Ultimate Weapon (The McCloud Brothers, Book 6) [Paperback]

Shannon McKenna (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 2008

Covert operations are what Val Janos is all about. The man is mysterious and sinister, and lethally hot. Only Tamara can understand the strange intensity that drives him to win at all costs - and only she can match it.Val has one weak spot: Imre, the frail old man who befriended him when he was scared hungry kid abandoned on the streets of Budapest. But daddy Novak knows about Imre, and Imre's head is on the block if Val doesn't deliver Tam up to Novak's tender mercies. A white hot passion explodes when Tam and Val get too close. They both have too much to be afraid of, too much to hide. And now, for the first time, too much to lose...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller McKenna (Extreme Danger) aims for the heart with scorching precision in this well-researched romantic thriller in which the erotic elements fit the action and the central relationship doesn't interfere with the plot. Glamorous Tamara Steele, a career criminal turned jewelry designer, is doing her best to be a good mother to her three-year-old adoptive daughter, Rachel, a Ukrainian orphan rescued from a black-market organ donor ring. Unfortunately, Tam's dark past is catching up with her: gangster Daddy Novak wants revenge for the murder of Kurt, his son and heir, with whom she was once involved; another crook, Georg Luksch, has hired Val Janos, a sexy covert operative, to deliver Tam to his bed so he can make her his love slave. Val and Tam emerge as fully fleshed-out characters as the smitten Val decides to help Tam rather than deliver her to the odious Luksch. McKenna fans will enjoy glimpses of her popular crime-fighting McCloud clan, whose members are also intent on protecting Tam and Rachel. (Nov.)
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Review

"Bestseller McKenna aims for the heart with scorching passion in this well-researched romantic thriller..." (Publishers Weekly (Starred Review))" --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Brava (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758211899
• ISBN-13: 978-0758211897
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #618,486 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shannon McKenna is the NYT bestselling author of over ten action packed, turbocharged romantic thrillers, among which are the stories of the wildly popular McCloud series. She loves tough and heroic alpha males, heroines with the brains and guts to match them, villains who challenge them to their utmost, adventure, scorching sensuality, and most of all, the redemptive power of true love. Since she was small she has loved abandoning herself to the magic of a good book, and her fond childhood fantasy was that writing would be just like that, but with the added benefit of being able to take credit for the story at the end. Alas, the alchemy of writing turned out to be messier than she'd ever dreamed. But what the hell, she loves it anyway, and hopes that readers enjoy the results of her alchemical experiments. She loves to hear from her readers. Contact her at her website, shannonmckenna.com, or join the newsletter by signing up at http://eepurl.com/hb3JY.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lot of hot sex plus an exciting, suspenseful and sometimes scary story that kept me up late., November 15, 2008

By 

Jane (Chicago, IL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultimate Weapon (The McCloud Brothers, Book 6) (Paperback)

STORY BRIEF & REVIEWER'S OPINION:

Shannon McKenna does it again. I am amazed that she continues to come up with excellent stories with new and surprising ideas. This is one of her best and it's her eighth book (that I know of and not counting anthologies). For some reason I thought of James Bond when I read this book. The two main characters Val (hero) and Tam (heroine) are a romance writer's version of James-Bond-type characters. They are both super smart and talented at lying, spying and killing. They each have and use high tech gadgets, not as many as James Bond uses, but there is a similarity. Tam can outsmart anyone and has what it takes to never be found, but because she is taking care of Rachel, a 3-year old orphan, Tam is vulnerable. For example, when on the run she has to carry Rachel with child supplies. There is also the potential of kidnapping Rachel to get to Tam. I thought this was well done by the author. The bad guys can get to Tam, not due to stupidity on her part, but due to her caring for Rachel.

Tam has been one of my favorite characters in the prior books. She creates jewelry as weapons. She can taser, poison and stab people with her jewelry. Tam is a sharp, prickly and contentious hellcat who starts to soften due to Rachel. Val's weakness is Imre, the frail old man who befriended him when he was a scared, hungry kid abandoned on the streets of Budapest. A bad guy now holds Imre hostage to force Val to bring Tam to him.

MORE REVIEWER'S OPINION:

I laughed out loud several times, not due to comedy, but due to my surprise and delight at some of the great lines, great conversation and how strongly I was affected emotionally. The conversations are rich, twisting me around emotionally. Tam hits, slaps and fights Val physically and verbally. His reactions are unexpected. The conversations are heated, wild, angry, entertaining and amazing. They battle before, during and after sex. The sex scenes were wild, tremendous, powerful, sensual, and fabulous. I actually stopped reading a couple of times to do something else, catch my breath and calm down.

My only complaint is that the author occasionally used Italian phrases. I believe that most were terms of endearment, compliments or food. I just skipped over those words, but I wondered what they meant. I wish the author would put the translations immediately afterward in italics or parentheses. I don't want to miss a single thought when I read these books. My second choice would be to put a glossary in the back of the book, but flipping back and forth is inconvenient. Granted, Italian words sound beautiful but cause frustration when used without explanation.

