Review: Lethal Design by S.F. Baumgartner

August 12, 2026

Synopsis:

A deadly conspiracy. Two elite teams. One race to stop the Architect.
Some deaths are designed.
The death looks routine. No foul play. No reason to dig.
But Frank Travers has seen enough manufactured coincidences to know when a clean scene feels wrong. When professionals with no addiction history begin dying along eerily similar paths, Orlando Prime is pulled into a pattern spreading quietly across the city.
Someone patient and invisible is engineering the outcomes.
As Frank’s task force chases separate leads through Orlando’s corridors of power, old cases, and carefully hidden networks, the threads begin pointing to the same dark center. KC’s investigation may have found the first crack, but what waits underneath is bigger than one death, one building, or one case.
The closer they get, the more dangerous the truth becomes. Some designs were never meant to be uncovered, and exposing this one may cost more than any of them are prepared to pay.

Review:

The previous instalment wasn’t able to fully convince me, so I had high hopes for this one. After finishing the second book in the series, I’m sad to say that it probably isn’t for me.

I can appreciate high stakes and complex crimes, but this one didn’t interest me enough to keep me fully engaged. There was a lot going on, with many agencies involved, and I personally would have appreciated it if everything had been streamlined a bit more.
I also noticed that, aside from the story about Frank’s history, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. On top of that, the relationship between the main characters I met in the first book didn’t make sense to me. Why mention it in only a few sentences without explaining how the relationship began in the first place? It felt like something was missing.

I’m sad to say that this series is probably not for me, and I won’t be continuing with it. That doesn’t mean others won’t enjoy it, and that’s perfectly okay.

🌙 Recension: Lethal Design (KC & Orlando Prime series #2) by S.F. Baumgartner
📚 Genre: Mystery, Crime, Thriller
📅 Release Date: August 4, 2026
📗 available in various formats – included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 Bought
📆 Pages: 392
⭐️ 3/5