OH MY! Where do I begin? "Deep Down Dead" is an outstanding high octane thriller that I wholeheartedly enjoyed from the tense start to the fantastic finish! The first incredible chapter was so gripping and unputdownable I just knew I wasn't going to be able to stop reading anytime soon. I was instantly attracted to the main protagonist Lori Anderson, strong, tough, fearless, exceptional at her job and definitely not someone to be overlooked. The descriptions of her could go on and on and on...... Trying to keep her Florida bounty hunting role separate to being a mother of nine year old Dakota (who suffers from Leukaemia), she unfortunately has no choice but to take her daughter with her on her next bounty hunt. Needing to make a fast buck to pay medical fees and rent due, former stripper Lori doesn't anticipate the serious danger she puts herself and Dakota in. The fugitive she's being paid to bring in is none other than her former mentor 'JT' the man who made her the woman she is today and who now appears to be mixed up in the powerful Miami Mob. With just three days to get JT back to Florida, fearsome and deadly foes on their tail, her daughter to protect and along with fighting her feelings for JT, Lori has her work cut out. Can she bring JT back in time to collect her fee and what danger has she exposed Dakota to? There's action galore throughout the book and it really does race along at breakneck speed. Pace perfect, it pulls you in and doesn't let you go until the nail biting end. The author Steph Broadribb is an outstanding writer and for a debut book this is one of the very best I have EVER read! This could easily have been written by any of the big name American writers, it was so professional, polished and perfect. I'm not too sure who I love the most - Lori or JT, as both were adorable badass characters you can't fail to enjoy reading about and I really can't wait to meet them again in the next in this exhilarating series - "Deep Blue Trouble" also published by Orenda Books. This is another book I'd happily award six stars to if I could, it really begs to be read and its a story I can't recommend highly enough to crime readers young and old alike, you will NOT be disappointed! 5 stars

I listened to the first two of these novels on audio and this was a really great way to get to know the characters. The narrator, Jennifer Woodward, maintained a perfect Florida drawl for Lori throughout the book which brought the character sharply in to my mind’s eye. It made me realise that I never really read with the accent of the character in my mind when I read from text, and it gave the story an extra level of texture. I found myself hearing Lori talk in this voice throughout books three and four, despite the fact that I was reading rather than listening to them. I’ve never read a book with a bounty hunter as the main character before, and a female one at that, so it was a delicious departure from the norm for me, and the book truly transported me to another world, as all really immersive novels should. I fell in love with Lori immediately, a tough, independent, determined woman, but we, the reader, also get to see her vulnerability with regards to her daughter, Dakota, and in her relationship with JT, as the book unfolds. Having a bounty hunter, rather than a police officer, lawyer, detective or other member of the law-enforcement establishment, as the main character raises some interesting questions of where the moral lines sits between justice and revenge, where the line between good and bad blurs, and whether people can judge that for themselves according to their own moral code. Lori’s actions go beyond what you may perceive on paper as being truly law-abiding, but then you ask yourself what you would do in the same situation. The book is packed front to back with drama, action and tension, as we criss cross the US from the mountains of West Virginia to the alligator-infested swamps of the Florida Everglades. It is a book that picks you up and runs with you from the opening pages, and doesn’t put you down until the last chapter. Even then, there is the tantalising prospect of the next case dropped in at the end, and you are left desperate to see where fate is going to take Lori next. A kinetic opening novel to a thrilling series.

It’s always difficult when you read/review a book that so many people have been raving about the anticipation that it ‘should’ be good is always at the back of your mind. What if it doesn’t live up to the hype etc? This is a debut novel from a fellow bookblogger and WOW is all I can say. I have only just struggled to compile my favourite books of 2016 and now it’s early January and I get to read Deep, Down, Dead .. I have no doubt this one is already in my top 2017 reads! It has a tremendous plot, Lori bounty-hunter is assigned to bring in her ex-mentor JT, wishes she could refuse but desperately needs the bond money to pay outstanding medical bills for her young daughter Dakota. The turmoil she faces as she treks across the states towards Miami is riveting. She is used to tracing and catching wanted criminals but this time she has to take Dakota with her and tussle with her emotional involvement with JT. I won’t even attempt to give any plot-lines .. just grab yourself a few spare hours and a copy of this because you will resent anyone interrupting this story. Lori is such a feisty hard-assed character yet extremely maternal. She can alternate between triggering a taser and comforting her kid in a split second. JT is a real deep guy, love the way she describes his ‘old blues’ when he looks at her. I can feel myself melting into his eyes. The speed of this is intense, action on every page, really enjoyed the US drawl with a clipped edge, it’s often difficult to write in an accent but Steph accomplishes it ten fold. There wasn’t anything about this book I didn’t love and I would easily read it again next week if I had time. Absolute perfection on the page and I can’t wait to see more of Lori .. I think she is my new heroine! I read and reviewed this voluntarily .. thanks to Orenda Books. If I could award more than 5 stars I would.

