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Blown

Blown, April 2005
by Francine Mathews

Bantam
Featuring: Caroline Carmichael
336 pages
ISBN: 0553803301
Hardcover
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"Fast-paced, incredibly good thriller."

Fresh Fiction Review

Blown
Francine Mathews

Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Posted April 15, 2005

Thriller Political

CIA analyst Caroline Carmichael is cleaning out her desk and about to tender her resignation when an evil the world thought long dead returns with a vengeance. 30 April, a terrorist group that not only held the world in fear but also took the life of the Vice President of the United States, has apparently survived, even though they had reportedly been wiped out. Hospitals are jammed full of people, most of who are dying after being served cups of water laced with ricin. Panic is building as the mysterious party serving the water has disappeared without a trace. Caroline, whose heart is heavy with loss and secrets, knows she can't turn her back on her country now. She recognizes the neo-Nazi group for what it is, and there is no time to waste if they're to be stopped from further attacks upon the world. One by one, the people she's worked with and who have intimate knowledge of her past mission, fall prey to assassination. People she's trusted in the very government she's so diligently sought to serve are ready to make someone she loves the ultimate scapegoat, destroying Caroline in the process. Someone supposed to be long-dead -- her husband Eric, a secret operative once planted deep undercover in the 30 April group, reappears. Now his cover is blown, and together they must try to keep one step ahead of the enemy, an enemy with many faces. Caroline must not only try to save her country and her husband, she must also expose the actual people behind this political facade. And then there's her promise to the vulnerable Jozsef Krucevic, the young boy who happens to be as much a victim as anyone else of his dead father, the past leader of 30 April. In a world of uncertainty, where trusting anyone is like playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded pistol, Caroline may have to choose between those she loves and those she is supposed to serve. Carmichael has created a story so real that it's as if you are reading a blow-by-blow report from the major networks as the story unfolds, instead of fiction. Her characters are as varied and compelling as the story itself, from the courageous Caroline to the vulnerable senator's wife, Dana, who is dying with as much dignity as possible. The book is fast-paced and drags the reader into its pages from the first sentence. You're hooked until the very last page is turned. An incredible read, an incredible book.

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SUMMARY

Former CIA analyst Francine Mathews has created “one of the toughest female secret agents we’ve seen in a long time.”* Using her firsthand expertise of international espionage, Mathews offers another brilliantly realized suspense novel so intense, so authentic, it lethally blurs the line between fact and fiction. In Blown, Caroline Carmichael returns in a white-hot tale of terror on the streets of Washington, where one woman must gamble her life to save her country. As thousands of runners line up for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., no one suspects that in a matter of hours the event will become a race between life and death. CIA analyst Caroline Carmichael is about to tender her resignation, when the first reports of a terrorist attack pour in–and she instantly recognizes the hand of an enemy she’s battled for years: the 30 April Organization. The neo-Nazi group is alive and well and operating in the United States, assassinating top officials and abducting a vulnerable child from the front ranks of a state funeral. When Caroline’s husband, Eric, is arrested in Germany as a 30 April operative, Caroline has no choice but to take to the streets–and target the evil herself. Eric has worked as a “legend” for years–a false identity so perfect, the CIA believes he’s dead–and gone deep undercover within the terrorist group Caroline is determined to destroy. Now his cover’s been blown, and Eric’s intimate knowledge of 30 April’s plans makes him a target for both sides: the killers he’s betrayed, and the American government he’s sworn to protect. Torn between a desire to save her husband and her duty to save her country, Caroline is drawn back into a treacherous labyrinth where trusting others is as good as suicide. For the enemy this time wears a familiar face: that of an American patriot, waving his flag alongside his gun. To stem disaster, Caroline has only one choice: to betray everyone in which she believes–or everyone she loves. For an agent without cover–an agent who’s blown–is worse than betrayed: she’s as good as dead.


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