7 stars tbh ( )

This is the weak spot of the bunch, which is always especially disappointing to end a good series on an off note. The main fault is that it just wasn't edited enough. Both in ideas and words. The plot lines seemed to birth other plot lines until it was just a stew of PoV characters, and locations, and terrorist machinations upon terrorist machinations. It ended up convoluted, and strained believability even for fiction. The lack of a more critical eye also left it open to plot holes.
Why even have the *staff doppleganger with the eye and hand of the president's clone go for the nukes* (side eye) when the whole world was going to be toast by that point anyway? (That's quite a bit of effort on the villains' part, and many pages for the readers to read, all for something entirely redundant.) The mastermind villain was an egomaniac on a winning streak, he wouldn't expect to fail, so it was unlikely to be a failsafe measure. I imagine Tal just wanted to give those few peripheral characters back home something to do, but I don't think it added enough to merit its inclusion. - Or why would the villains purposely plan to blow up one of their more dedicated and useful agents entirely pointlessly? (Again, they had no reason to doubt their success at certain death.) It's one thing to lose a man as a suicide bomber, but another to condemn one of their own alongside their victims 'just because'. Again, I imagine Tal simply wanted to be able to pull another double agent out of a hat in the 11th hour, but with a little push-back he might have reconsidered the method and instead left the agent at a safe distance from the blast area in order to make sure there were no survivors, and then when they did live he could have given himself a head wound and stumbled out of the trees or something like he'd been left for dead and only miraculously survived. They would have happily taken him back in, and he could have still surprised them later- but in a way that actually held water!
In the length editing area, at one point there's a submarine scene that seemed to last for an entire hour on the audiobook that was almost entirely just a play-by-play of everyone tensely waiting for missiles and the technical steps they took to try to dodge them and counter-attack... This book just shouldn't have been left at nearly 500 pages, it would have been so much stronger with the fat cut! I feel like this has to be a case of all the editors and beta readers just being huge fans of whatever Tal writes and not questioning anything, (though I suppose it's possible they brought up these issues and he just ignored them?). There were also then of course about 7 endings to try to wrap up all the various side plots (yet I didn't find the endings for our two main couples all that satisfying, which was a missed opportunity, but perhaps a natural casualty of so many ends to tie up).
I've enjoyed the other books above average, (even when book 2 kinda 'jumped the shark' with the whole 'clones' angle in the first place, which honestly was already a considerable stretch). Generally Tal is a good storyteller, and I found these characters interesting and likable, so 3 stars still. ( )

The stakes are too high in the finale, the end of the world is almost near and our heroes journey through some of the toughest terrain possible. I loved the descriptions of Siberia and the Arctic and I think the author does a marvelous job bringing these places to life.

There are more traitors to be unmasked here and I tip my hat off to the author, because I could never guess who they were except one. It’s truly skillful to keep the twists coming from the beginning to the end.

But the strength of this series is still the all consuming love of Jack and Ethan. Their love and loyalties are tested to the limit but they never give up. Every side character gets an opportunity to shine and I think this book does an excellent job of bringing multiple storylines together seamlessly. We get more beautiful couples too and I’m definitely hoping the author will write spinoffs for each of them.

What an amazing series this has been. I will definitely be rereading this very soon 😊😊😊 ( )

Talk about being taken on a ride! This book contains lots of action & adventure, intrigue, betrayal, and of course the love between not just one, but three couples.

This story didn't contain quite as much political background as the previous two, which I wasn't disappointed with to be honest. At times I had to stop and think who the storyline was involving as there were POV changes and so many characters, however never did I lose track of the storyline. It was more a matter of paying attention to the story. Which wasn't a great hardship, lol. It was more irritating when RL interfered with my reading time *grin*

This seems to be the last in the series, as the initial storyline is nicely wrapped up, however, I feel the author has left a back door open for more or a spin-off series. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't find it difficult to read more about these great guys, so here's hoping!
( )

This should truly be a five star review. However, there are a few extenuating circumstance is that keep me from leaving it as such.

Jack and Ethan's story is probably the most intriguing story that I have ever read, and probably will ever read. The author's ability to grab your attention and hold onto it is truly second to none. Throughout this entire series your heart grows and breaks over and over again. The way that all of the disparate storylines came together was masterfully crafted, and it made for a truly enjoyable series to read.

My only problem with this book was that the suspense was so intense at times that I had to put the book down and walk away. It took me seven days to finish this book when it really should've only taken me three. But Bauer's ability to get you to the edge of your seat and keep you there for, in some cases a far too extended period of time, left me exhausted.

I do truly love this series! And I don't think that it would have been as effective if it didn't have all of the suspense and intrigue. It was just a little too nerve-racking to me at times. ( )