Customer Reviews

Running Dark: A Novel (Emma Caldridge)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

Disclosure:
Obtained from: Amazon Vine Review Program
Payment: Free

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!

Mysteries are really my favorite genre of books, so I tend to pick them when they come along. I thought this offering was fine, but it isn't a stand out for me. There's nothing terribly wrong, but nothing terribly great, either.

The characters are pretty basic for a thriller type novel, though I did appreciate that the main woman was not a pushover or a damsel in distress - in fact, if anything, she was the white knight. I didn't feel that I got to know the characters very well, though I do understand that I probably missed some character development by not having read the first novel.

The plot was OK, but jumped locations a bit much for my liking. The end was a tad rushed, and in a sense, as an apparently ongoing series, not completely satisfying to me. There could have been a little more depth to the story, but what was there was fine.

The author has a good grasp of grammar and dialogue, so it wasn't painful to read, which is always good. I just didn't feel involved enough for it to be special.

I can't comment on whether it holds up to the first of the books, since I've not read it, but I would recommend not starting here. There appears to be some backstory that you'd probably appreciate by reading them in order.

Jamie Freveletti's "Running Dark" starts off strong, with a roadside bombing during an ultramarathon in South Africa. Chemist Emma Caldredge, an enthusiastic ultra runner, is stuck with something like an EpiPen during the aftermath of the bombing and finds herself compelled to keep running -- on injuries that have begun to heal before her eyes.

Caldredge's attempts to find out what the drug happens to be intertwine with two other subplots: a group of Somali pirates attacking a cruise ship and a concerted effort by certain elements of the DoD to bring down a subcontractor who is getting a little too close finding out their illegal foibles to suit those elements.

All three of the plots are very interesting ideas, and each could have done well with more space/development. My major problem with this book is that, in order to bring all three of the stories together, it feels as though Freveletti has given each of them short shrift. Each separate element is well-researched and believable, but the book feels both rushed and incomplete.

It's not a bad read, overall, but real technothriller junkies may come away disappointed.

(Review based on uncorrected advance proof.)

I didn't like "Running Dark" as much as Freveletti's first book in this series - Running from the Devil. It started on a wrong note for me - I can tell you if I was knocked off my feet by an explosion and then injected with an unknown substance, I would be a HECK of a lot more concerned than our protagonist, Emma Caldridge was. She acted like "oh no big deal - I'll finish the race I'm in. And then possibly go get my blood tested."

I did enjoy the middle section of the book concerning the Somali pirates and their warlords - very timely.

Cruise ship, bioterrorism, running from and fighting off the pirates, a Vulture, a daring clamber up the side of the cruise ship for Emma - all kinds of action again in this second book of the series but it fell kind of flat. It was still enjoyable but not as "fun" as the first. Also, I would like to read one of these books where Emma REALLY uses her ultramarathon skills.

I had enjoyed the beginning of the romance between Emma and Cameron in Running from the Devil but the romance was lukewarm in this book.

The third book in the series The Ninth Day will be released on September 27.

"Running Dark"

Synopsis:
"From internationally bestselling author Jamie Freveletti comes a riveting new thriller featuring brilliant biochemist Emma Caldridge, except this time there's nowhere to run. . . .
Emma Caldridge is on mile thirty-six of the fifty-five-mile Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa when a roadside car bomb explodes. Dazed and disoriented, she regains consciousness after the blast to find a man standing over her with a white plastic injector. She feels the prick of a needle and the rush of medication under her skin, but before she can make a sound, the man is gone.
Shaken by the event and unsure of what substance was pumped into her, Emma calls the one person who can help her figure things out: Edward Banner of the security company Darkview. But Banner has his hands full with another emergency: Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden have attacked a cruise ship, and Darkview has been hired to assist with the rescue."

My take,
The book starts off with a "bang" with the roadside bomb that throws Emma Caldridge to the ground and she is approached and stuck with an object that looks like an epi-pen. She is able to get herself to her feet and is compelled to finish the race at breakneck speeds considering the injuries she sustained in the blast. She is very concerned with what might have been injected into her at the bombing site and proceeds to do testing to diagnose the substance. While this is going on Cameron Sumner (a coworker) is on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Aden and pirates proceed to overtake the ship and Cameron is forced to expose his identity to help protect the cruise ship and its occupants from the pirates.

Edward Banner is the head of Darkview which is a security company that was hired to protect areas of the Gulf of Aden and convinces Emma Caldridge to sneak onto the cruise ship and help Cameron Sumner. Emma's main objective is to determine what the cargo is and how dangerous it may be to the world.

I won this book in the [...] Early Reviewers Giveaway. This is the first book by Jamie Freveletti that I've read. I had heard great things about her first book "Running with the Devil" but did not have the opportunity to read it. As I read "Running Dark" there were some areas that probably would have been better understood had I read her first book. There were also times while reading Running Dark that things seem to be cut short or left hanging or unfinished. I hope that some day I will have the opportunity to read her first book and then read Running Dark and maybe things will come to light.

This is a fast, good read with a plot that is a bit out of the ordinary for your basic thriller. It knits together Somali pirates, corporate spies, Big Pharma, narcotics, khat, love and lust, and it does so in a well-paced story that is not entirely predictable. Running Dark is an excellent read for an airplane trip, the beach or a leisurely weekend at home.

The action is unrelenting and the heroes are true blue.
The Somali pirates seem to point out that cruise ships
might be better served by being armed?
The author leaves the "Vulture" unresolved at the end of this
tale and so leaves room for her heroes to continue.
Maybe some of her characterizations could be better,
but Emma Caldridge as the "mad scientist" woman chemist
is very good. Her woman are tough and independent
as only American women seem to be?
I liked the book with the performance drugs
and EpiPens.

This is the author's second novel featuring Emma Caldridge and Cameron Sumner. You don't need to have read the first, Running from the Devil, to understand this one; it has a stand-alone plot. The events of the first book have consequences for the characters but the author gives enough background explanation for anyone who hasn't read the first book.

The action takes place in three locations: Cameron Sumner is on a luxury cruise ship going from Dubai to the Seychelles; Emma Caldridge begins in South Africa and makes several other stops across Africa; and Edward Banner and Carol Strohmeyer of Darkview Security are in Washington, D.C. The plot is interwoven with the schemes of a mystery man known as the Vulture: Somali pirates attack the cruise ship, Emma is injected with an unknown drug, and Banner and Strohmeyer are attacked personally and professionally back in D.C. I don't want ot say much more about the plot because I don't like to spoil things for people who haven't read it. But I will say that if you like action-filled thrillers, there is plenty in this book.

I like thrillers with strong women characters and this book has two: Emma Caldridge is a chemist and Carol Strohmeyer is a former military officer. Both of them go all out and don't expect to be rescued. As in the first book, Emma uses her knowledge of chemistry to help her survive.

With all the different people and plots going on, the book is really fast paced. I read it in one evening. On the positive side, it was interesting enough to keep me going but I wish there was more substance to the book and the characters. At the beginning of the book, both Emma and Sumner are thinking about each other but their emotional connection doesn't carry consistently through the book and it doesn't seem to go anywhere. I didn't feel much emotions from the characters so I'm not sure where things were supposed to be going. On the other hand, people who like their action thrillers without romance will be happy.

Another thing that was disappointing was that the narrative was more "tell" than "show." In many parts of the book it would have been more powerful to describe what the characters were seeing and feeling rather than just tell the reader. The focus was more on keeping the action moving than character development or extra description.

These criticisms aside, I did really enjoy the book and look forward to more books in the series.