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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"If at first you don't succeed you're running about average." M. H. Alderson, August 12, 2010
This review is from: Running Dark: A Novel (Emma Caldridge) (Hardcover)
Emma Caldridge is running an ultramarathon in South Africa when a roadside bomb explodes near her. As she lay dazed, a man injects her with some medication and leaves. She is able to finish the race with surprising speed and endurance.
Kahlil Ibraham Mungabe is in Dubai when his contact tells him that he'll pay to have Mungabe and his Somalia pirates intercept a cruise ship. The ship holds pharmacuticals that his contact, The Vulture, wants.
The ship is being protected by a U.S. security company, Darkview. That company has sunk a number of Mungabe's boats and captured the pirates to stand trial. Mungabe wants them put out of business and The Vulture informs him that a plan to do that is in motion.
On the "Kaiser Franz" Cameron Sumner, an employee of Darkview is the first to see the pirates. He's managed to bring his rifle on board the ship and is able to fire a few rounds, wounding one pirate and discouraging the remainder of them, for now.
The Vulture meets with the man who does his dirty work and informs him that he wants Emma to be dosed again. They know that another dose of the chemical will be fatal to her.
There are several attempts to discredit and disrupt Darkview as Emma risks her life to board the ship. As a chemist, she will be able to analyze the pharmacuticals.
The story flows skillfully and the suspense is constant. The author's prior novel, "Running with the Devil" won an International Thriller Award and this novel adds to her work and excellent reputation.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Thrilling Return of Heroine Emma Caldridge, June 8, 2010
This review is from: Running Dark: A Novel (Emma Caldridge) (Hardcover)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Emma Caldridge is competing in an ultramarathon event in Africa. As she passes mile marker thirty-five, a roadside bomb detonates, nearly killing her. As she lies by the road, a man approaches her and injects her with something. Too dazed to react, she is aware of the injection but unable to discern the man. As she regains her faculties, she notices that her once swollen feet are returning to normal. She also seems to have a burst of energy, in fact she finishes the race with faster split times than earlier in the competition.
Cameron Sumner is on a small luxury cruise ship in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia. Pirates have attacked the ship, crippling it. Their defenses, such as they are, are no match for automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades. However, Cameron has smuggled a rifle on board and successfully repels the pirates. But everyone knows, they will be back.
In Washington, DC, Edward Banner is attempting to defend the actions of his security company, Darkview, from Congress, the IRS, and the FBI. While their work is beyond reproach, it appears that a member of Congress wants to bring the company down.
Into this maelstrom comes information that aboard the cruise ship is a weapon of unknown origin. Emma, a chemist, is dispatched to the ship to determine the threat, however she must navigate extremely dangerous waters, as well as Somali warlords, if she is to carry out her duty.
The second novel from author Jamie Frevelletti that stars Emma Caldridge, Running Dark is just as fast paced, entertaining, and believable as the first. While the main characters were introduced in the earlier novel, Running from the Devil, Frevelletti provides enough background in this novel that the reader is not at a disadvantage. She fills in the important details, allowing this story to move at a very good clip.
Frevelletti presents a strong, intelligent, resourceful woman in Emma Caldridge, who is an excellent, well rounded character. Resourceful, but not super-human or a caricature. Emma is grounded in realistic circumstances, reacts with a level of professionalism that is expected. She is a believable heroine in a realistic, exciting thriller. For people raised on Lee Child's Jack Reacher or Stephen Hunter's Bob Lee Swagger, Emma Caldridge is a refreshing addition to the thriller genre.
There is a lot to recommend this novel. However, after the exceptional, suspenseful build up, it was disappointing that the pirate arc finished so quickly. It was rather anti-climatic. That said, there is no doubt that Frevelletti has more in store for Emma, Cameron, and the people of Darkview. If you are looking for someone "new" in the thriller genre, Frevelletti will not disappoint, and Running Dark, her second novel, demonstrates that she is not a "one hit wonder." Jamie Frevelletti is an author to watch in a crowded genre. But she has an edge - a superior character in Emma Caldridge, a woman that doesn't need rescuing, but rather one that you want to appear when bad things start happening to good people.
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Obtained from: Amazon Vine Review Program
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
practically perfect thriller...fully expecting it to become a movie!, August 7, 2010
This review is from: Running Dark: A Novel (Emma Caldridge) (Hardcover)
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I have not read Jamie Freveletti's first novel, but she's so good at developing character and weaving her plotlines that I didn't feel like I was in the dark (no pun intended!) while reading Running Dark. In fact, I completely forgot this was a sequel once I started reading.
Freveletti's writing is crisp and focused...not one scene or character is extraneous. Everything and everyone is relevant and pertinent to moving the story along and allowing the mystery to unfold. She keeps you guessing throughout while filling in gaps here and there. I found it very hard to put down, even when I needed to. Rarely did a chapter end where I felt I could take a break without feeling anxious about what was about to happen. The danger is at every turn, and it keeps mounting. And, like the characters, you're never sure who you can really trust, save a few key characters.
Without divulging too much, and keeping in mind that numerous other reviews will lay out the plot as well, the storyline is such: chemist and ultra-runner Emma Caldridge, still fresh from her recent involvement in a rescue mission in Colombia, is injected with a mysterious substance after a car bomb explodes along her race route in Africa. While she seeks to learn what she was injected with, she also learns that a luxury cruise ship has been targeted by Somali pirates, and that the ship isn't just carrying wealthy Europeans, it has a potential chemical weapon on board, along with the agent she helped save in Colombia, Sumner. She is determined to get to the ship, test the suspected medicine vials (which are supposed to be vaccines), and once again get Sumner to safety.
Meanwhile, Sumner himself is trying to keep the passengers safe and the pirates at bay, to the extreme frustration of Mungabe, the warlord who is ordering the attacks. He enlists a few of the braver passengers but also has to deal with a belligerent drunk of a security chief. The persistent threat of another pirate attack keeps the reader on edge.
And Darkview, the security company hired by the Department of Defense and UN to patrol and protect the waters outside of the Somali economic zone, is trying to save its own reputation from an investigation into the Colombia mission. Darkview VP Carol Stromeyer and president/CEO Eric Banner are also being followed and threatened by the henchmen of a man known as the Vulture, who hired Mungabe to attack the cruise ship.
It's all as complex as it sounds, but it's easy to follow and the action is fast-paced. Emma is a great heroine and single-minded in her focus (she is going to get on that ship no matter what). While she's not fearless, she's not stopped by her fear. She's incredibly intelligent and clever and makes a great mercenary even though she's not trained as one.
My one complaint: a few loose ends that should have been tied up in the end aren't, but perhaps they'll be addressed in the next installment (I am assuming there will be one).
Freveletti's prose reads cleanly and quickly, and her writing is so tight, that when a movie is inevitably made of this series (as it should be), the screenwriter won't have to do much work to prepare the script (but if they cast Angelina Jolie as Emma, I am going to scream. Just sayin'.). The descriptions of each scene and situation clearly evoked a mental image for me throughout the book. She is one writer whose next book I already eagerly await. I wish other thriller/mystery writers wrote this well. It's one thing to have a great, imaginative and complex story that keeps the reader involved, but it's another entirely to pull it off with such strong, clean writing. Freveletti is a writer to watch!
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