Customer Reviews

The Firebird Deception (Silhouette Bombshell)

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I recently read The Firebird Deception and enjoyed it thoroughly. In my opinion Cate Dermody creates an extremely dynamic character with Alisha. She has all the sensability of an average woman but she has the dangerous and edgy traits which makes her quite unique. It is basically Tomb Raider meets CIA agent. Like Tomb Raider Alisha goes on dangerous missions while having fun and being an emotional woman all at the same time. She meets and works with varying shades of men from dark and sexy to the ones who are tricked by loyalties. However unlike Tomb Raider she doesn't explore lost civilizations hunting or protecting treasure she deals with top government secrets involving out of the way organizations. She travels around Europe following orders however when she is unable to trust the higher ranking officials she is not afraid to go out on a limb and get answers to the questions she seeks. In this way she finally comes to terms with her past and is able to move on with her future.

THE FIREBIRD DECEPTION is Cate Dermody's second book featuring CIA agent Alisha MacAleer. Alisha's loyalties are torn once again as she tries to figure out exactly whose side everyone is on. She is sent to search for the black box of one of Brandon Parker's creations, a Firebird drone, only to have her ex-fiance Frank Reichart take it away from her. Her relationship with Reichart ended years earlier when he shot her and killed her contact- or did he? Alisha is uncomfortable with trusting her handler, Greg Parker, after the incidents that occurred in THE CARDINAL RULE and Brandon keeps turning her over to the Sicarii. Who can Alisha trust as it seems everyone is a double agent for someone else? And just why have the Sicarii targeted Alisha anyway?

I'm a little torn about rating this book. Being a huge fan of C.E. Murphy (Cate Dermody's alter-ego), I naturally expected a lot from this book. THE FIREBIRD DECEPTION is certainly action-packed and full of intrigue but I got a little tired of never knowing who was trustworthy. Overall, I intend to read the next book in the series but am still deciding how much I like or don't like Alisha MacAleer.

CIA Agent Alisha MacAleer is in the mountains of Spain seeking the black box from an American military spycraft plane shot down by an earth-to-sky missile. If by some chance the plane is recognizable she is to take appropriate action to insure no one knows this was a spycraft. Alisha has always been a dedicated agent and patriot, but her mission causes her some major doubts as her country should not be spying on its allies.

Adding to her trepidations is the realization too many people seem to know her whereabouts and her mission for something so top secret. Someone is giving her away, but whom. Could it be her former lover and espionage mercenary Frank Reichart who seems the likely one as he probably found the right bidder or perhaps even her so called partner on this clandestine mission Brandon Parker who she begins to believe is a double agent working for some clandestine take over the world group? The simple answer is she has gone paranoid, but it is too dangerous to accept that solution as she must accomplish the assignment to insure her country is not embarrassed.

THE FIREBIRD DECEPTION is an exciting espionage thriller with the emphasis on action. Alisha is a fascinating protagonist whose paranoia is intriguing but her consistent switching on who to not trust can become irritating as the audience tired of more flips than Kerry wants to shout TRUST NO ONE. Still Cate Dermody provides an action-packed spy thriller that never slows down from the first climb in the Spanish mountainside to the treks across Europe until the final triangular confrontation.

Harriet Klausner