COVERT GAME (GhostWalkers #14) by Christine Feehan-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
COVERT GAME
GhostWalkers #14
by Christine Feehan
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic,paranormal suspense
Release Date: March 20, 2018
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo / Google Play
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 20, 2018
Rescuing an industrial spy from the hands of a criminal mastermind is a suicide mission for the GhostWalkers. And there’s no one more up to the task than Gino Mazza. He’s the perfect killing machine–a man driven by demons so dark and destructive that his blighted soul has given up trying to find solace. But his laser-sharp focus on his target has transformed into something nearing desire.
A treasonous senator dangled top secret GhostWalker data in front of a Chinese crime lord, and he bit. Zara Hightower, one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence, was sent in to psychically wipe the crime lord’s computer network. She succeeded, but at a huge cost. Now she’s the captive of a man who has descended into paranoid madness. Torture and death await her…
But GhostWalkers never leave one of their own in enemy territory. And it’s up to Gino to save Zara, or kill her if it turns out she’s led them into a trap. Either way, heaven or hell won’t stop him.
••••••••••
COVERT GAME is the fourteenth instalment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary adult GHOSTWALKERS paranormal, romantic suspense series focusing on an elite group of ‘genetically enhanced’ men and women known as the GhostWalkers. These ‘super soldiers’ were once part of an unauthorized government experiment performed by Dr. Peter Whitney-a man tantamount to evil incarnate. This is GhostWalker/hunter Gino ‘Phantom Wind’ Mazza, and industrial spy/GhostWalker Zara Hightower’s story line. COVERT GAME can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the series in order for backstory and cohesion.
WARNING: COVERT GAME contains very descriptive scenes of graphic violence and torture that may not be suitable for all readers.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Zara and Gino) COVERT GAME follows the abduction, torture and eventual rescue of enhanced female Zara Hightower. Considered a genius in the world of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Zara was Dr. Whitney’s pawn; an industrial spy whose special abilities superseded what the evil doctor considered her glaring failures. Sent to ‘download’ a file about the GhostWalkers, from Chinese crime lord Mr. Cheng, Zara found herself trapped by a man, Bolan Zhu, whose reputation in specialized torture preceded our heroine’s visit to Shanghai. What ensues is the rescue and recovery of our Zara Hightower; the building relationship and romance between our leading couple; and the fall-out when several teams of Whitney’s enhanced soldiers, and Bolan Zhu, are sent to recapture our story line heroine.
Team Four never expected to honor one of Dr. Whitney’s requests but the rescue of Zara Hightower meant the rescue of one of their own. Prepared for anything, Gino Mazza suspected the rescue was a trap, but a trap that found our hero falling in love.
The relationship between Gino and Zara is one of immediate attraction but unlike the earlier GhostWalker story lines there is no proof that the attraction is chemically connected or fated by enhanced DNA. Gino is an alpha male; a dominant man who is quick to protect the woman with whom he is falling in love but a dominance that appears to be genetically matched to our heroine’s submissive personality. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
Most of GhostWalker Team Four (and their significant others) play secondary and supporting characters: Diego Campo, Draden Freeman, Ezekiel Fortunes, Team leader Joe Spagnola, Malichai and Mordichai Fortunes, Trap Dawkins, Rubin Campo and Wyatt Fontenot, along with Wyatt’s Nonny Grace Fontenot.
COVERT GAME is a story of power, abuse, betrayal and revenge. As the series continues to develop the author has changed the original direction of the series in that the enhanced soldiers no longer need or require a ‘female’ to anchor their abilities (Team 1); and the most recent instalment does not confirm or deny the existence of genetically matched DNA between two unsuspecting GhostWalkers, both changes the author addresses in the current story line.
Most of the recent male GhostWalkers volunteered for the genetic enhancements such that to blame the doctor for many of their problems is not necessarily true but Dr. Whitney’s ongoing experiments with the female GhostWalkers, many of whom were abducted and tortured at an early age, is still quite prevalent throughout the series. As well, our heroine appears to have no psychic power, or the ability to communicate psychically with the man that she loves, something that wasn’t addressed in this particular story line.
I would also like to point out the author continues to justify Trap’s abusive behaviour in Spider Game (GhostWalker #12) as a by-product of Asperger’s Syndrome –a plot point that was never mentioned in Trap’s story line- Spider Game- but has been addressed in the last two instalments in an effort, I believe, to appease the many negative comments and reviews about Trap’s abusive and controlling behaviour. In this, there is also much talk between the heroines, throughout Covert Game, rationalizing and accepting their mates’ controlling behaviour-something I see as the author, once again, as trying to defend her male characters’ less than favourable characteristics. I do not have a problem with alpha males in my ‘fictional’ story lines but the increase in controlling and somewhat abusive behaviour is something the author is most likely trying to address and explain via her female leads.
