whitneydaniell

by: Kiki Swinson
published: September 30, 2025
genre: Contemporary, Urban
240 pages, E-Book ARC Courtesy of NetGalley
Goodreads | Amazon

Goodreads Summary

She was once the best luxury car thief in the game. But Ava Frost paid a high price when her children were stolen. Forced to confront her ruthless ex-boss, Nick, she uncovered his devious silent partner in her seemingly loving, seemingly wealthy husband, Kevin. Now Ava is making a new life with her children, several states away from her former suburban life. She’s also struggling to help her young son heal from their traumatic ordeal. So, when her soon-to-be ex-husband pressures her to return his part of the ransom, Ava pushes back… hard.

Along with a secret life insurance policy Kevin took out on her, Ava soon realizes she’s worth way more to him dead than alive. And when she learns he’s set Nick’s vengeful sister and her murderous gangster husband on her trail, she must go up against an overwhelming enemy who will never stop hunting her—or her kids…

Fighting may be your last move…
Now, with the odds against her and time running out, Ava must marshal all her resources and formidable skills to defend everything she’s fought to save. But when one last dangerous twist causes her plans to irrevocably crash and burn, she’ll battle tooth and claw to put her pursuers on the run—straight into a trap so treacherous even she may have no chance to survive…

Character Summary

Based on the publisher’s summary above, Ava “was once the best luxury car thief in the game”—except she’s not stealing cars in Houston. She’s fighting to save her children from the murder plot cooked up by her ex-husband, Kevin.

My Thoughts

I have a question. For those who enjoy books like this, how do you suspend your intellect long enough to enjoy them? Because I cannot turn my brain off and read stories that are written so blatantly—as if I were stupid. I couldn’t bring myself to write a summary of this book because it is so far-fetched and poorly written.

I am always open to reading Black authors, but I’m also always going to critique them just as I would any other author. Based on what I’ve researched about Ms. Kiki Swinson, she has quite a few titles under her belt—Goodreads shows 82 published works. That’s amazing and a feat that I’m proud of. She’s also from the 757—a fellow Virginia is for lovers girlie. I’m very familiar with Tidewater and Hampton Roads. Swinson seems to write urban, contemporary fiction, which by all accounts is right up my alley, but Hunting Ava didn’t move the needle for me.

I felt dropped into the plot as if this book were an installment in a series, because somehow I missed a lot of context. Like the fact that Ava is a car thief—as the summary depicts—yet for the six days this book spans, it’s never once mentioned what she did prior to her move to Texas, or what she plans to do for money in Houston. There is mention of a twenty-four-and-a-half-million-dollar job, but it’s not clear what that job is!

There’s mention of a previous crime Ava was involved in, but she’s not currently being investigated as a suspect. Literally in chapter one, the suspect is named on a FaceTime with her ex, Kevin. Then Kevin repeats it to his new girlfriend, Ty. Then Ty repeats it to her best friend, Whitney. And by chapter five, like five or six people now know the assailant! Have we learned nothing from The Wire? I couldn’t suspend reality long enough to immerse myself in this web of stupidity for it to materialize in my head as something plausible.

Okay, Ava stole some money before leaving Virginia for Texas, where she bought a million-dollar home and a Bentley Bentayga. As it’s noted in the text, “The good thing about it is that I purchased it with cold, hard cash.” How many times have I said—it is not reality for things like this to happen. To buy a house, at that cost, with cash would have alerted so many alphabet departments (IRS, DEA, FBI, DHS, etc.). You can’t even buy a house with gifted cash without the bank sourcing who gave you the gift and where that person got it from! It would’ve made more sense that she rented a nice home in Texas until she could get her enterprise up and running—because she didn’t want the oversight of the government! Come on, Kiki. We’re not dumb, or at least, I’m not.

Where do I need to go to meet an Idris Elba–looking man at a Panera Bread? Because that was also unbelievable. After having, what, an hour-long conversation with this stranger, a few days later you ask him to commit a felony for you? Ava is not a good criminal. You can never convince me otherwise.

Both children, Little Kevin and Kamryn, are at the same school and ride the same bus. This would lead me to believe they’re in elementary school. In Houston, elementary school is K through 5; this would mean at most, Little Kevin—who’s the oldest—would be ten or eleven years old. Never in a million years would I believe that a ten- or eleven-year-old with no fully formed frontal lobe would be able to do what they’re saying he did. Now, physically, could he do it? Yes. But mentally—keep that secret (that he didn’t keep), wake up, and go to school like a normal kid? Hell no. If you want me to believe he’s a Tariq St. Patrick, Kiki, he should’ve been much older.

There are too many people involved in crimes for this to be a believable crime syndicate. Again, have we learned nothing from The Wire? Ty was such a distracting character, and why did we need so many conversations between her and Whitney? Lacey, Maceo, and Nasir—how many murderers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? If you had let the man do his job, maybe it wouldn’t have gone south so quickly. Neil? Don’t get me started on this stranger danger.

Everyone is talking too much. Everything you know about each character is learned through dialogue. There is very little internal monologue, zero world-building, and little to no descriptive writing—even though there is a page and a half dedicated to describing Ava’s new Houston palatial mansion, including her decorations and furniture. And what there is of character development falls flat or is riddled with plot holes. How is it that Ava was groomed to be this “mercenary,” yet she misses every shot after emptying a 9mm clip? Come on.

Final Verdict

I don’t like when people play in my face. Don’t play on my intelligence for the sake of entertainment. Yes, I want to suspend reality a bit—but not so extremely that it borders on fantasy. That’s what this is: urban crime fantasy.

Acknowledgment

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the advanced reader copy of Hunting Ava in exchange for an honest review.