A NIGHT OWL REVIEWS BOOK REVIEW | Reviewed by: Shnoogiepoo
Cindy Gerard delivers another spectacular tale in her Black Ops Inc. series finally answering the question; what really happened the night Task Force Mercy was ambushed in Sierra Leone? Stephanie Tompkins is an NSA cryptographer who’s always dreamed of being a spy; in fact her brother Bryan gave her a decoder ring when she was nine. Then he died. As part of a joint Special Op’s team called Task Force Mercy, Bryan and his military brothers, were bringing order to a war torn Sierra Leone when an op went bad, and Brian was gunned down. Though Stephanie and her family lost Brian, they gained the men of Black Op Inc.; the team that Nathan Black created when Task Force Mercy was disbanded after that fateful night. “Mean” Joe Green has estranged himself from the BOI’s team and left Stephanie Tompkins – the woman he protected and fell in love with two years ago in Feel The Heat; Rafe and BJ’s story – and he’s heading back to Sierra Leone because he’s now certain the ambush wasn’t accidental, that Bryan Tompkins wasn’t the only one who was supposed to die that night. Now he just has to prove it. If he can’t prove it he wants Stephanie and the men of BOI’s as far removed from him as possible, because he’s going to take the Tango out one way or the other. When a file lands on Stephanie’s desk, six weeks later, she’s shocked to realize the prisoner in the newspaper article is Joe. When she realizes it’s a Sierra Leonean newspaper everything clicks into place. She now has an idea why he broke her heart and alienated himself from BOIs. Stephanie rushes home to contact BOI’s only to discover they are all out on a no-comm mission and there is no one to go rescue Joe. Though urged to wait a week, and let the BOI’s go rescue him when they return, Stephanie decides it’s time to turn in her desk job and make use of that decoder ring Bryan gave her years ago. With a set of false documents and a half-baked game plan she heads to Sierra Leone. Only she discovers that Joe was in worse shape than she could have imagined and he’s about to be transferred to a maximum security prison that people enter and don’t come out of, at least not alive. So, with the help of some awesome secondary characters Stephanie manages to free Joe and get him out of Freetown. Once back in the states, it becomes a race against time to gather evidence and take out a tango before he destroys not only the free world, but everyone and everything Stephanie and Joe hold dear, including each other. Ms. Gerard has successfully made this a strong stand alone novel, while weaving enough detail to update us on our favorite characters from missions past. We meet a few new operatives, which I expect we’ll see more of in the near future, and share a few intimate moments with old “family” and friends. Ms. Gerard’s knowledge of Sierra Leone, of Freetown – with its customs, laws, and culture, along with the lasting effects of their bloody civil war and the orphans it left behind – allows her to paint a vivid multi-dimensional landscape that engages all your senses drawing you deep into the pages of one of her best BOI’s books to date.
Feb 03, 2012 | 9781451606829
5 - Rare Top Pick | 4.5 - Top Pick | 4 - I Liked It | 3.5 - Enjoyable | 3 - OK | 2.5 - It just didn't click
Book Blurb for Last Man Standing
A deadly mission.A thirst for revenge.One headstrong alpha hero and one daring woman will settle the score. LAST MAN STANDING Special operative Joe Green has gone vigilante. His mission: avenge his Black Ops, Inc., brother’s death during a bloody ambush years ago in Sierra Leone. He refuses to drag the BOI team or his lover, Stephanie Tompkins, into the hunt for the man responsible, so when he finds himself beaten, starving, and alone after being falsely imprisoned for the murder of a Freetown priest, he knows he’s as good as dead. Joe meant to protect Stephanie when he walked out on their relationship, but he can’t stop her now from executing his escape. Breaking him out of prison is the easy part. After Joe’s explosive theory pans out and his cunning enemy emerges as the front runner for a high-level presidential appointment, he and Stephanie must race to derail the traitor’s conspiracy if they are to save their loved ones, the nation, and each other.
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