Jul 23 2011
REVIEW: With No Remorse by Cindy Gerard
Dear Ms. Gerard:
Sue Grimshaw, formerly of Borders and now acquisitions editor for the newly relaunched Bantam Loveswept line has always been after me to read you. When the ARC of No Remorse hit my doorstep, I decided it was time to stop dithering and give you a try. I’m glad I did. This series has all the elements of standard romantic suspense fare and I mean that in the best way. If readers like the connected series books featuring former military heroes, then they’ll like this series.
After reading No Remorse, I began to buy all the backlist titles to the BOIs. or Black Ops Inc. I haven’t finished them all as I began to feel burnout (reading 4 books in the same series over the course of three days will do that to a reader) and I’m not sure where No Remorse falls. I liked Risk No Secrets the best of the four I have read because I liked the complicated love story. No Remorse offers a pretty straightforward love story: one of the last of the single operators gets caught in Cuzco trying to save a famous supermodel in hiding.
I think you can read No Remorse without having read the first four books but having gone back and read three of them, it has filled in a number of details (like the reason for the ridiculous name of the company that Luke works for – BOIs). Luke does a lot of referencing former characters and their now happy home lives and how the changing face of the lifestyles of his friends and co workers is affecting him. Luke is feeling dissatisfied with his life, wondering whether he really is the
Valentina is a Heidi Klum-ish character. Discovered at a young age by a modeling agency, she parlayed that into nearly 20 years of celebrity success and a marriage to a golden California senator that ended badly. Attempting to get out of the public eye, Valentina is trying to enjoy a low key vacation (much like Luke) in South America. But someone is hunting for Valentina and it looks like Luke is her only way to safety. Like Breaking Point, much of the story is a sort of road romance as Valentina and Luke make their way through Peru.
I liked that the story took place not in the US because so much of what goes on would be implausible in the US (and possibly implausible in Peru but given my unfamiliarity with the country, it’s easier to by into the realism of the story). I also liked that this paramilitary organization was headquartered in South America.
Valentina was scared and mad and lashed out and that Luke, despite his teenage (and adult) crush on her, got upset and frustrated and lashed back. But was it just a little creepy how much Luke seemed to know about her? LIke he read all the tabloid/People/TMZ articles he could? Yes, a little. And while I believed that Luke was a military person, I had a hard time buying into Valentina as a super model celebrity.
The story had good range with action, humor and agnst:
He pushed himself up on his elbows, suddenly full of concern. “What? What’s wrong?”
Her eyes were pinched shut, her face contorted in pain. “Po . . . potato.”
He scowled in confusion. “What? Is that some sort of safe word?”
Her laugh was part pain, part frustration. “No. The potato. It rolled under my back.”
The bad guys kept coming like the hydra, no matter how many you shoot, there is always something to replace them. (Why is there no limit to bad guys? It’s like someone churns them out by the dozen).
I know that there was an attempt at solid character development but it was never fully fleshed out. In amongst the action scenes, there just wasn’t enough space given over to making Luke and Valentina change over the course of the book. Valentina recognizes that she had lost control over her life yet she never really gained it back. She was largely dependent on the BOIs and Luke. Luke didn’t believe he was a hero anymore and yes, he got to save someone and that made him feel good but it never examined what it was about heroism that he identified with and could he live with himself if that wasn’t an option (like an athlete having to retire)
But obviously making me care about the BOIs group, both the men and the women, was done well enough that I glommed onto the backlist. I like romantic suspense and adventure stories and this one kept me turning the pages all night long. B-
Best regards,
Jane
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Jul 23, 2011 @ 12:09:41
Must admit that I am surprised by that grade after that paragraph…but otherwise I own a few of her titles to read one day.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 12:16:29
I’m excited about this one. Love Cindy’s books.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 13:54:41
I’m a big fan of Cindy Gerard, and Jane I am THRILLED that you’re reading her now (and enjoying) as well. I had the same problems with this book that you did – and I graded it a B as well.
Part of the problem for me with this book is that some of her previous installments are so much better – this can’t compete and it just didn’t all click for me.
Great review!
Jul 23, 2011 @ 14:45:18
Cindy Gerard is an autobuy for me, but I’ve definitely enjoyed some of her BOI series more than others. This one ranks somewhere in the middle.
My favorite is Show No Mercy, Gabe & Jenna’s story. It’s book #1 in the Black Ops Inc series and though I do think it can be read as a stand alone, it helps to have read the last book in her Bodyguards series, Into the Dark which introduces the h/h as well as the core group of heroes in the BOI series.
It’s also refreshing that Cindy is tying up the series after next year’s Last Man Standing rather than keeping the series going by continuing to introduce new guys.
On a side note, is your cover blue? Mine are black (both the ePub one and the print versions), but I like the blue. I bought the e-version on release day as I wasn’t sure Borders would ship my pre-order or not with the stores all closing.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 16:11:02
@library addict I can’t remember if it is blue. I pulled this off the internet. I think my arc didn’t have a cover.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 16:12:11
@Keishon It is still a book I recommend, but it has a number of flaws.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 19:52:40
@ Jane. I haven’t read this one (as yet) but I generally enjoy Cindy Gerard – I do think her Bodyguards/E.D.E.N series is stronger in that the characters are more fleshed out and there seems to be more to the relationships, so if you liked this one, I think you might really love the other series.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 20:28:46
@Kaetrin: I bought one of the Eden books. It was the sister’s book and I started reading it but the male protag really irritated me. He seemed super smug.
Jul 23, 2011 @ 20:55:41
@Kaetrin: I thought the Bodyguards/E.D.E.N books were more uneven. I really liked To the Brink (Ethan & Darcy’s book), but Over the Line is probably my least favorite book of Gerard’s.
Jul 24, 2011 @ 18:18:35
Jane
Glad you enjoyed. I’ve loved all her books – one of my faves is still Into The Dark – Dallas & Amy’s story. It’s the 6th bodyguard book so it might be awhile before you get there.
I’m about to start WNR.
Jul 27, 2011 @ 14:38:32
Somewhat off-topic, “boi” is also queer slang for masculine-presenting or genderqueer lesbians… so I just spent a few minutes chortling over a mainstream romantic suspense novel featuring butch women in camo saving damsels in distress in jungle locales!
Like DEBs meets Romancing the Stone.