Customer Reviews

Dead Right

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
Dante works for the CIA. Cat has worked for different European and US intelligence agencies. Dante and Cat worked on a job together. He fell in love with her. He now believes she double crossed him resulting in the death of his team and his imprisonment and torture in a Thailand jail. Dante eventually escapes. He is now searching the globe for Cat, wanting revenge.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Wow. Good. Exciting. Edge of your seat suspense. Spies, imprisonment, torture, escape. I didn't want to stop reading it. Excellent and interesting characters. Well done plot and events. I might have preferred a little more of the development of the relationship between Cat and Dante, but it was ok for a suspense book. The couple had already been together before the story starts. The story is about what happens during their separation and wondering if they will ever be together again. The bad guy is monstrous. I want to thank the author for putting in the happy ending epilogue. It tied things up beautifully. Some authors don't do that. I wanted it, and it was well done. There were some unanswered questions at the end, which I expect may continue as a sequel. I was ok with those questions being unanswered.

Initially, I was hesitant about all the jumping around in the book. The chapters go back and forth and out of order, among periods of 3 years ago, 2 years ago, 1 year ago, 4 months ago, and the present. Normally, I do not like this style of writing, but it was ok. It worked well for this story. The author finished most scenes logically before moving to another time and place, which I liked. Only once, page 225, did the author leave me with a cliffhanger I did not like. Someone is on the run and the scene stops before the end of the chase which picks back up again on page 233.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
I would have liked answers to some of the following questions. Details about how and why Dante was captured. What exactly was being done to him in jail? Why did the bad guy send Dante to a prison in Thailand instead of keeping him nearby so the bad guy could observe and/or do the torture himself? When Dante escaped, the guards should have found him immediately because he was tagged. Then, I didn't understand why he was sent to a different jail. The bad guy must have allowed Dante to be rescued, I assume so he could follow Dante. But Dante was going to die if not rescued, so I wasn't sure if the bad guy wanted Dante dead or rescued? Why was the Thailand jail razed later? Dante was given drugs that caused psychic abilities. The psychic talent story started but didn't continue. The psychic abilities were not used or explained. Even though I have these questions, I still enjoyed the book.

DATA:
Story length: 344 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 6. Total number of sex scene pages: 9. Setting: present day Thailand, Florida, Caribbean, Mexico and South America. Copyright: 2009. Genre: suspense with romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Cate Noble books, see my 2 ½ star review of "Deadly Seduction" posted 2-9-10.

Plot Summary: A fast-paced CIA romantic suspense, where the characters travel all over the world, and much of the story is told via flashbacks. It reads like a movie script that we've all seen clones of on the big screen. We meet our hero Dante during his 18-month imprisonment in a Thailand crud hole (James Bond déjà vu here). He believes his former spy-lover sold him out, and revenge is the only thing keeping him alive. Unbeknownst to Dante, Catalina is innocent, she's on the run, and she has a son.

I'm not sure if this is Noble's first big novel, but if it is, I applaud it as a very credible, professional, and polished effort. There are a couple of reasons why I think this is good, but not great, or excellent. First, there weren't any big twists or surprises, and I kept hoping Noble would jerk me in an unexpected direction. I want to be completely blindsided when reading a suspense, like being T-boned by a Mack truck in an intersection. POW!

The main characters, Dante and Catalina, were nicely developed, but they didn't get to spend enough time together, either in or out of bed. I wanted to see heat waves roll off this couple like sun-scorched blacktop, but aside from a few tantalizing moments, I was largely disappointed. If we could ratchet up the intensity in Dante by several more clicks we'd have a seriously potent hero.

Final note -- I love the cover art on this book. It's simple and sexy.

I'm picky about what I read--we all are. I tend to lean towards the CIA/spy thriller variety of romantic suspense, rather than FBI/serial killer, and since the former is hard to come by, I bought Cate Noble's debut on the blurb alone.

And I wasn't disappointed.

Needless to say, this isn't your typical romantic suspense. The book relies heavily on flashbacks to unfold the story, and the main protagonist, Dante Johnson, spends a good chunk of the book being tortured, recovering from the torture, and trying to get his life back together after being rescued from Southeast Asia. In fact, the heroine of the piece, Cat, doesn't show up until halfway through the book. But don't let that scare you because "Dead Right" is a page-turner.

