Flee

How does one assign stars or ratings to such a book. Candy for the mind with double the normal dose of sugar. The book has no character development, no intellectual stimulation, precious little humor**, but goodness what a rush. I stayed up all night to see what was around the next corner.

An operative, Carmen, whose real name we don’t know but who has numerous identities has had her cover, and that of her controller, Jacob (although we’re not really sure what they’re professional relationship might be,) blown and she is under attack from all sides, each time barely escaping. And the attackers resemble her both in looks and prowess. She also has to deal with Cory, an escaped convict who had kidnapped Kaufmann, her former parole show more officer. The reader has no idea what is happening or why. The back story gradually emerges.

Since the plot has few surprises and a certain inevitability after the 14th time Carmen has escaped certain death (the fall from the 95th floor window was fun) it won’t be much of a spoiler to reveal that a government Project Hydra had trained seven twin sisters to be Jason Bourne wannabes, or should I say, better-thans and one of them (take a guess) has a transceiver duplicating one carried by the president, that has the capability of launching a nuclear strike. One of the sisters, in concert with a Russian bad guy, an evil twin, one might say, heh, heh, wants it to get it from her sister to control the world; our heroine wants to stop her.

Once one gets past the extraordinary implausibility of the action, it’s like a roller-coaster ride than never seems to end, each twist and turn, a little more devious and gravity-defying than the previous. Even Jack Daniels makes a cameo appearance for some totally bizarre reason.

**exception: “Incompetence and fragile egos happen. A few jokes about your small cock, and you’re willing to fuck up the simplest task just to get payback. You men take size so personally.” She lets a smile play across her lips. “Especially those who are not so well endowed.” The fingers of his right hand twitch, as if they long to fondle a trigger. “I didn’t hear any complaints from you last night.” Hammett cups Victor’s cheeks. “A little sensitive, comrade? What you lack in size, you make up for. In speed.” show less

This review has been written in exchange for a complimentary copy of the book through Bookrooster.com.

'Flee' by J.A. Konrath & Ann Voss Peterson is a full speed rollercoaster ride from start to finish. Seriously, it never lets up.

Chandler is a regular girl with a difficult job that makes it hard to meet men. Or is she? Within the first 10 pages, Chandler's cover is blown, she is nearly killed & manages to kill before she can escape her apartment block & from that moment on she is fleeing for her life whilst trying to piece together the situation that will change her life forever.

It is hard to believe that what follows takes place in a day, it is that action packed. If not for the cleverly interspersed flashbacks of her training with show more 'The Instructor', it would be very difficult to understand Chandler's underlying motivations.

Konrath & Voss Peterson have also created very well rounded characters. So much happens & the characters are capable of so many seemingly incredible actions. But because many of the characters have been given a strong emotional background, it becomes easy to understand their actions & really believe in these characters. However, the only characters that are provided with this roundedness are the good guys. The baddies are just written as your basic psychopaths. It would have been interesting to have that same emotional history for a couple of these characters as well. I always find a book more challenging if I have to make some decisions about the good or evil of the nasty perpetrators, even if I'm skillfully lead to these decisions.

It was nice to see an appearance from a couple of J.A. Konrath favorites in Jack Daniels & Harry McGlade, with Harry's scene particularly memorable in his typical fashion. The added content adds an extra special touch too!

I have to be fair & say that spy novels are not my thing. I'm more into crime & police procedrals, which is why I love Konrath's Jack Daniels series. For this reason I don't know much about the genre & I probably didn't enjoy it as much as other works by this author. But all in all, it was a great addition to the Konrath/Voss Peterson library, & if you love action & spy stuff, well worth the read. show less

Book Info: Genre: Spy Thriller
Reading Level: Adult—explicit sex scene
Recommended for: Fans of high-octane thrillers
Trigger Warnings: violence, murder, sexual assault, statutory rape

My Thoughts: I read the first Jack Daniels book several years ago and really enjoyed it. I've been slowly building up my library of J.A. Konrath books ever since, and am a bit aggravated that I have to read this book before I completed it and was ready because of the new Terms of Service with Vine running me on Three, the third book in this series, but that's neither here nor there...

Say whatever else you will about this book, it was really entertaining. It is so fast-paced that the entire story takes place over the course of a single day, and it just never show more stops—other than that one sex scene, which was rather gratuitous and over which I skipped altogether, and which led to the rating decrease. I had no idea how accurate the weapons information is, how realistic the overall idea is, but I was entertained, and couldn't stop turning those pages, so for me, it was a success as a book. Recommended for adrenaline-junkies, fans of high-octane thrillers, fans of Konrath's writing, and fans of thrillers in general. Check it out.

Series Information: Flee is the first book in the Codename: Chandler series.
Exposed is a novella featuring Chandler, and may be read after Flee
Book 2: Spree, to be read next
Book 3: Three, upcoming

Disclosure: I purchased this book for myself so I could read the whole series after receiving the third book through Vine. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: CODENAME: CHANDLER

She's an elite spy, working for an agency so secret only three people know it exists. Trained by the best of the best, she has honed her body, her instincts, and her intellect to become the perfect weapon.

FLEE

Then her cover is explosively blown, and she becomes a walking bulls-eye. Stalked by assassins who want the secrets she holds, and those who'd prefer she die before talking.

Now Chandler has twenty-four hours to thwart a kidnapping, stop a psychopath, uncover the mystery of her past, retire five equally-trained contract killers, avoid a tenacious cop named Jack Daniels, and save the world from nuclear annihilation, all while dodging 10,000 bullets.

Buckle up. It's going to be one helluva ride. show less

Funny how these super, amazing, unbelievable agents always manage to be so stupid and survive! Still, I enjoyed it...

I received a complimentary copy of the book for review, and would first like to say thank-you for the opportunity to read it.
Basically the plot line revolves around a highly trained female special ops type spy on the run from assassins. The action is literally non stop from start to finish. Violent, raw, sexy and gut wrenching all at the same time. It will really get your heart pounding.

Started February 06th, 2014.
Got this and the 2 following books in the series as an Amazon-EBook-Daily-Deal cheap and started two days after buying them, to take break from [b:The Maze Runner|6186357|The Maze Runner (Maze Runner, #1)|James Dashner|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1375596592s/6186357.jpg|6366642].
Instant non-stop action, a bit much without a chapter break (there are only 3 chapters for the whole book as far as I can see), backstory is well integrated in the narrative.
The non-stop-action does not work for me, with reluctance I give 3 stars, for the first book in a series, but that may not be the case with the next books. More like 2 and a half stars.
As is, not very realistic, to many situations where an escape show more is impossible, deus ex machina (I just looked it up, to be sure I was right).
The characters are well described and the location is for once not one of the boring too-often-used ones (LA, SF, NY come to mind), but instead: Chicago. So, for this alone the other half point for a total of 3.
It is not too long and I would characterize it as assassin-fast-food.
If interested try to get it cheap, as I did or lend it.
No recommendation and I am not sure when I will get to read the next 2 books in the series. show less

Delightful escape reading. on the edge of my seat, strong female lead character, i wish there were a dozen more of these to read.