Chuck Tanaka and other servicemen have gone missing in
Turkey. But Chuck, a member of a dark ops team, has many
secrets he can't share -- no matter how much truth serum he
receives. He also has a high-tech tracking gadget, so pilot
Jimmy Gage and his team members know Chuck is still alive
and can narrow down his location. Jimmy knows all too well
what Chuck faces as a captive, having spent three months as
a POW in Afghanistan three years before.
All clandestine missions must have cover stories. Jimmy's
team on the cutting-edge CV-22 (plane) is escorting a boat
of USO members to an aircraft carrier before they start
their tour to entertain the troops. But then a bomb goes
off, causing the boat to burst into flames and throwing the
passengers, including Chloe Nelson, into shark-infested
waters. Somehow, Chloe is separated from the rest,
requiring Jimmy to go into the Mediterranean to fetch her.
Chloe and Jimmy's relationship doesn't get off to a great
start. Her skimpy costume gives the impression she's a
bimbo rather than a somewhat conservative conductor and
pianist from Atlanta. Jimmy, more focused on getting to
Chuck, comes off as abrupt and rude. But with Chloe a
member of the tour and Jimmy one of its escorts, they will
continue to interact whether learning self-defense or
diving to the ground to avoid another bomb.
Catherine Mann has written a terrific, tightly
plotted romantic suspense novel in DEFENDER, the first
volume of her Dark Ops series. From the prologue on, the
action never stops and the tension, romantic and otherwise,
builds. Her knowledge of airplanes, military technology and
covert operations lend authenticity to the book. The
suspense lies not in discovering the identity of the bad
guys but wondering whether or not the mission will succeed,
but that in itself might keep you up all night. She
switches viewpoints often and between a variety of
characters to keep the plot moving forward and never let
the readers find a comfortable spot in which to put the
book down. I look forward to reading HOTSHOT, the next
installment of Mann's Dark Ops series.
The sizzling first book in the Dark Ops Defenders
series.
When a USO boat goes down in flames,
pilot Jimmy Gage pulls a scantily clad Chloe Nelson out of
sharkfilled waters. Chloe isn’t looking for a jet-jock to be
her bodyguard—until she finds herself side by side with Gage
on a dangerous mission.
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