In this book the stakes are high, the danger is real and the events are so eerily similar to what information we do get in the news, the narrative could have bounded right from today's headlines--and all without getting political, or the choosing of political ideology over another (which is to Noble credit). Even though most of the book is spent with Cat on the run, and Dante trying to find her, I found the romantic relationship very satisfying. If I could compare this book with another author's works, I would say "Dead Right" is what some of Ken Follett's earlier thriller titles would be if Follett were a romance writer.

During the process of unwinding the plot threads of the story, Noble also introduces a couple of very intriguing characters who, by the end of the book, I wanted to know much, much more about. And judging by the rather open-ended manner in which Noble ended the book (don't worry, Dante and Cat get their HEA), she is just as intrigued by them as well. If you're looking for an atypical romantic suspense, or perhaps want a larger dash of romance with your spy thrillers, "Dead Right" is just about perfect. I can't wait for the next book.

Just finished reading. This book was well written if you like espionage, thriller, govt-spy-laced drama...which is all well and good but this book was being sold as a romance novel and one would expect more by way of modern interaction rather than very occasional intimate flashbacks. The main characters do not even connect until the last quarter of the book which was highly dissapointing. There was a scene or two involving rape and torture by -gasp!- an evil scientist, so skip past those if you are faint of heart. Too many plot threads, obscure hints that the characters somehow always manage to discover with their omnipotent intel which just to happened to let MANY of these presumed dead villains slip through the cracks to come back and wreak havoc.

There were definitely frustrating parts where you wanted to just shake Cat-- who, by the way, is the presumed main character according to the book cover, though she is very much a stranger for the reader and most of her story isn't even discovered until well into half of the book. The rest of the book is filled with Dante's viewpoints, flashbacks, and one memory of his regarding a sex scene (a good scene, but very short). Other than that scene, whenever we do peek in on Cat's viewpoint, she's either being tortured/raped or agonizing because she is pregnant and loves a man who supposedly put work above her...even though she is an elite operative as well and was well aware of the stakes. And somehow, this horribly great operative that is supposed to have been sought after the world over for espionage employment and a woman who affords custom made perfume worth thousands of dollars...ends up as a housecleaner in a brothel with her son at an orphanage? And then everyone ends up happily ever after? It's a hard story to sell a reader.

And then we have all the chapter flashbacks that I touched upon. Horribly confusing to follow! You have the first bunch of chapters occurring "4 months ago", then "3 months", then present day, then "22 months ago", then present day, then "34 months ago" and so on. Yikes!

Beyond that, the predictable plot was dragged out for far too long while everyone chased their tails...and the grit of the story didn't even occur until 75% of the way into the book as it was. I was very dissapointed because it seems like Noble is a great writer of foreign intrigue and espionage, yet got mired in the details, plotlines/holes, host of supporting characters-- and missed the romance that was supposed to be at the heart of the tale.

Still, because I do think Noble has the chops, I will be picking up later titles (from the library, not purchase) out of curiosity. I have a feeling Max's book is going to be a lot like this one. Escape from an obscure prison after being presumed dead, etc. I'll skip that one and pick up Rocco's book. Along with Dante, he was probably the most intriguing character to me

I read Dead Right in one sitting; I couldn't put it down. From the prison in the jungles of Thailand to the favales of Rio, this book is full of heart stopping action, beginning to end. Ms. Noble does not pull any punches in the detail department, either, so I unconsiously read half of the book with my hand spread out across my right eye, kinda like when you watch scary movies....I had to laugh at myself a little when I realized what I was doing.

This is no ordinary romantic suspense novel. Everything felt kicked up a notch, from the larger than life characters to the exotic locale to the exacting torture detail. Not only did the main characters, Dante and Cat, shine, but the secondary characters reached out and grabbed my attention, as well. Everyone fulfilled their character destiny admirably. There were no dead ends, nor was too much information given about the incidental characters.

We learn about Dante and Cat's relationship and subsequent history through a series of flashbacks, with the bulk of the story taking place in real time. This approach worked for me, rather than having an info dump in the beginning of the book. I learned what I needed to learn as I needed to know it, making it easy to relate the past to the present circumstance. The pain of loss that each of them felt was so real. Being spies, not knowing who to trust or what is real, very much impacted their future courses of action.

The romance is so intertwined with the suspense here, though the scale does tip to the suspense end of the spectrum. My only complaint is that I wish I had had more Dante/Cat time, but even so, I felt their connection strongly. Love and hate are close cousins...

One thing I noticed throughout the book was the turn of phrases employed by Cate Noble. Wry, self depreciating comments by the characters, or a certain twisting of a sentence...very enjoyable to read, bringing a brief respite of humor to an otherwise taut, thrilling read. I am so happy that there are two other novels out in this series, including Rocco's, so I don't have to wait to read them!

Bad, bad, bad. Bad. This book was all O-V-E-R the place. Present day, 14 months ago, 24 months ago, 6 months ago, Key West, 10 months ago. Are you kidding me. I picked this up because I loved old Lauren Bach and saw that she disappeared and then I heard she re-incarnated under the pseudonym of Cate Noble. Now I know there is a reason for that. This book was so bad she needed to write it under another name.

Dante and Cat are super-spies. The closers, the ones who get it done and then something goes horribly wrong and both are put through separate ringers and rape and abuse and imprisonment that tears them and thier fledgling love apart. The book then begins the ping-pongingest journey to finding each other with the atrocities committed against Cat so horrific (razor blades in shoes?! RUFKM!) that I don't know how she survived to even move forward with life.

I am so over these books where the women are treated like Gaga's meat dress and then BOING they are normal and untraumatized by the end. Then the sequences were so profoundly re-donk-culous that every time I turned the page and saw the book was dragging me around by my hair through it's ridiculous timeline, my eyes rolled til I am sure I am cross-eyed. To make matters WORSE... This appears to be a series. I cannot fathom how this book came about. Why it came about and why the hell readers will care. I do know I don't care enough to line my cat box with the pages from this mess. All I can do is fondly remember Lauren Bach and sigh for what might have been.

Undercover-op heroine is on the run from Russian villain who raped & tortured her & who is after her for valuable files she stole from him when she escaped. She is protecting her son with undercover ops hero who she thought died but instead was imprisoned & tortured in Thai prison for 2 years & who feels vengeful with her, after watching a video that implicated her betrayal. In their quest to find the villains, they find that things are not what they thought they were.

This Noble book was fast-paced & exciting. The flashbacks to the past worked well. It hinted that things were not what they seemed so I thought that the "real" villain(s) were somebody else than the obvious. But I was wrong. The romance was also exciting & good. But I wish their present-day relationship was discussed or shown more. I thought the rape issue was unnecessary & ruined what would've been a better romance-suspense. Maybe it's just me & my aversion to reading about rape.

Recommended but with rape/torture CAUTION.

The mission in Cambodia went south resulting in the deaths of two CIA agents and the brutal incarceration of the third Dante Johnson in a Thai prison. He has little hope to escape, but vows to remain alert so if the opportunity arises, he is gone though he is not sure what reality is any longer. The imprisoned operative holds his former lover, contract agent Catalina Dion culpable though she is dead.

Rescued after eighteen months in hell, Dante returns to the States with plans to regain his equilibrium wasting R&R time on his boat in Key West. However, he is a bit shocked when his olfactory senses detect the odor of Cat's perfume as he assumed she was killed. Things turn nasty when he picks up a ringing public phone near his vessel; as an explosion follows. Making inquiries he learns Cat is not only alive, but Viktor Zavovsky, a Russian scientist blames her and him for the accidental deaths of his family and her son is an eye for an eye pawn to this obsessed relentless madman.

The key to this CIA romantic suspense is the thrills and chills throughout the fine plot as Cate Noble provides an action-packed tale starting four months earlier with flashbacks that might not be real adding to the excitement. The romantic subplot is deftly handled to heat the sheets but not interfere with the cat and mouse game. Fans will root for the good guys, but also empathize with the villain who has an ax to grind and is grinding it into a fine tale that lives up to its title DEAD RIGHT.

Harriet Klausner

If you want a great suspense book, try Vince Flynn or Brad Thor. This meandered, had no real threat to overcome, spent more time discussing hero's relationship with a dog than the woman he loved. Introduced too many secondary characters without doing anything with them, left a ton of unanswered questions...skip this and read some real action with big problems to solve - Vince Flynn is the author to check out.