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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book was okay, but I think I will stop the series. It just doesn't grab me.
Exactly what it is supposed to be. Lots of suspense. The romance wasn't super amazing, but it seemed healthier than some I have read about recently.
I hate books with two page chapters. They seem designed for reading on the beach or a plane, ESPECIALLY when the author breaks a chapter in the middle of a conversation for no good reason other than to maintain those pesky short chapters.
Otherwise, lots of action, good research and properly creepy, violent atmosphere. The characters occasionally swerved toward cliche. Please, a federal judge based in San Diego would not act naive about drug smuggling on the Mexican border. Too many "Oh, I can't believe that xxxx would do that" sentences pulled down the authenticity. The bad guys were comic book nasties. Hilarious.
More like a 2.5 but hey, it entertained me when I wasn't in a writing mood.
Otherwise, lots of action, good research and properly creepy, violent atmosphere. The characters occasionally swerved toward cliche. Please, a federal judge based in San Diego would not act naive about drug smuggling on the Mexican border. Too many "Oh, I can't believe that xxxx would do that" sentences pulled down the authenticity. The bad guys were comic book nasties. Hilarious.
More like a 2.5 but hey, it entertained me when I wasn't in a writing mood.
I guess it's fortunate the I seem to have hit the jackpot for good fiction once school started. While getting stressed out about classes starting up again, I've been able to escape in the pages of a relaxing book on my nightstand at home & realize my problems aren't anything compared to those of Grace Silva while listening to this romantic thriller by Elizabeth Lowell during my daily commute.
The Wrong Hostage delivers suspense with a kidnapping built around a drug smuggler's money laundering problems, and a romance involving passionate lovers kept apart for years only to discover than neither had given up on what they once had.
Of course my rational brain wants to call suspenseful romance a cheap trick - getting scared makes you want to find comfort in the arms of someone you love - but that doesn't mean I wasn't drawn in hook, line, and sinker by Lowell's riveting prose.
As I finished it earlier today on my way to class I wondered if I really should have been listening to The Wrong Hostage while driving. After getting so involved in the characters, I couldn't help but freak out during the story's climax (not a good thing to do while driving on I-80 in Iowa City in the middle of the day).
After releasing that much adrenaline I'm a little too incoherent to describe why this book was so good (or maybe it's just lack of sleep from staying up late reading my other book).
Several times I thought of The Wrong Hostage as 24 in book form. This time the Jack Bauer type has 48 hours, so it's really the longest two days of his life, but that doesn't mean he manages to get much sleep. He's supported by the staff at St. Kilda's Consulting, which seems an awful lot like CTU. True, Joe does manage to share the spotlight with Grace, but he's still the one who basically saves the day with all his seemingly superhuman badass abilities.
The Wrong Hostage delivers suspense with a kidnapping built around a drug smuggler's money laundering problems, and a romance involving passionate lovers kept apart for years only to discover than neither had given up on what they once had.
Of course my rational brain wants to call suspenseful romance a cheap trick - getting scared makes you want to find comfort in the arms of someone you love - but that doesn't mean I wasn't drawn in hook, line, and sinker by Lowell's riveting prose.
As I finished it earlier today on my way to class I wondered if I really should have been listening to The Wrong Hostage while driving. After getting so involved in the characters, I couldn't help but freak out during the story's climax (not a good thing to do while driving on I-80 in Iowa City in the middle of the day).
After releasing that much adrenaline I'm a little too incoherent to describe why this book was so good (or maybe it's just lack of sleep from staying up late reading my other book).
Several times I thought of The Wrong Hostage as 24 in book form. This time the Jack Bauer type has 48 hours, so it's really the longest two days of his life, but that doesn't mean he manages to get much sleep. He's supported by the staff at St. Kilda's Consulting, which seems an awful lot like CTU. True, Joe does manage to share the spotlight with Grace, but he's still the one who basically saves the day with all his seemingly superhuman badass abilities.
Too much romance for my taste, but I like that the women in this series are not portrayed as idiots under pressure - though unbelievable in some situations. I think in the face of the danger they face in the story, I'd act like an idiot.
This was a pretty good adventure book, and one (well 2nd) in a series about a above the law consulting group..i'd read more from her and this series.
3 STARS
"Orphaned at thirteen, Grace Silva clawed her way out of poverty and violence to become one of the most respected judges on the federal bench. Grace believes in the rule of law -- lives it, breathes it. She has always been buttoned up and buttoned down.
Except once.
Joe Faroe has learned that laws are made by politicians, and politicians are all too human. He believes in the innocents, the ones getting ground up by governments that are too polarized or too corrupt to protect their own citizens. He's been through the political meat grinder himself. It cost him his career, his freedom, and the woman who still haunts him. Since then Faroe has worked outside the rules and politics of government as a kidnap specialist for St. Kilda Consulting, a Manhattan-based global business that concentrates on the shadow world where governments can't go. He is good at his work -- intelligent, confident, ruthless.
Until a friend dies trying to kill him.
Now Faroe is out of the business. Retired. He's through trying to save a world that doesn't want to be saved.
Then Grace comes to him, past and present collide, and Faroe finds himself sucked back into the shadows, tracking a violent killer who holds the life of Grace's son in his bloody hands." (From Amazon)
This was an okay romantic suspense. I am not clamoring to reading the next book in the series.
"Orphaned at thirteen, Grace Silva clawed her way out of poverty and violence to become one of the most respected judges on the federal bench. Grace believes in the rule of law -- lives it, breathes it. She has always been buttoned up and buttoned down.
Except once.
Joe Faroe has learned that laws are made by politicians, and politicians are all too human. He believes in the innocents, the ones getting ground up by governments that are too polarized or too corrupt to protect their own citizens. He's been through the political meat grinder himself. It cost him his career, his freedom, and the woman who still haunts him. Since then Faroe has worked outside the rules and politics of government as a kidnap specialist for St. Kilda Consulting, a Manhattan-based global business that concentrates on the shadow world where governments can't go. He is good at his work -- intelligent, confident, ruthless.
Until a friend dies trying to kill him.
Now Faroe is out of the business. Retired. He's through trying to save a world that doesn't want to be saved.
Then Grace comes to him, past and present collide, and Faroe finds himself sucked back into the shadows, tracking a violent killer who holds the life of Grace's son in his bloody hands." (From Amazon)
This was an okay romantic suspense. I am not clamoring to reading the next book in the series.