Pararescueman Jose "Cuervo" James has been a staple in the
last few books of the Elite Force series. He's known
to
be a bit standoffish, commitment-phobic, and is a recovering
alcoholic. Stella Carson is an agent with Interpol, and her
specialty is as a code-breaker. She joined Interpol to find
out what really happened to her mother, a supposed Peace
Corp worker who died mysteriously in Africa 14 years
previously, leaving Stella motherless at a young age.
As the story begins, Jose and Stella have been broken up for
a month after an intense six month affair that ended when
Jose couldn't make a more permanent commitment to Stella.
Their relationship is described with the judicious use of
flashbacks to happier times. Stella has been undercover
posing as a student, and has been captured along with the
real students by terrorists. Jose is brought in with the CIA
to aid with the rescue, and to provide medical assistance to
the team. Afterwards, they learn there is a plot to be
carried out against the Vice President of the United States
wife, who is coming to Mogadishu on a peace mission. The
rest of the story is the race to find out and stop the
terrorists from carrying their plans.
There are a few small issues with the story; mainly some of
the plot holes and the pacing. Also, there seems to be an
inordinate amount of undercover CIA and Interpol agents,
often in the same places; and who didn't know about the
other also being there. There is the issue of a former CIA
agent who had her cover blown many years before and had to
disappear; yet the CIA has the manpower and funds to keep
her under direct surveillance all these years. Why is it
necessary to go to that expense and use that much manpower
to watch a retired agent? There is also an inordinate number
of CIA and Interpol agents who were owned by the villains.
There seems to be more bad guy agents than there are good
guys. These things left the agents looking inept and making
the story a bit cartoonish and unrealistic. The reluctance
of Jose to commit to Stella is drawn out for a little too
long and gets a bit old.
Small complaints aside, FREE FALL is very good story; and a
solid romantic suspense read. Recommended for regular
readers of the
series, and I will be continuing the series. FREE FALL can
be read as a standalone; as there are no outstanding plots
threads from previous stories.
Pararescueman Jose "Cuervo" James can't imagine committing
to anything other than his job. But when he parachutes deep
into East Africa to rescue wounded Interpol agent Sarah
Carson—a woman from his past—he finds himself ensnared in
more ways than he can count. Racing through the jungle to
stop separatists from attacking the U.S. embassy, Jose and
Sarah must call upon their training to survive. Could this
be their second chance at passion...or will the rebels end
their future before it begins?
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy