Review of Defector by Susanne Winnacker

Review of Susanne Winnacker's Defector

Release Date: June 26th, 2014

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Tessa has finally made peace with her life as a Variant. She and long-time love Alec are officially a couple, and for the first time, she has everything she wants.

But the air is tense at FEA headquarters. An agent has disappeared, and rogue variant organization Abel’s Army is likely the culprit.

When Tessa is summoned for her second mission, she is unexpectedly launched into a massive conspiracy. Her best friend Holly is kidnapped and Tessa knows it was meant to be her. But who is after her? And more importantly, why?

When the FEA’s efforts to rescue Holly don’t yield any results, Tessa takes matters into her own hands. Desperate to save her friend and uncover the mystery behind Abel’s Army, Tessa launches her own investigation—but nothing could prepare her for what she finds. Everyone in her life is harboring secrets: Alec, her estranged mother, even the father she never knew.

The truth will take her out on the road and out of her comfort zone, with danger lurking everywhere. Summoning all of her courage and strength, Tessa must decide who can be trusted and what is worth fighting for—even if it means going against the life she thought she wanted. Her final decision will leave readers breathless.

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While her first mission may be over, Tessa is stuck with the haunting memories & a scar in the shape of an "A" on her ribcage left by her would be serial killer. Back at FEA headquarters, Alec has broken up with Kate so that he and Tessa can finally be together. Everything seems like it is getting back to normal when a new mission is thrown into her lap... with the help of Alec & her best friend, Holly. When Abel's Army (the FEA's Variant nemesis) attacks, the whole mission goes awry & Holly is kidnapped.

Tessa keeps begging for answers on what is being done to find her best friend, but all Major gives her is excuses & no results to show for it... like she doesn't have enough on her plate, Kate decides to corner her to let her know that Alec is keeping a huge secret from her. He has a second Variation. Not only is he Super Strong, but he is also an Empath. With the ability to feel emotions, as well as alter them, is anything he has said to her in the past 2 years real? Is anything she has felt for him her own feelings or something he has pushed onto her?

Her whole world is turned upside down!

With that new knowledge, she sets out to find what else is being kept from her & uncovers even more shocking news. Tessa decides to run away and, with the help of an unlikely ally, save Holly herself. On a crazy road trip across America, she will uncover long lost family secrets & more questions she didn't even know she had.

Is there anyone she can trust?
Where is she going to find the answers she so desperately longs for?

Check out Susanne Winnacker's 2nd Variants novel, Defector!