Cold Heat (Cold Justice-Most Wanted 7) by Toni Anderson-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 26, 2026

He’s supposed to protect her. She doesn’t trust him. But when a Russian terrorist targets a nuclear reactor, they’ll have to risk everything—including their hearts.

Ten years ago, FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator Jordan Krychek lost his family when a Russian arms dealer burned them alive. The monster vanished—until now.

When a physicist is murdered at a conference in Mexico, Jordan recognizes the killer: Konrad Bocharov, the nightmare he’s been hunting for a decade. Worse, the woman Jordan swore to keep safe—his best friend’s brilliant, infuriating daughter—is directly in Bocharov’s crosshairs.

Daisy Montana doesn’t need a bodyguard. The nuclear physics PhD student can handle herself, and she definitely doesn’t need the arrogant agent who once tied her naked to a bed “for her own good.” But when terrorists target the reactor where she’s conducting research, Daisy realizes Jordan isn’t just shielding her—he’s fighting his own demons.

As the threat escalates toward catastrophe, Jordan and Daisy must stop Bocharov before he unleashes destruction on the Eastern seaboard. But their biggest danger might be the explosive attraction neither can resist.

••••

REVIEW:COLD HEAT is the seventh instalment in Toni Anderson’s contemporary, adult COLD JUSTICE-MOST WANTED romantic suspense series, set in the author’s COLD JUSTICE series. This is thirty-four year old, FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator Jordan Krychek, and twenty three year old, nuclear physicist PhD student Daisy Montana’s story line. COLD HEAT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual omniscient third person perspectives (Daisy and Jordan) COLD HEAT follows FBI Hostage Rescue Team operator Jordan Krycheck as his latest assignment finds him in Mexico discretely protecting our story line heroine. Daisy Montana,the twenty-three year old daughter of Jordan’s best friend, is in Mexico with her team of nuclear physicist when the murder of a colleague pulls Jordan Krycheck out of the shadows and into the light. Jordan thinks he recognizes the killer, a man long thought dead and gone, and in this, Jordan is determined to uncover the truth even if he has to go all the way to the top. In an effort to keep his identity a secret, Daisy and Jordan pretend to be lovers, an arrangement that becomes anything but fake.

The world building is detailed and complex, involving Russian operatives, dirty law enforcement, espionage and terrorism, and government officials on the take. Terrorist are determined to infiltrate the nuclear reactor where Daisy has been conducting her work, terrorists that are vaguely familiar to our story line hero.

The relationship between Daisy and Jordan begins acrimoniously as Daisy struggles with the need for protection but when a colleague is murdered, and others are suspected of international terrorism, Daisy battles between head and heart believing she is responsible by association for everyone involved. Jordan never thought he would fall in love with his best friend’s daughter but when Daisy becomes the target of some powerful people, Jordan is willing to sacrifice everything to protect the woman he loves. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful, familiar and energetic secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to FBI Director Ursula Director Rhodes, Daisy’s father and Jordan’s best friend / boss Kurt Montana; as well as the mention of several more characters from the original Cold Justice series, and the return of former CIA assassin turned cybersecurity expert Alex Parker; ASAC Steven Mac McKenzie, HRT leader Payne Novak,Max Hawthorne and Lucy. The requisite evil has many faces.

COLD HEAT is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, espionage and treason, betrayal and vengeance, family and relationships, acceptance and love. The character driven premise is dramatic, gritty and edgy; the romance is seductive; the characters are determined, desperate and charismatic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Toni Anderson is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, RITA® finalist, science nerd, professional tourist, dog lover, gardener, mom. Originally from a small town in England, Toni studied Marine Biology at University of Liverpool (B.Sc.) and University of St. Andrews (Ph.D.) with the intention she’d never be far from the ocean. Well, that plan backfired and she ended up in the Canadian prairies with her biology professor husband, two kids, a rescue dog, and a laid-back leopard gecko.

Toni started writing while pregnant with her first child and never stopped. Her greatest achievements are mastering the Tokyo subway, climbing Ben Lomond, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, and surviving fourteen Winnipeg winters (fingers crossed). She loves to travel for research purposes and was lucky enough to visit the Strategic Information and Operations Center inside FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. in 2016, and she also got to shove another car off the road during pursuit training at the Writer’s Police Academy in Wisconsin. Watch out world!

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