As debut crime novels go Deep Down Deed by Steph Broadribb is just one hell of a debut. Already receiving some very high praise by fellow crime writers and now from me. It quite simply rocks as a fast and racy thriller. Some crime novels start off fast with Deep Down Dead it just makes you sit up for most of the night gripped by a storyline that is just pure thrilling and before you know it you have read half the book and you don’t want to leave it. With Broadribb’s fantastic writing she has managed to draw you into the novel and like a drug leaves you screaming. The leading character is Lori Anderson and she is a no-nonsense woman that you really do not want to cross she has a line and I would not want to cross it. Attitude with a big bold capital ‘A’ simple. Lori has been through life and then some so I guess this has made her how she is one hell of a tough woman. This storyline is action packed from page one and is utterly relentless and unforgiving and is enough to leave the reader breathless. The story is based in the States and sees Lori needing a lot of money to ease her accrued level of debt she has incurred and also to help pay for medical treatment for her young daughter Dakota. Lori is a bounty hunter so when she is offered a ‘job’ of going and bringing in a bad guy she then also has to take her daughter with her as her babysitter is not available. Then to make matters worse she then finds out that the fugitive is none other than JT her old mentor. From that moment you just know there is going to be more to this story than one feisty bounty hunter and one fugitive. Now all she has to do is go and find him. JT is never going to give himself up easily let alone be handed over to the law. What Lori has in her possession to get the man would scare anyone off but Lori is facing danger at every turn and she does not know it. But having her daughter with he makes this ‘job’ risky. The way that Broadribb has portrayed her characters both good and bad make this a story where you will take sides and want to see Lori come good as for Dakota to get the treatment and get well. But in this business that Lori is in there is no sentiment and she has to get the job done and bring JT in to get paid. There will be only one winner, right? Prepare for a crime novel that I dare you to put down, because you won’t it really is outstanding. This is a blockbuster of a motion picture in a book. Lock the door, switch your phone off and get the popcorn and coffee ready. Your gonna need it. This is one high caffeine induced thriller I recommend. You may need a cool shower at the end.

Deep Down Dead is the lip smacking rollercoaster ride thriller debut from Steph Broadribb, that is really dark and really brilliant. All I can say she must have one helluva twisted and dark mind, and I love it! What will really get you about this debut is how fast and confident Steph Broadribb is with her writing and her characterisation and has created a character that is kick ass and female. Lori Anderson is a single mother to a nine-year-old daughter, Dakota, who suffers from leukaemia, while at the same time being a fearless Florida bounty hunter. She usually does not move out of state, and never takes her daughter along while she is chasing the fugitives of Florida, but with bills mounting up she agrees to do an easy pick-up in West Virginia. What she does not tell her Bail Bonds employers that she must take Dakota along with her. To complicate matters the person she is being sent was her mentor when she began her career as a bounty hunter, and we learn the full back story that helped to colour Lori Anderson’s life and decisions. When she gets to West Virginia things do not work out as planned, when she realises that her pick up is going to be anything but easy. As the thriller develops we learn that JT her mentor has a mafia bounty on his head and wanted by another ‘business’ man in Florida. Both will do anything to get JT, dead or alive and whatever he is hiding they want that too. Lori and Dakota really do have to roll with the punches, the bullets and their own impending deaths if something goes wrong. What we get is a fast and furious and dangerous ride back to her base, proving that Lori Anderson really is as tough as any male bounty hunter. She is a character that the reader will grow to love, while at times hating some of the decisions she makes, but from this tough exterior she really has a heart of gold. If I did not know any better I would say that Deep Down Dead had been written by an experience thriller writer who knew her audience and how to titillate them with bodies falling the right amount of violence. This really is the best debut I have read in a long time and published early in 2017 it could already be the debut of the year, Steph Broadribb is a major talent and will be entertaining us for a long time (I hope).