Format: 201 pages, Kindle Edition
Release Date: August 12, 2025
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Source: Amazon
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
In this suspenseful new novella in New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan’s Angelhart Investigations series, the PI team’s biggest client hires them to look into a burglary that quickly escalates into a case with deadly stakes.
Logan Monroe’s family is in danger. After his sister, Laura, and her kids are run off the road and their house is broken in to, Logan tasks the Angelharts with keeping them safe, and the PIs drop everything to take on the case.
But they quickly realize there’s more to the situation than anyone thinks. First, the burglars didn’t take anything—were they just trying to scare her or were they after something they didn’t find? Then Laura can’t reach her ex-husband, who was supposed to take the kids for the weekend. While Jack protects the family, Margo tries to find the ex…but he seems to have disappeared.
As she digs deeper, Margo uncovers someone hiding in the shadows who will do anything to get what he wants—including killing anyone who stands in his way.
Logan Monroe’s family is in danger. After his sister, Laura, and her kids are run off the road and their house is broken in to, Logan tasks the Angelharts with keeping them safe, and the PIs drop everything to take on the case.
But they quickly realize there’s more to the situation than anyone thinks. First, the burglars didn’t take anything—were they just trying to scare her or were they after something they didn’t find? Then Laura can’t reach her ex-husband, who was supposed to take the kids for the weekend. While Jack protects the family, Margo tries to find the ex…but he seems to have disappeared.
As she digs deeper, Margo uncovers someone hiding in the shadows who will do anything to get what he wants—including killing anyone who stands in his way.
Out of the Shadows is a 200-page novella in author Allison Brennan's Angelhart Investigations series. The Angelhart family includes Ava, Jack, Tess, Margo, Nico, and Luisa. Ava is the matriarch, and a former lawyer who is famous in the area; Jack is a former cop with the Phoenix PD and still has a few connections like Sergeant Rick Devlin; Margo is a former military cop, now a private investigator who has been trying for years to uncover the reasons behind her father's decision that landed him in prison; Tess is the research guru, while Luisa is also a former military cop. Nico isn't part of this story.
At its core, Out of the Shadows thrusts the Angelhart Investigations team into a deceptively simple case that spirals into a web of deception and danger. Their high-profile client, tech mogul Logan Monroe (introduced in the prior book), pulls them in urgently after his sister Laura Barrett and her two young children, Sydney and Cody, narrowly escape a deliberate hit-and-run on a Phoenix highway. The incident leaves their car totaled, but that's just the beginning: while Laura and the kids are tied up with police reports and hospital checks, their home is ransacked in a brazen burglary.
Nothing appears stolen, raising immediate red flags—was this a warning shot or a hunt for something more sinister? As Jack steps in as the family's steadfast protector, hunkering down to safeguard Laura and the children, Margo takes the investigative reins, chasing leads on the elusive hit-and-run driver and the oddly empty burglary. Complicating matters is Laura's ex-husband, who's gone radio silent just when he's due to pick up the kids for a weekend visit. What starts as a protective gig uncovers layers of hidden motives, from financial entanglements to long-buried secrets, all orchestrated by a shadowy figure who's not above murder to protect their interests.
Brennan excels at layering these revelations, turning a domestic crisis into a taut thriller that explores themes of vulnerability, trust, and the blurred lines between personal and professional loyalties. The Phoenix setting adds a gritty, sunbaked authenticity, with the city's sprawling suburbs and tech corridors serving as a perfect backdrop for chases both vehicular and metaphorical. Supporting characters like Laura—a resilient single mom grappling with fear for her kids—ground the high-octane action in real emotional stakes.
Logan Monroe's cameo reinforces his role as the team's anchor client, while the antagonists lurk just off-page, their menace building through implications rather than overt monologues. There is a bit of a romance angle between Jack and Laura so we shall see where that heads in the next book. Brennan avoids stereotypes, giving even peripheral figures like the kids moments of agency that humanize the peril. Let's call this novella what it is. A bridge between the first book and the upcoming full release, called Don't Say a Word.
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