Reviewed by Susan Sewell for Readers' Favorite

Chrys Fey's 30 Seconds Before is a thriller starring Blake Herro, a policeman in Cleveland. Blake Herro loves his job as a policeman. It is his childhood dream come true. He doesn't mind patrolling the streets. He takes the good with the bad. One night on a routine patrol, Blake and his partner, Max, answer a call to the scene of shots being fired. The victims are fellow police officers from their precinct and are under attack by multiple snipers. By the time Blake and Max reach them, it is too late to help. They lose ten of their men that night. Determined to see that justice is served, Blake goes undercover to find the mobster who is killing policemen. Blake's job is to discover the murdering crime boss's location so that he can be captured. There is only one complication with the plan. Absolutely no one can know that Blake is undercover, other than his boss. Will the leader of the mob accept Blake as a member of the gang or will they kill him on the spot? How far will Blake go to catch a criminal?

Chrys Fey's 30 Seconds Before is the prequel to 30 Seconds and is a heart-racing read. It is a thrilling episode that ends with a bang! Blake Herro is a heroic character with a lot of guts. He faces his deadliest enemy with fearless courage, determined to bring him down, no matter what it takes. Blake is confronted with the hardest decision of his life as a police officer and as a human being. His decision will determine life and death for more than one person. This is a superb short story leading up to the next episode in the series. This is not a stand-alone story, but it is so exciting that you can't put it down and have to read the next installment.