Ponta Delgada Island A Good Place To Die
About
Obsessively analyzing every single decision leading up to the moment. A dull ache in her chest, a feeling of being hollowed out and corrosive sense of unworthiness. – Natalie Frost sending her lover into danger.
Unnaturally still, heavy with a suffocating silence. Metallic click of a mechanism, the heavy thud of a drop. Sudden cold sweat. Sickening lurch in the stomach. – Xavier Stratton witnessing an execution.
World shrinks. Hobbies, relationships, and self-preservation fall away. Will bring peace, balance the scales, and finally let her sleep. – Natalie Frost after revenge of her lover.
Ticking of a watch. World goes silent. Icy rush of adrenaline. Throat tightens. Limbs turn to lead. – Xavier Stratton falling out of the sky to take out a plane to prevent a pandemic.
Readers are initially drawn in by the exotic, breathtaking allure of an island paradise, only to have that comfort stripped away as the narrative plunges them into a tense, isolated landscape where beauty masks hidden lethal danger.
The remote setting transforms the reading experience into an intense psychological test, forcing readers to question every stranger, shadow, and local secret as the net tightens around the characters.
By navigating a labyrinth of conspiracy and peril far from mainland help, readers undergo a gripping catharsis—emerging with a renewed appreciation for raw human grit, resourcefulness, and the instinct to fight back when completely cut off from the world.
I didn’t expect to swoon over a CIA agent and a conflicted financier, but Natalie and Xavier’s chemistry is molten. The way they’re drawn to each other despite the danger, the secrets, the cultural gaps it feels raw and real. Their intimacy isn’t just steamy; it’s charged with tension, trust, and vulnerability. I loved how their romance didn’t distract from the mission it enhanced it. They pushed each other to grow. Even amid death and deception, the heart still wants what it wants. And sometimes, love really does save us. - Heath Chandler - Goodreads
Xavier’s arc hit hard. A financier tired of enabling the rich finds a cause worth risking everything. His journey is one of conscience in a world that rewards apathy a rare narrative in this genre. - Emily Dickinson - Goodreads
Steamy rogue CIA agent romantic suspense
A THRILLING STORY OF VENDETTAS, DIRTY MONEY, AND LETHAL DECEIT.
Four years ago, he was a mild-mannered NYC bank executive. Today, he is the financial shadow operating in the highest reaches of world crime.
Xavier Stratton spent years hiding millions for the world's most dangerous cartels. Living in luxury on the French Riviera, his life is a quiet masterclass in money laundering, thrill-seeking, and extreme caution. But when a bloody cartel execution hits too close to home and a ruthless Mexican general marks him for death, Xavier realizes playing both sides of the law is a dead man’s game.
She was exiled to a desk job after losing the man she loved. Now, she is getting one last chance at revenge.
Former CIA field operative Natalie Frost was banished to embassy paperwork in London after an unsanctioned operation in Afghanistan went wrong. Brooding over the murder of her partner, she gets an unscripted lifeline: an encrypted file from an unknown broker named Xavier Stratton, offering her the exact cartel target she’s spent two years burning to avenge.
The target is a billion-dollar money manager. The price is total trust.
Brought together in the high-stakes playground of the European elite, Xavier and Natalie form an uneasy alliance. But in a deadly web of black-market explosives, CIA politics, and cartel enforcers, nothing is ever as it seems. Xavier is playing a long game—and Natalie might just be his ultimate move.
Can two broken operatives pull off an impossible sting, or will the shadows of their pasts claim them both before the dust settles?
Perfect for fans of Lee Child, Vince Flynn, and Jack Ryan, Ponta Delgada is a pulse-pounding romantic suspense thriller packed with high-speed chases, deadly espionage, and undeniable chemistry.
Praise for this book
I didn’t expect to swoon over a CIA agent and a conflicted financier, but Natalie and Xavier’s chemistry is molten. The way they’re drawn to each other despite the danger, the secrets, the cultural gaps it feels raw and real. Their intimacy isn’t just steamy; it’s charged with tension, trust, and vulnerability. I loved how their romance didn’t distract from the mission it enhanced it. They pushed each other to grow. Even amid death and deception, the heart still wants what it wants. And sometimes, love really does save us.
The stakes in A Good Place to Die are chillingly realistic: a monopolized drug pipeline with WMD like consequences. Edwards gets the operational detail mostly right surveillance methods, asset recruitment, tactical missteps. Natalie is a textbook operative traumatized but mission focused. Xavier A wild card, but a necessary one. What impressed me was the logistics, how the warlord’s scheme unfolds with precision and plausibility. The friction between personal and professional objectives adds to the authenticity. Not just fiction, it reads like a classified field report at times.
This book reads like a screenplay begging for a franchise. The pacing Spot on. The inciting incident hits hard, and each plot beat builds toward a cataclysmic finale. Natalie is your classic flawed hero, but Edwards adds emotional depth without slowing the plot. Xavier’s arc from morally grey financier to reluctant hero is the emotional spine of the story. The dialogue is sharp, and the action scenes are cinematic. This is Jack Ryan meets Mr. & Mrs. Smith with a dose of The Bourne Identity, Hollywood.
A Good Place to Die, is not merely a thriller it’s an ethical study of conscience under duress. Natalie’s mission is a confrontation with self can redemption be earned through violence Is revenge justice, or merely another form of control Xavier’s journey is equally metaphysical wealth cannot absolve guilt, and detachment is not innocence. Together, they personify the eternal struggle between action and thought, duty and desire. Even the title is loaded with irony what is a good place to die, and what makes a life or death meaningful.
What begins as a dark and thrilling espionage narrative blossoms into a deeply sensual connection between Natalie and Xavier. Their chemistry is electric, layered with vulnerability and desire, adding heart to a deadly mission.
Explosions, ambushes, and narrow escapes this reads like a blockbuster script. Natalie is a badass heroine with Bourne level grit, and Xavier evolves from reluctant sidekick to full fledged fighter, Someone needs to adapt this yesterday.
Xavier’s arc hit hard. A financier tired of enabling the rich finds a cause worth risking everything. His journey is one of conscience in a world that rewards apathy a rare narrative in this genre.
Great read. Had a hard time putting the book down. I am looking forward to the next book in what I am hoping is a series.