Body Double (Bombshell)

Rating:
Summary: Sizzling Galvanizing Suspense
Review: In this first of Vicki Hinze's WAR GAMES series, she has achieved such a grabber that it's difficult to wait for the next three books to come out. From tbe first sentence--"They were going to kill her."--BODY DOUBLE begins with a heart-stopping torture scene in the Middle East that immediately reveals Amanda West's courage, passionate belief in her country, survival spirit and greatest fear, as her terrorist captors bury her alive in a tomb. When she awakens and escapes from the tomb, she discovers she's close to her home in the U.S., and three months of her life have disappeared while someone kept her alive on intravenous while buried underground. How could she be buried in the Middle East and awaken in the U.S.? Against the backdrop of current hostage taking in Iraq, this opening scene brings to life the terrible risks and terror military, diplomat, aid workers and civilians endure to fight the war on terrorism in the Middle East and Afghanistan. That Amanda survives her ordeal is only by the grace of her captor, who, she learns, intends to use her in his diabolical plot to insert doubles of field agents working in all sectors of the U.S. intelligence community. How can she stop this monster and save her country from economic ruin? That's the question that drives each word and keeps you glued to every page until the very end when you realize the war of mind games and ultimate control is not over--like an octopus, this evil network called GRID can regrow new tentacles and reproduce successive leaders willing to martyr themselves to destroy the U.S.

Woven into the plot is Amanda's inner issues of distrust. Every day she overcomes memories of her father's past abuse with determined willpower not to become a victim to anyone again. But a victim she becomes, when she finally opens her heart to one man who turns out to be an implanted double and not the fellow agent she believes he is. Can she ever trust again? It's a complex thriller of intrigue, betrayal and romance that Vicki weaves, making her a queen of the new subgenre devoted to the Amazon heroine faced with the demands made on today's women, whether in the military or elsewhere. They must be physically fit, brainy, self-sufficient and multi-talented in addition to being nurturing, compassionate, vulnerable women. A tough task that modern women meet with devoted passion every day and without accolades. I highly recommend this book. It's one of Vicki Hinze's most engaging reads, and for that reason I will not give away the plot in this review.