The New Bad Thing is a high-speed, high-stakes thriller that leans hard into procedural beats and big-picture patriotism. Michael Edner crafts a story that moves fast and hits familiar genre notes—national threat, shadowy organizations, a protagonist who always seems three steps ahead. If you like your fiction slick and mission-driven, there’s fun to be had here.

The book’s strength is in its pacing. Edner doesn’t waste time on slow introspection; the action kicks off quickly and rarely lets up. Government operatives clash with foreign threats, coded messages get decoded just in time, and each chapter feels designed to keep you turning pages. It’s cinematic, almost episodic—like bingeing a mid-2000s political action series.

That said, the novel’s tone does veer into overly idealized territory. The protagonist feels more like a symbol than a person: always prepared, rarely wrong, and virtually immune to real vulnerability. While that can be appealing in a wish-fulfillment sense—especially for fans of Jack Ryan-style heroes—it limits the emotional stakes. There's not much room for mistakes, learning curves, or genuine growth.

The political framing is earnest and heavy-handed at times, with themes of American exceptionalism that will either resonate or distract, depending on the reader. Some nuance is lost in the rush to resolve everything cleanly.

Still, for what it aims to be—a sharp, patriotic thriller with a clear sense of good vs. evil—it largely delivers. The dialogue is serviceable, the plot twists are satisfying even when predictable, and the ending wraps things up with confidence. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s a decent ride.

If you're in the mood for a procedural with clean lines, quick resolutions, and a hero who always knows what to do, The New Bad Thing scratches that itch. Just don’t expect much messiness—or much questioning.

This book was super compelling and a quick listen. I was on the edge of my seat till the very end. I can't wait to read more by this author.

This one just wasn’t for me. It may have just not been a good audiobook fit for me because I just couldn’t focus and pay attention to the story. I thought the husband was killed at one point but then he showed up later on… was that someone else then, who was that? I don’t know, I got lost.

A compelling but not terribly original thriller about a journalist who finds herself in hot water when taking on some risky projects. Surrounded by untrustworthy characters, with agendas of their own, Tiegan finds herself in a number of jeopardising and life threatening scenarios. The story ends with a whole lot of untied loose ends, leaving ample opportunity for a sequel but I’m not sure I’m invested enough to seek it out when it arrives. Tiegan is not a particularly engaging or likeable heroine and none of the surviving antagonists interested me enough to want to find out more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook.

This was an exciting story! I really liked the idea and the author did a great job of moving the story from past to present. The narrator was good as well, his pace while reading was just right for the story to make the most impact.

4.5-Star Review for New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner

New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner is a gripping, fast-paced thriller that grabs your attention from the first chapter and refuses to let go. The plot is smart and layered, with twists that feel both surprising and earned, keeping the tension high throughout. Ebner does a great job balancing action with deeper emotional beats, giving the story real weight beyond the thrills.

The characters are compelling, especially the protagonist, who is flawed in all the right ways—tough, vulnerable, and someone you can root for even when the lines between right and wrong begin to blur. The writing is sharp and cinematic, making it easy to visualize each scene play out like a high-stakes drama.

The only reason this isn’t a full five stars for me is that a couple of moments felt slightly rushed, but overall, this is an excellent read that crime and thriller fans will devour.

I received this book as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley, and I’m leaving this review voluntarily.

The New Bad Thing is a compelling dystopian novel that tackles themes of trust and societal breakdown. The story is tense and well-paced, with characters that feel authentic in a challenging world.

Full review on my TikTok

I think this is a great book for anyone who is new to the crime/mystery/detective genre. I found the plot to be great. And I loved the characters names.
I found the writing style hard to essentially get “sucked into”. I felt the writing seemed a lot more instruction based rather than a storytelling narrative. It came over as a non-fiction book, rather than fiction. This isn’t a negative point; just my personal preference when it comes to the books I read. The narrator was wonderful. His performance was great, it was just the overall writing style for me. I gave this a solid 3 stars. I would recommend this to someone who is new to the genre. Thank you so much again for allowing me to review this book, and I wish the author nothing but success.