DATA:

Story length: 426 pages. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 12. Length of sex scenes: 2 short scenes (1 page or less) and 10 long scenes (1.2 to 12 pages). Total number of sex scene pages: 42. Setting: current day Seattle, Washington area, Hungary, and Italy. Copyright: 2008. Genre: romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:

To date, I've read the following Shannon McKenna books.

McCloud Series Novels:

Although not necessary, I recommend reading the McCloud novels in order. For example, Tam played small but important roles in certain prior books. Ultimate Weapon is Tam's story but it starts where the other books left off.

5 stars. Behind Closed Doors. Copyrt 2002. Review Date 2/03/07.

5 stars. Standing in the Shadows. Copyrt 2003. Review Date 2/03/07.

5 stars. Out of Control. Copyrt 2005. Review Date 2/03/07.

5 stars. Edge of Midnight. Copyrt 2007. Review Date 1/04/08.

5 stars. Extreme Danger. Copyrt 2008. Review Date 2/02/08.

5 stars. Ultimate Weapon. Copyrt 2008. Review Date 11/15/08.

Other Novels:

5 stars. Return to Me. Copyrt 2004. Review Date 2/03/07.

5 stars. Hot Night. Copyrt 2006. Review Date 1/19/07.

4 stars. Tasting Fear. Copyrt 2009. Review Date 8/3/09.

Anthologies:

5 stars. Something Wild (in anthology All Through The Night). Copyrt 2001. Review Date 3/25/07.

3 stars. Touch Me (in anthology I Brake For Bad Boys). Copyrt 2002. Review Date 2/14/07.

5 stars. Meltdown (in anthology Bad Boys Next Exit). Copyrt 2004. Review Date 2/14/07.

3 stars. Anytime, Anywhere (in anthology Baddest Bad Boys) Copyrt 2008. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 5/17/08.

5 stars. All About Men. Copyrt 2007. No review posted. This anthology includes 3 short stories previously published in other anthologies listed above. The stories are Something Wild, Touch Me, and Meltdown.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars There's a light at the end of this tunnel..., November 10, 2008

By 

Holly R (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ultimate Weapon (The McCloud Brothers, Book 6) (Paperback)

Right off the bat, I love Tamara. I love her prickly defensiveness and her outrageously over-the-top, witty personality. And I really liked Val Janos' deliciously sexy and dangerous persona. But together? Hmmm. I think they might have been better served paired with someone with a less heavily tortured past. But at the same time, I don't think these two seriously wounded and prickly people would have responded to someone who was light and fluffy and full of sunshine, so I guess this was just a no win situation.

Tamara was a little subdued in regards to her usual acerbic wit and I missed it, alot. Her relationship with her daughter, Rachel, was so sweet though. It was funny and poignant and so real. I especially liked how frazzled she was getting, having her life taken over by a little baby. Val was sexy and alluring and it was fun reading about how Tamara and Val were trying to one-up each other. Whenever Tamara got the better of him due to her secret wearable weaponry, I thought it was laugh out loud funny. There was definitely moments of humor sprinkled about this story, which was quite welcome seeing as how this was a dark and somewhat dreary read, but Ultimate Weapon was missing that spark that I found in the earlier McCloud books. But again, Tamara and Val were incredibly wounded souls so I doubt a more humorous story would have worked for them. Actually my favorite part was reading about Imre, after he had been captured, and my heart just broke for him and Val. It's a very sad scene, when he makes his sacrifice so that Val can go free, and I thought it was beautifully done.

Ultimate Weapon is pretty much a straightforward revenge tale. No info on the possible resurrection of Kevin--Or am I just wishful thinking?? The plot was rather simplistic, compared to Shannon McKenna's more crazy and out-there stories, but it worked. We get all the background info on Tamara and it was as sad and heartbreaking as I knew it would be. This story is fast paced and intense, and certainly interesting, but unfortunately I don't think I was very excited by it-- see missing "spark." There was also a very nasty scene involving a broken arm and a rope and all I have to say is that ten seconds never felt so long before.

Ultimate Weapon wasn't bad, but it wasn't a knock out of the park, either. I really wish it had been because Tamara deserved a much better send off. While I liked Val, I wish Tam could have been paired with someone like Sean McCloud because she could have used his funny, badboy antics to help loosen her up. Or Nick Ward, because I thought those two had great chemistry together. But since those two guys were usually half afraid of her, I guess only Val could do. Which is a shame to think that way because I really liked Val. And in all honesty, this is as much his story (if not more) than hers, so they both got cheated out of what-could-have-been. But I will still give it four stars because I liked it and I'm happy I read it and I can't wait for the next Shannon McKenna story. :)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your run-of-the-mill hero/heroine, December 18, 2008

By 

sam477f - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Weapon (The McCloud Brothers, Book 6) (Paperback)

I love the McCloud series. If you're bored with the typical action- adventure characters, the McCloud brothers and their friends might add some zip to your reading. When McKenna announced that she was working on Tamara's story, I thought that it would be a let-down because I couldn't imagine a man who would be a true mate for her. ...but I was wrong. These characters are a perfect match--two people who carry real scars on their souls but whose personalities are so vibrant and strong that they are still pushing forward.

McKenna's books are not for everyone. There's a lot of graphic violence and detailed depictions of sex. However, I always finish her books with a "wow".