Customer Reviews

Hit Hard (Dragon One, Book 2)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For a wonderful treat, mix together a whole lot of suspense; add a big dollop of intrigue; fill it up with hunky alpha heroes; add one very sassy red-head with a penchant for attracting trouble; then mix in a tremendous amount of imagination and you are in for another Fetzer `perfect' read.

Sam Wyatt and his team from Dragon One were on assignment with two objectives. Trail and get back a cache of rough `blood' diamonds before they were cut and flooded the diamond market; and secondly, find out what type of weapons they were going to buy. Trailing the bad guys had taken weeks, and the humid jungle of Sri Lanka was no picnic let alone a flash flood. When things go wrong, they go wrong big time - like a secret weapon that can cause a natural disaster!

Speaking of disasters -- enter Xaviera Luciana Dominica Fiori aka Vivi who attracts trouble like nobody's business. On her way to deliver an ancient bracelet found on an archaeological dig her train is held up by the local Thai mafia. Viva is not about to hand it over without a fight, a fight she's losing until Sam Wyatt comes to her rescue.

**** Wow, from the moment our two protagonists meet, the reader steps onto a roller coaster ride of mammoth proportions with non-stop action as Sam and Viva try to stay alive while landing in one dilemma after another. The chemistry between Sam and Viva is intoxicating with both portraying hard as nails exteriors while covering up their vulnerable interiors. Their mutual desire for one another along with some sizzling sex scenes are ultra hot and, in my opinion extremely satisfying.

One thing this reviewer really loved was how well matched the protagonists were in their individual survival skills. With Sam they were expected, as he was the ex-military gone mercenary type. Vivi was marvelous providing one surprise after another with unbelievable talents and a keen survival resiliency as the story unfolded. The secondary characters, all members of the Dragon One team, were also well developed with their own specialties and one can only hope to see them all featured with more adventures in books of their own.

This was an edgy, tense, suspense-filled story written with clearly defined motivations and well-crafted characters. Romantic suspense lovers should be pleased with Amy Fetzer who is an amazing talent that you should check out and put on your `auto-buy' lists!

Marilyn Rondeau, RIO - Reviewers International Organization

Kashir Fokhouri, Wan Gai, Salih Nagada, Tashfin Rohki, Ramesh Narabi. These were just some of the characters in the first five chapters alone. Not to mention the streets and communities. I couldn't keep it all straight. And there were all the "lead" characters, most of whom had real names & nicknames. I constantly had to go back & reread parts so I could figure out their role. On plot and the main characters this is a five. I really enjoy Ms. Fetzer's books but this one was a little too much work.

This book had all the ingredients of a thrilling ride and I'm still shaking my head in puzzlement. The start was confusing and though I read the first four chapters twice, I still found it vague and convoluted. Having loved Naked Truth, I was so pleased to discover an auto-buy at last. That elation was short-lived after I found Perfect Weapon rather mediocre. Now, with Hit Hard, Fetzer has become an auto-avoid. A pity, indeed, as the types of stories she writes are exactly what I like.

What was wrong for me in Hit Hard? Perhaps I wasn't ready for the change of tone. I loved the edgy, serious tone of Naked Truth but Hit Hard came dangerously close to chick lit. Since I love the romance-adventure genre, the thought of agents, weapons and gems together in one story was irresistible and Hit Hard should have been a hit with me. Unfortunately, it was simply messy and pretentious. Like Fetzer was Trying Too Hard.

Fetzer also needs to get her facts right when she writes about foreign locations. She mentions Hindi being spoken by the Sri Lankan soldiers when they would have been speaking Sinhala (the other main language being Tamil, which the Tamil Tigers would be speaking). Hindi is not a major language of Sri Lanka but of Northern India and the Sri Lankan army would not be speaking that. I would have excused these minor mistakes (though inexcusable in the age of Google and Wikipedia) but not the way the plot was handled. The suspense was subsumed by the overly-complicated goings-on, the characters had no chance to develop and whatever romance there was meant to be never quite became romantic.

Sam and his Dragon One team of mercenaries are called to duty to track uncut blood diamonds before they make it on the open market and the proceeds used to buy weapons. With one man wounded, the pursuit is now personal. Vivi Fiori discovers an ancient bracelet that might shed new light on the origins of the Thai Royal family; she travels to Bangkok to hand it over to a museum curator who has his own reasons for seeing that the bracelet never sees the light of day and has plans to eliminate Vivi. But she hooks up with Sam and proves an indispensable member of the team as they travel through the jungle in a race against the clock to exact revenge on the arms dealer who nearly killed his friend.

The plot is so convoluted and hard to follow - from the difficult to pronounce names (and multiple nicknames and call signs) to the constant shift in plot and tone, the story is just a big overpopulated mess and very hard to follow. The romance is pretty mundane, a real disappointment after the much better "Naked Truth," which introduced the Dragon One team and had a fantastic mix of action and romance. I found myself rereading several chapters and turning back several chapters to figure out who half the people were. It was a chore to just finish it.

When Viva Fiori agreed to take a priceless Thai artifact from the archeological dig she was working on to the Thai government, she never expected that the train she was traveling on would be held up. Or that former Marine, and now Dragon One member, Sam Wyatt would come to her rescue. Only in rescuing Viva, Sam draws her into even deeper trouble. From the moment Sam and Viva meet, the chemistry between them was overpowering. Now they find themselves falling for each other while Sam must protect Viva from the enemies that seem to be everywhere.


Amy J. Fetzer just keeps getting better. She hooked me with Naked Truth, which introduced the whole Dragon One team. In Hit Hard Amy Fetzer effortlessly combines passion and action to create a story that left me dreading the last page and anxiously anticipating the next Dragon One installment. The characterization of Viva and Sam is so extremely well written, the action non-stop and the passion so vividly sensual that if you don't pick up a copy of Hit Hard today you are missing one of the best books of the summer, perhaps even of the year.

Melissa
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This book was a fun action book. At times I found myself just going with the flow because it got confusing. She has a lot of characters and I found it difficult to keep up with everyone. The book seemed to come together in the end. I enjoyed the challenge and look forward to more books from her.

In Sri Lanka Sam Wyatt and his Dragon One teammates are tracing diamonds that will be used if not stopped by them to purchase weapons for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam, who are running a terrorist campaign for a separate state. When one of his men Riley, is nearly killed and may still die, Sam turns cold with rage. He plans to finish the mission and take out one weapons dealer Rohkie for shooting his friend.

At the Archeological Restoration Dig in Thailand, Xavier, called Viva by those who know her, has found a priceless artifact. However, Rohkie learns of the find and decides to take it from the woman after he takes the woman. Sam trailing Rohkie meets Viva. He feels he has suffered a stroke as his brain no longer functions beyond an icon called Viva and his heart is racing out of control. She reciprocates as her soul melts with one look from him. However, her safety comes first as Rohkie leaves behind dead people in Sri Lanka, Bangkok, and Thailand while targeting the archeologist.

HIT HARD is an action-packed romantic suspense Southeast Asia thriller that never slows down from the opening scene until the final helicopter ride. The story line is filled with adventure and daring do yet the romantic subplot between the lead couple is deftly handled. The cast is solid leading to another strong Amy J. Fetzer thriller (see PERFECT WEAPON and NAKED TRUTH).

Harriet Klausner