The New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner is an absolute triumph—gritty, gripping, and emotionally raw. At its heart is Teagan, a complex and compelling protagonist who had me hooked from the start. She’s strong, flawed, and fiercely determined, navigating the painful realities of infertility and a tangled romantic past while trying to do right by some of society’s most vulnerable women.

What I loved most was how authentically her voice was portrayed. The narration flows seamlessly between characters, giving depth to the cast while keeping Teagan front and centre as the emotional core. Her choices may be questionable at times, but they’re deeply human—and as the story unfolds, her transformation from a woman worn down by life to one fighting for justice and family is both heartbreaking and empowering.

Ebner’s storytelling is nuanced, the tension unrelenting, and the moral dilemmas chilling. Fans of the Red Queen series by Juan Gómez-Jurado will find much to love here—high stakes, emotional complexity, and a protagonist who refuses to back down.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately I couldn’t finish listening to this ARC, I found the story really hard to follow at the beginning and the narrator did not keep my attention. It was also really weird having a male narrator when the character is female.

✨ Thank you NetGalley and Pen and Picture for giving me the chance to read this book as an ARC ✨

4⭐️

Wow, okay. This book has taken me by surprise. There is A LOT going on, the book is fast-paced and at the same time is a slow-burn, giving you information in small chunks, mixing present, with past, with different POVs. The main character is Teagan, a 37 year old woman who desperately wants to be a mom. We also have Todd (husband), Roman (bad guy) and Lexington (sketchy guy). It takes some time to get the whole gist of the story, but basically, Teagan is a freaking bad ass feminist who wants to help other women and, while doing so, gets involved with terrorist and Italian mafia.

Some parts are predictable, others caught me completely by surprise.

There’s quite a lot of violence so I know it’s not for everyone. If you like a good thriller, this is for you.

I liked the narrator a lot for this book. His voice is soothing and didn’t feel awkward with the female dialogue. The story overall was entertaining and the timelines were played out well. I’m mad at the ending though.

Very intense and long.
I did finish reading, well listening. I was really hoping to enjoy this book but I didn’t. I don’t think it was the book, I just didn’t find it very interesting and it was hard to keep my interest.
The current story line was great. It’s the going back and forth that bothered me. Was hard to keep track of it all.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity

I received an ARC audio book version of this through Net Galley, and while I appreciate the opportunity to access audio books in advance and despite typically loving a crime/spy/investigative thriller this book was not for me for several reasons.

Personally, I don't enjoy a male narrator when the main character is female so that put me off a bit to start. But beyond that I found the dialogue and characters very unbelievable.

The conversations felt unnatural and unrealistic. The very jerky storytelling and flipping between timelines and storylines didn't create suspense so much as frustration and confusion. That style of storytelling also leant itself to the feeling that characters and events were unrealistic.

The opening chapters has A tabloid journalist on the top floor of a hotel building where guests are being decimated by a terrorist gun team and she somehow manages to takes them on unscathed. That same journalist, Teagan, in the next chapter is also antagonizing her boss in a flashback about cheating on his wife with an office colleague and giving her unfair advantages in the office. To the point where Teagan calls an escort service in a meeting with him to book him someone to sleep with so that she stops getting the best assignments...
These are two very extreme scenarios early on opening the book that aren't told in detail or with descriptors in a way that personally made me connect with or root for the main character - despite personally being against cheating, workplace favouritism or terrorists, obviously.

I also felt like the discussion and narrative around Teagan having difficulty conceiving wasn't done justice. It felt very factual and surface level. I'm not saying that men shouldn't write books where females are the main characters... but I have to say it felt obvious in this particular storyline that the book and emotions were not being written by a woman because it did not read like other articles, books and discussions I have had with women who have personally experienced difficulty TTC.

