5-STAR REVIEW: BAIT THE DEVIL by Winter Austin

Book Reviews Organized Crime Thriller/Suspense

About The Book

A BOUNTY OF SHADOWS: Book 2
Publication Date: January 19, 2026

A BOUNTY OF SHADOWS

In bounty hunting, clean jobs are a myth. Dot knows—she’s seen the blood.

Dot Ybarra doesn’t bluff. Fresh into her bounty hunting career, she’s already earning a reputation for results. But when a “routine” rogue bounty—taken as a favor to her lawyer cousin—turns lethal, she’s staring down a case with international reach, bodies in its wake, and the stench of power.

Her business partner, T.J. Roman, is hiding a secret. If Dot finds out … well, she can’t find out. It would end the effective partnership they’ve built. But the trail won’t wait. What should have been a clean pickup of a fellow military veteran spirals into a hunt through the shadows, where one wrong move could see them both buried in an unmarked grave.

To stop the predators at the center of a violent trafficking ring, they’ll have to go straight into its core—and make themselves the bait. Every step makes them vulnerable to each other as well.

The devil’s coming for them.

Dot plans to be the one still standing after he bites.

Excerpt

The Review

A simple favor soon turns into a pile of bodies for two bounty hunters.

Author Winter Austin delivers a pulse-pounding thriller in Bait the Devil, which marks the second installment in A Bounty of Shadows series.

Returning characters Dot Ybarra and her business partner, T.J. Roman, keep things lively as bounty hunters. Both of them are carrying baggage from the past, which comes out at the most inconvenient times.

This adventure puts them on the trail of a fellow military veteran, where they end up stepping into a mess of organized crime and human trafficking. To catch the criminals, Dot and T.J. must serve as a target.

The character development is exceptional, with humor woven in to help lighten up the bloody encounters. The story moves rapidly thanks to a solid plot.

Bait the Devil takes bounty hunting to the next level in a successful mystery series.

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About The Author

Winter Austin perpetually answers the question: “were you born in the winter?” with a flat “nope,” but believe her, there is a story behind her name.

A lifelong Mid-West gal with strong ties to the agriculture world, Winter grew up listening to the captivating stories told by relatives around a table or a campfire. As a published author, she learned her glass half-empty personality makes for a perfect suspense/thriller writer. Taking her ability to verbally spin a vivid and detailed story, Winter translated that into writing deadly romantic suspense, mysteries, and thrillers.

When she’s not slaving away at the computer, you can find Winter supporting her daughter in cattle shows, seeing her three sons off into the wide-wide world, loving on her fur babies, prodding her teacher husband, and nagging at her flock of hens to stay in the coop or the dogs will get them.

She is the author of multiple novels.