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

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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 Whitney’s pawn; an industrial spy whose special abilities superseded what the evil doctor considered her glaring failures.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.

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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