COVERT GAME is a suspenseful and action packed story line. Gino will seek retribution for the woman he loves, retribution that is equal to the torture inflicted upon our story line heroine. The premise is startling, dramatic and intense; the characters are intelligent, complex and charismatic; the romance is intimate and emotional. COVERT GAME is an intriguing and fascinating look at the paranormal.
Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley
Reviewed By Sandy
Posted by arrangement with Berkley, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Christine Feehan, 2018.
Zara was being tortured. He knew she was. Cheng would never lose that data and let a foreigner leave his country. After, he would have to kill her. Even if she never admitted she was spying for Whitney, or running a mission, Cheng would still have to kill her. How could he not? He couldn’t rely on her not talking about being detained and tortured. She might have the United States lodge a protest on her behalf. Cheng’s government would have no recourse but to investigate. No, he had to kill her.
How long did she have? He was suddenly anxious to get started. They were making one last night jump, and he wanted to get it over and get on the road. He was a doctor, a damn good surgeon, and he had a healing touch. That was always a shock to him because his hands killed. Not just killed outright either. Ciro had taught him that sometimes killing cleanly didn’t send the right message. If you wanted others to pay attention and fear you, killing cleanly didn’t get you what you wanted and you did it another, very ugly way.
He didn’t like inflicting pain on anyone, but he didn’t mind either. He could shut down. He had shut down when intruders had murdered his family one by one in front of him. When they shot him three times and left him for dead. Over money. It had all been over money. He detested that money more than anything else. They had broken in with the idea of taking Gino and ransoming him back to his parents. His parents and grandparents had refused to let him go. They wouldn’t step aside.
Gino remembered trying to push them aside and get around them, so no one would get hurt, but his father had quietly stopped him. He’d shaken his head and told the intruders very softly that he wasn’t giving up his son. That was a man taking care of his family. He hadn’t resisted, or tried to hurt the intruders, he’d simply said no.
Being nice didn’t work with some men. Being nice was equated with weakness. Gino had made certain he would never be equated with weak. Like Ciro, he learned to be strong and feared. He wanted to be feared so no one would touch the people he loved. So no one would ever try to do to his child what had been done to him. Money cost him his parents and he’d turned his back on it. That was ironic, because now he was far wealthier than his parents had ever been. What was more ironic was the fact that he’d shaped himself into a man to be feared so no one would touch those he loved—but he was so cold and dark no woman would ever love him for himself.
The sky was clear tonight, and the moon shone over the water. A light fog moved through the forest, giving the interior an eerie glow when the sky and water were both so clear. He stared into the trees, looking at those fingers of fog pointing toward him. He didn’t believe in signs or fate the way Nonny did. She saw signs in everything from rings around the moon to horny toads jumping across the road.
“We’re coming for you, princess,” he whispered to the night and hoped she heard him. Hoped she could hold on. “I’m coming for you and nothing will stop me. Not heaven. Not hell. I’m not leaving you in that place.” He’d already made up his mind she wasn’t working with Whitney, and that was plain stupidity. He wasn’t a stupid man. It didn’t matter. “I’m coming, baby, just hold on a little longer.”
That was another thing he had to consider as he made his way back to the small airfield where they’d go through the jump one more time before they packed their gear for the night. Zara Hightower was smart. Way the hell smart. Like Trap smart. She was used to being in the spotlight, and he didn’t want that life. He didn’t want any one of his family members to ever set themselves up as targets. That wouldn’t happen. She traveled the world, giving her talks. She might need that. Still . . .
“Won’t make a difference, princess,” he whispered again. “I’m coming for you. Just hang on.”
The jump went far smoother than he expected. They knew the feel of the power paragliders as they steered their chutes down to the rooftop. Each knew where he had to come down to avoid hitting the others. They were out of their gear and into formation in minutes, cameras disrupted, and then they went through the entire routine of finding the prisoner. Every movement was planned in advance including what to do if she wasn’t able to walk.
“Good job, everyone,” Ezekiel said. “Okay, everything is set with getting out of here and joining the work crew. We leave at twenty-four hundred hours. You have two and half hours to get everything ready and reset. Adjust your gear, get your chute repacked, do whatever you’re going to do, but be back here on time ready to kick ass and get our girl back. You can sleep on the plane, it’s a long journey. And remember, the minute you leave here, you are no longer soldiers, you’re construction workers.”
Gino inclined his head and went to work. He knew exactly what he was—and he was neither.
Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 70 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, Ghostwalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series and Torpedo Ink. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
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Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance and new adult romance, contemporary women’s fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today’s book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the World Literary Café and Fostering Success. When she’s not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine. 