It was hard to gain any kind of serious interest or investment from there and I listened to the book almost on double time as I did stuff around the house. As mentioned above I found the various locations, storylines that appear disconnected for a long time hard to follow and hard to maintain interest in. If this was a book vs audio book I would not have finished it / maybe skimmed it at best.

Have read that this is part of a series, have to say I will not be coming back for more from this author, as I am not a fan of the style of story telling and the characters did not resonate with me.

The New Bad Thing by Michael Ebner was a real rollercoaster. It could totally be made into a movie, and while I was listening, I kept picturing Anna Kendrick or Aubrey Plaza playing the lead, Teagan Penn.

The story follows a journalist who becomes a vigilante and takes on terrorists. Teagan has this bold idea to team up with some shady, rich people to help rescue women kidnapped by a terrorist group. It’s a risky plan, and she’s doing it while going through infertility treatment.

You might think, how can someone going through infertility also be planning a big rescue mission? Because she’s a total boss! I love this. We’ve seen plenty of male characters in books and movies who aren’t trained fighters but still step up and get the job done. It’s awesome to see a woman doing the same thing.

Later on, Teagan gets pregnant, and the story shifts as she and her husband hide out, waiting for their baby.

The story is presented non-chronologically, with the opening gambit featuring an intense scene in which Teagan hides out in a hotel overtaken by terrorists. It’s a gripping moment, reminiscent of the opening sequence in Paris Has Fallen (the new series on Hulu).

The final chapters have some twists I didn’t see coming.

Overall, this book reads like it could be a movie, and I think the movie version might actually be better than the book.

Thanks to @netgalley and @penandpicture for the ALC!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for a review. It certainly was action packed it held my attention until the end. 3 stars 🌟 it was good.

2 stars - Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for the ARC audiobook of 'The New Bad Thing'. I really struggled to get into this book—it was just too much for me. The mix of espionage, terrorism, and an overwhelming number of characters made it hard to follow. I constantly lost track of who was who and what side they were on, except for the main character, Teagan. On top of all that, I found it incredibly frustrating that Teagan, who was undergoing IUI treatments and desperate to have children, was drinking—something that you cannot do while undergoing the treatment. Ultimately, this book just wasn’t for me.

Really enjoyed this book! It gives a tense and suspenseful vibe as you get emotionally connected to these characters and anticipate what’s next! A very easy to love FMC that you are rooting for the entire time! The story follows Teagan, that had a brilliant idea to help change the world, however she sought out the wrong people to help with this mission. This lead her straight into the clutches of some very dangerous & murderous people, putting her life in danger and all the people she holds near and dear to her heart. I am eager for book 2, especially with the way book 1 ended. Some of the best narration I’ve heard!

Thank you Pen and Picture for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Teagan is going through a bit of a life crisis and decides the best way to get through it is to focus on helping others. She decides to take on helping missing girls and women who have been kidnapped by a terrorist group. She had a well laid out plan that didn't go as planned. Now she's forced to fight for not only her life, but the baby she didn't expect to be pregnant withs life.

The book started out a little slow for me. It also was a little too all over the place. About a quarter of the way through it started to come together and I was able to better follow the storyline. I started to enjoy it then and looked forward to what was going to happen next.

I instantly hated Lexington! You could tell pretty early on that he was going to be super shady. I loved how supportive Teagan's husband was. He might have been a little too supportive, but what can you do in a situation they found themselves in.

One of the weird and a little unrealistic part about Teagan was her going from an investigative journalist to a bad a$$ helping to fight crime and outsmarting crime bosses.

I did enjoy the story overall and look forward to the second installment of this series!

Total: 3.25★
This is the first book I have ever read by this author. The thrill and suspense had me hooked all the way. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the book, some characters like Todd felt somewhat unnecessary in a way. Lexington also felt somewhat underdeveloped in my eyes. Teagan was a well developed character whom I ended up really liking. The story itself was a thrill to read, yet I have to deduct a couple of stars due to the underdeveloped characters and some of the parts which felt a Biot thrown in there. The book was fast paced and I finished it in two days. I do really recommend it, and look forward to the next book in the series.