Customer Reviews

Triple Threat

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This is the third in a loosely connected series, after Trust Me Once and Twice Burned. It had only been in my TBR pile for about five months--I bought it after reading Twice Burned.

It's an election year, and an embattled President has decided what the country needs is a big 4th of July celebration to remind everyone "we're all Americans." And the centerpiece of the celebration will be a speech in front of a Betsy Ross flag.

However, just a couple of weeks before the 4th of July, the flag he'd intended to use was destroyed. FBI agent Nate Murtaugh is tasked with finding and acquiring the rumored "Morris flag"--created by Betsy Ross, and given to Morris by George Washington himself. Other agents are investigating the destruction of the flag.

But nobody seems all that concerned about an 8-year-old boy, foster child Chris Weaver, who's been missing since disappearing from the museum after the vandalism, so against his boss's wishes, Nate searches for the boy. His two missions collide in the form of Ellie Littlefield, who's both the last person known to have seen Chris, and an antiques dealer with a shady past who's his entree into the upper tier of the collectors' world.

I had a hard time warming up to Ellie at first--she seemed far too uncaring when she was informed that Chris was missing, and for me that overshadowed her own concerns about her past and her distrust of authority figures.

I also had trouble getting too excited about finding one specific flag for what amounted to a political rally, and couldn't quite believe that it would make a whit of difference to more than a handful of people. That gets explained in the end, but until then, it kept me a bit skeptical.

Still, other than my initial impression of Ellie, the characters were unique and engaging. Nate was sympathetic as the wounded, burned-out warrior. Ellie's relationship with her mostly-estranged father was complex and emotional. Ted Hardy, the brother of the heroine of Twice Burned, has a secondary role, and it was nice to see him slowly beginning to heal. 8-year-old Chris, though, stole every scene he was in. He was realistic: scared, wanting to trust someone to take care of him, but not believing that he could.

The plot was nicely convoluted, and delved into political intrigue as well as the art world.

I've put the next book in the series, Fourth Victim, on my to-look-for list. I'm looking forward to it.

In the Fort Ticonderoga Museum in New York, terrorists burn the Revolutionary War era Schuyler flag that President Kent planned to use on his Spirit of America tour. Besides political concerns, the White House believes this destruction of a prime symbol will hurt the nation's morale if no flag is presented in two weeks when the gala begins.

Smithsonian Director of Artifacts Eric Wilcox says that a private owner possesses a Betsy Ross flag given by Washington to Robert Morris. FBI Agent Nate Murtaugh is assigned to buying the flag. He needs the help of an insider, shopkeeper Ellie Littlefield to accomplish the deed in such a short time. She refuses, remembering how law enforcement left her to walk the streets alone as a young teen when her dad was incarcerated. When a young eyewitness is endangered, Ellie agrees to help Nate in exchange for his assistance to help the lad. While they seek to protect a child and obtain the flag, Nate and Ellie fall in love. However, a FED and a cop hater make the gap seem too big to traverse.

TRIPLE THREAT is an exciting romantic suspense tale that is at its best when it stays with the two-prong plot of finding the replacement flag and rescuing the little boy. When the tale turns into a conspiracy aimed at the president, the action is supremely fast, but needs acceptance as it spins away from two delightful people falling in love while trying to accomplish two difficult but realistic assignments. Still readers will enjoy Jan Coffey's fast-paced, suspense loaded tale.

Harriet Klausner

I am a new fan of Jan Coffey. The writing duo really create a book that makes you think and aims for you not to be able to predict the ending by midway of the book. I enjoyed the story, plot, and conclusion.