Never really grabbed my attention, it is a book that I would describe as an ok read, but does not inspire me to read any others in the series. It is now quite a few days since I read it whilst on holiday, and I have to admit to not being able to remember very much about it! ( )

Volume # 4, in the Blackwell Files

Although this book is part of a series it works quite well as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous books and I wasn’t lost or even thought that I had missed anything.

A simple blurb:

When Cryptologist Alton Blackwell and girlfriend, FBI Agent Mallory Wilson decide to take a trip to Italy for a nice romantic vacation their pleasure was soon squashed. While on a sightseeing tour the love birds witnessed a murder, turned out the victim was a rogue employee of a high tech company arranging to sell sensitive technology to a foreign country. They soon find themselves pulled into the murder investigation.

A few thoughts:

The story is interesting and intricately woven to keep us in suspense and involved for most of the book. We are kept on edge all through trying to figure who is the brain behind the conspiracy till the very end. The author has plotted his story leaving only drips of clues while we surf amongst the many players that crosses the protagonists’ path: Italian Inspector, the mafia, a mole in the police, killers for hire…etc. this is very well- done. This International intrigue is in most part a page-turner till you magically find out the whodunit…then the story changes into a mushy romance (one, definitely written by a man). “Havoc” is unrealistic and at times disconnected….Most characters are well developed but I couldn’t stand Mallory. Too often her depiction got on my nerves and I especially detested how she called Alton “Sweetie” after all he is a grown man not 8 years old....We have weak dialogue and the narrative could have used a good shove from time to time but in all this is a good story. ( )

Someone has secretly copied the files of a breakthrough computer storage solution. The affected company sends people to try and retrieve the stolen files. The thief, an insider, is killed in Rome, which sets off a sequence of events for all concerned. In my opinion, the story does not achieve the high suspense you would normally expect of a thriller, instead it is more pedestrian and predictable, particularly as you follow all the players. I felt it would be more suspenseful if there was a more limited point of view, such as just sticking with the main protagonist Alton Blackwell. I also thought that the story continued on too long after the revelation of the perpetrators. The story was enjoyable but I am only prepared to give it 3 stars.

A few points that I found a little irritating:

1. The people searching for the stolen files talk about recovering them. However, given that the files were copied surely what they need to do is ensure that any copies have been destroyed. The latter is a difficult task in itself as they have no idea how many copies have been made.
2. The Italian police address the women as Miss or Mrs, but in reality they are more likely to say Signorina or Signora. In general, the use of Italian does not seem quite right, e.g. "mi amico" when an Italian is more likely to say just “amico", and the singular of "panini" is "panino".
3. There are a few minor edit misses, e.g. Blackwell is given a Baretta by Rossi but at one stage it is referred to as a Glock. ( )

This is the first book by this author that I've read. Even though this is the fourth book in the series, I was easily able to know who was who and what their roles were. I liked Alton and Mallory from the start, even though I didn't like everything they did. I liked the high tech storyline and how the author had multiple storylines that all intersected and tied together. I didn't guess many of the plot twists before they were revealed.

I am not sure if it was only the Italian setting and romance between Alton and Mallory that made this book likeable for me. I read a bit of the preview of the next book in the series and it didn't strike me as much so as this book did--so I do not know if I would like the series as a whole. ( )

I finished this book but it was a struggle. There was too much dialogue between the characters and it verged on cheesy sometimes. Real people don't talk like that. The idea was good; the stolen technology etc. but everyone was portrayed as inefficient apart from the two main characters. This is the only book I've read from the series and I don't want to read more about this annoying pair of individuals. ( )