🎧 Reviewed by LD | Rating: 4.7/5 | Steam: 🔥

⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read Made to be Broken yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.

The Opening

Six months after the events of Exit Strategy, Nadia is back at her lodge in Canada and life has mostly returned to normal. Then one of her employees goes missing, nobody seems to care, and Nadia decides that she does. This is where the Nadia Stafford series really finds its footing.

The Full Story — Spoilers Included

The Setup

Sammy was hired to help Emma, the lodge’s main caretaker. She was sixteen when she had her daughter Destiny and was not doing a great job managing both the baby and the work. Nadia had a direct conversation with her about it. The next day Sammy didn’t show up, which was out of character because whatever her faults she had always been punctual.

When Nadia goes to the police to report her missing, they essentially laugh her off. A girl who got pregnant at sixteen and had a record since thirteen? Not their priority. They have other things to deal with. Including, apparently, a cougar in the area.

Nadia files this away and goes to find Sammy’s friend Tess, who tells her Sammy went for her usual eight o’clock walk one night and never came home. Tess knows something happened to Sammy. But feels helpless.

Jack

Jack has been largely absent since book one, four months of near silence after their last job together. Nadia is furious about it. When Evelyn calls to say he broke his ankle and needs somewhere to stay and someone to watch his back, Nadia goes to find him. He says he’s fine. So what else can she do but leave. He goes after her and admits he could actually use a place to stay.

Jack settles into the lodge and the dynamic between them continues to be one of the most quietly compelling things in this series. He knows instinctively she is going out to search for Sammy and lets her work through it at her own pace, stepping back and letting her lead while making it clear he’s there if she needs him. When she finally admits what she’s doing he insists on helping. After hours of searching, they find Sammy’s body in the woods.

Destiny is not with her. That’s the detail that doesn’t fit. Why is Destiny not there?

The Amy Thread

The cousin Amy storyline continues to surface in pieces. We learn more this book: Amy and Nadia were walking home after Amy’s father failed to pick them up from the train station on time. Drew Aldridge pulled over and offered them a ride. Nadia said no. Amy said she was getting in either way. So Nadia got in too. That was the night Amy was raped and killed.

Nadia has a sleepwalking nightmare after finding Sammy dead. In the nightmare she expects to see Amy’s face. She sees her own instead.

Jack had followed her. He knew she would sneak off. He watched over her the whole time without saying a word. Then when things become unsafe, he helps her out of the nightmare.

The Baby Scheme

Nadia wakes up in the middle of the night convinced she knows what happened. Someone wanted Destiny and killed Sammy to get her. Her first theory is the baby’s paternal grandparents. She breaks into their home but after seeing the place — no baby items, nothing that fits — has to rule that out.

Then Sammy’s mother Janie suddenly puts her house up for sale. A realtor bought her out on the spot. Janie will be gone by Tuesday. Her new theory is that Janie killed Sammy and sold Destiny. Because who sells their home the day after their daughter goes missing?

They go to scope out Janie’s place that night. The lights are out and her truck is gone. They go in and find Janie dead on the living room floor. Eventually they find her boyfriend passed out drunk in Janie’s truck in a different town. After kidnapping him and some ambiguous threats, he admits to killing Janie.

They eventually connect this to a hitman who has been operating a scheme targeting vulnerable teenage mothers: kill the mother, take the baby, sell the baby through a corrupt adoption agency to wealthy couples who can’t have children and aren’t asking too many questions. From what Nadia and Jack can piece together this has happened at least three times, including Sammy.

Quinn

Quinn shows up at the lodge having tracked Nadia down. Jack is immediately angry. Quinn had promised he would never use what he knew about her to find her. Except he didn’t, not exactly — he found out who she was by accident and had been trying to tell her on their last job together. They discuss it. He kisses her. She pulls back and spirals. She wants Jack, but Jack clearly doesn’t want her. Maybe it’s time to move on.

The Adoption Agency

Jack and Nadia visit the corrupt adoption agency playing the role of prospective parents, Jack taking responsibility for their infertility to make the ruse convincing. They manage to track down a family that had been given Destiny to adopt. Jack and Quinn go in pretending to be law enforcement investigating the adoption agency. They leave a bug. They hear the adoptive mother panicking afterward. They follow the thread to a restaurant meeting. Nadia walks past the table and recognizes Destiny immediately.

Evelyn surfaces a new job offer that Nadia initially declines because the price seems off. When she reconsiders and attends the meeting, it becomes clear the hit is connected to the same agency. The man who hired her has just received one of the stolen babies. She is sitting across from someone directly connected to Sammy’s murder. But the job is not to kill teen mothers — it’s to clean up loose ends connected to the scheme. Nadia goes through with it, keeping Jack and Quinn out of the loop.

At the final meeting to collect payment for the hit, they try to kill her instead. Destiny’s new father is behind it, along with a few other parents — all ready to kill to keep their babies. Nadia turns the tables, kills one, wounds another who later dies, and manipulates the situation so the mother’s fingerprints end up on the gun. When she’s done, Jack steps out of the shadows.

He had been watching almost the whole time.

They hand the case off to the police and head back to Canada.

The book ends with Jack buying Nadia a dog. She had mentioned once that she always wanted one but it never worked out. He remembered.

Best Part of This Book

Getting justice for Sammy. The police wrote her off before she was even cold. Nadia didn’t, and watching her methodically work through every theory until she found the truth and dismantled the whole operation is deeply satisfying.

Worst Part of This Book

The reality of someone specifically targeting teenage mothers. Young women already dismissed by the system, already struggling, specifically chosen because nobody would look too hard. It’s handled with care but it’s genuinely difficult to sit with.

The Steam Rating Breakdown

🔥 — No romance. The tension between Jack and Nadia continues to quietly build and Quinn remains in the picture, but nothing happens. Content warnings for violence, the murder of a young mother, an infant in danger, and discussion of sexual assault.

The Ending — Satisfied or Disappointed?

Satisfied. The dog is a perfect ending beat. It’s such a small thing and it says everything about how Jack feels.

Would I Reread It?

Yes.

Who Is This For

Readers who pushed through book one and want to see this series hit its stride. This is where it does. If book one felt slow this one will change your mind about the series entirely.

Where to Get

📖 Physical Book
Amazon

🎧 Audiobook
Audible | Libro.fm

📱 Ebook
Amazon | Bookshop.org

🎁 New to Audible? Get 3 months free (US)
🎁 New to Libro.fm? Get 2 free audiobooks

Made to be Broken — Kelley Armstrong | A Full Spoiler Review