REVIEW: Eye of the Storm by Dee Davis
Dear Ms. Davis:
I mentioned after reading the anthology Hell With the Ladies that I thought it would be interesting to read a full length novel of yours as you had a good voice. Bookseller friend informed me that you wrote both chick lit and romantic suspense. I was interested in reading a romantic suspense book and she came back from Christmas vacation with this book, Eye of the Storm.
Eye of the Storm is a marriage in trouble book featuring Simone Sheridan, former CIA black ops, and Reece Sheridan, former Army Ranger turned prosecutor. Simone has hid her past for the 6+ years she has known Reece. Her inability to tell the truth when confronted by Reece led to their separation and pending divorce. But they still love each other and neither is quite moving on.
Simone’s past comes back to haunt them both when an assassin tries to snuff Simone and her brother in law, Martin, who was with her at the time. Martin is injured. Reece tracks them down and soon the three of them are running for their lives to find out who is behind the attacks and how will they survive.
The action parts were the best. Simone is like a female version of Jason Bourne. I loved reading the action scenes with Simone showing us how skilled and efficient she was. This part of the book was very effective. I could visualize Simone crouching, sweeping a room with her gun, dodging bullets, the car chase, the boat chase, the fight in the woods. All of that worked extremely well for me.
The problem, for me, was in the details of the story outside the action. Martin, a young college student, is shot at. Simone gives him some Vicodin, stitches up his shoulder and Martin is able to survive all kinds of adventures. This seemed incredibly unbelievable to me. Reece is conveniently a former special forces guy who, on his prosecutorial salary can afford a very fast speedboat and a Jag. Also not believable. Simone was caught out on a lie so elementary by Reece about her background I couldn’t help but wonder at some of her ability to be part of the black ops. At every critical juncture, there always seemed to be some easy aid to get the good guys out of a jamb which led to a sort of predictability in terms of action.
Finally, the the ending kind of fell apart for me. It made no sense for the villain not to have taken Simone out before. I never understood, even at the close of the book, why Simone, Reece and Martin were still alive. There was no plausible explanation for that and I kept waiting for it. C+
Best regards,
Jane
Hey Jane,
I’ve just read this book this week… and I do agree with you… some parts are unbelievable; however, that doesn’t bother me too much. I guess I accept everything the author gives me without too much questioning. my problem was the relationship between Reece and Simone. It really bugged me that Reece couldn’t accept Simone and always brought up her past. I mean, the relationship really didn’t advance and I got so frustrated that I skipped to the end.