Krista Beggan’s debut novel "A Life Saving Bullet" starts off fast and never lets up. Six months after a young CIA officer dies during a clandestine operation, his best friend and sister, both CIA officers themselves, get assigned the mission of finding his killer. Hunting a ruthless criminal puts everything at stake, especially since the best friend and the sister hold secrets they will not share and paralyzing guilt that he’s gone.

For 28-year-old Cade Foster, his 7 years at the CIA with childhood best friend Beckett Easton III on his team has made his difficult growing up years fade into perspective. Abandoned by his mother and saddled with an alcoholic father, Cade grew up in Lakehaven, New York, relying heavily on Beck as his best friend and Beck’s mother Faye as his second mother. With such close family ties it only made sense that Cade became as protective of Beck’s younger sister Sloane “Bullet” Easton as Beck himself was.

When Beck went off to college, Cade had no money to do the same. But fate intervened with an offer to join the CIA, and he was shocked and thrilled to discover his friend would join him there too.

Cade’s job performance — in 20 countries over the last 7 years — has been stellar. “Cade never thought of himself as a soldier. Soldiers fought and died for their countries. He was just the one who made sure it didn’t come to that.” But now his best friend is dead and Cade is lost in a “pit of guilt and shame.”

He was on the mission that killed Beck and feels responsible for his death, for reasons he will not reveal to anyone. He tells his CIA handler that the only assignment he’s willing to take is to find Jack Doyle, the man who killed Beck.

Unbeknownst to Cade, 25-year-old Sloane has left her aspirations for a teaching job and joined the CIA too, with the same intent: to avenge Beck’s death by hunting down Jack Doyle.

As the story opens, Sloane has gone one step further than Cade. Having stolen a flash drive in the middle of the night — hoping it will contain clues to Doyle’s current whereabouts — she is now fleeing the streets of Venice, Italy to get back to her team, hoping she can convince her boss to put her on the Doyle hunt.

It turns out Doyle is living in the south of France and poised to nab a three-million-dollar emerald that has been missing for years from a set of three. As the jewel is about to be exhibited at a Nice museum, Sloane, Cade and the rest of the team converge on a safe house in the south of France, with Sloane ready to take the lead in trapping Doyle.

Sloane’s initial meeting with Doyle goes badly, raising the stakes for her personal safety. Cade worries he cannot keep Sloane safe, much as he desperately wants to, not just for Beck but because of his own growing feelings for her.

But Sloane sees Cade’s worry as disrespect for her capabilities as a new officer. She also wants details of exactly how Beck died and Cade won’t say, adding to her sense of mistrust between them.

In telling the story, Beggan alternates between Cade’s growing up years in Lakehaven and the Doyle pursuit. She also offers both Cade and Sloane’s point of view, providing for good dramatic irony as the story unfolds.

The intense mutual attraction of the two is shown well, and the life-threatening context of a killer who could stop at nothing makes "A Life Saving Bullet" an exciting and satisfying read.