us that Donna is a very caring woman. At first, Blake appears quite arrogant, trigger-happy, and too stubborn for his own good, when in fact it's because he has never felt accepted within the Police Department; he is an outsider and has made no effort to fit in. But now he has to work with Donna, and I loved that Donna was not relegated to the scenery; she is as much a part of the investigation as Blake.

Ms.Diaz seamlessly weaves the romance in the narrative: Blake and Donna had unquestionably noticed each other before, but being thrown together, they naturally get closer, and finally, Blake understands why there is no "I" in team. The police story is excellent, and the villains are the sort that makes you wonder if we all have the capacity of going to the dark side; this is somewhat of a novelty in suspense novels, there are no comic book baddies here! There was, however, one tiny hiccup: I was literally startled when Blake and Donna first have sex. There was no build-up whatsoever, and I felt the sex scene, while beautifully written and not overly long, came out of nowhere, and could have been shortened just a tad in order to make it more believable. Other than that, the story is flawless, the writing efficient and eloquent, and the pace is brisk and steady. You can almost see the sparks between Blake and Donna, and they exchange terrific banter; in fact, the dialogues are particularly brilliant throughout SWAT STANDOFF. I am sad to see the excellent Tennessee SWAT series come to an end, but I know that whatever Lena Diaz writes next will be just as outstanding.

Book Summary

Playing hero backfires on sexy SWAT team member Blake Sullivan. He infuriates his partner, Donna Waters, as much as he attracts her. But before they can resolve their differences, they discover that the rest of their team have been kidnapped by an unknown assailant. Now as they race to rescue the small Tennessee town’s real heroes, they share a growing mutual trust…and a hot, life-changing connection.