DEVIL AND THE DEEP (Deep Six #2) by Julie Ann Walker-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / ibooks / Indiebound / BAM /
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 5, 2016
Six men. One sunken Spanish galleon. Millions in gold and silver coins lying on the ocean floor. And a past that refuses to let the guys of Deep Six Salvage forget the Navy SEAL motto: the only easy day was yesterday…
Cocktail parties, political fundraisers, and charity events are Maddy Powers’ way of life. But the daring man who appropriated her father’s yacht a couple of months ago is still out there, somewhere, and she wants to pay him back for the scorching kiss they shared.
Behind his suave smile and ladykiller eyes, Bran Palladino carries a dark secret that keeps him from pursuing Maddy… even though he can’t get her out of his head. But when Maddy is kidnapped as part of a grand scheme, it’s time to put up or shut up… because Bran can’t live without Maddy now.
•••••••••••
REVIEW: DEVIL AND THE DEEP is the second installment in Julie Ann Walker’s contemporary, adult DEEP SIX romantic, suspense series focusing on a group of former Navy SEALs who currently own and operate a civilian marine salvage business. The DEEP SIX series is a spinoff from Julie Ann’s BLACK KNIGHTS INC series. This is former Navy SEAL Bran Palladino, and heiress Maddy Powers’ story line. DEVIL AND THE DEEP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. There is a running theme throughout the series as the Deep Six team set up business on Wayfarer Island to search for a five hundred year old sunken treasure and the missing Santa Cristina purported to sit on the ocean floor.
Told from several third person perspectives DEVIL AND THE DEEP follows two paths: the friends to lovers romance between Bran Palladino and Maddy Powers; and the attempted abduction of our story line heroine- an heiress whose family is worth billions of dollars making Maddy a prime target for kidnappers and ransom demands. Maddy and Bran have been emailing one another since Bran’s rescue of Maddy three months earlier (Hell or High Water #1) from a group of international terrorists but Bran believes he is not worthy of love, and is unable to give Maddy what it is she wants. Maddy, in the meantime, is escorting three scholarship winners to a nearby island, and is hoping for some one on one time with the former Navy SEAL. What ensues is the rescue of Maddy by the man that she loves when she is once again targeted by an unknown assailant, and several more attempts to take down the people responsible for threatening their lives.
The relationship between Bran and Maddy began three months earlier when Bran rescued Maddy from marauding terrorists. In the ensuing time, Bran and Maddy have kept in contact with another adding friendship to their list of relationship goals. When Maddy offers Bran something more, Bran continues to push Maddy away believing his dark and dangerous past will rear its’ volatile head. The $ex scenes are intimate and steamy; Bran will only accept a friends with benefits relationship from the woman with whom he has fallen in love.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including the three young women Maddy is escorting through an historical tour of the Dry Tortugas Island. We are re-introduced to one of Bran’s partners at Deep Six-Mason-who may or may not have an interest in Alex-the team’s new historian and translator of ancient scripts-their building story line took up quite a bit of page time in the book. The requisite bad guys are numerous, as well as a couple of familiar faces to our story line heroine.
I did have some issues with the author’s continuous, non-stop use of metaphors, movie line quotes, innuendos, euphemism, southernisms, and clichés. Julie Ann Walker has used these types of ‘descriptors’ and clichés in her previous books and series (including the Black Knights Inc) but the copious references, cliches and comparisons to movies, metaphors, and books was overwhelming, and I quickly lost interest. It was a distraction and felt more like filler than actual conversation or story. The humor was lost in the repetition and redundancy.
DEVIL AND THE DEEP is an interesting story line but a bit scattered and uneven. I would have liked more focus on the leading couple but the author chose to divide the focus between two couples, which in and of itself is fine, but I wanted more time with Bran and Maddy. Also, the hunt for lost treasure is virtually non-existent in this installment. The premise is entertaining; the characters are a bit hapless and lost; the romance is a slow build to love.
Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
“They’re on the island. My guys are in position, advancing slowly and waiting on your signal to go in strong,” Tony Scott told Gene Powers.
Sitting on the sofa beside Gene on the small, sixty-foot motor yacht they’d rented under a false name with false identification, Tony watched the older man try to swallow the lump in his throat. And not for the first time, he wondered if Gene had the stomach to go through with their plan.
Just keep your shit together a little while longer, he thought, impatience gnawing on his backbone like a junkyard dog.
“Once we cross this line, there’s no goin’ back.” There was a tremor in Gene’s voice. It matched the one in the man’s hands as he absently picked at the stitching on the edge of the blue pillow tossed into the corner of the molded seating area at the back of the vessel.
Tony had always respected Gene for his courage and sense of adventure when it came to business—and to living life, for that matter—but the old fart was proving to lack the intestinal fortitude to get down and dirty when the occasion called for it. And this occasion definitely called for it.
Which is where I come in.
“I know there’s no going back.” He reached out to squeeze Gene’s wiry shoulder. “I’m ready. Are you?”
“No,” Gene spat. “I can’t help but think there’s got to be another way.”
Tony bit the inside of his cheek, girding himself to have the same argument they’d been having for the last week. As patiently as he could, he said, “Gene, we’ve been through this a million times. No venture capitalist will touch us. We’ve exhausted all our reserves and the reserves of our investors. We need cash.”
“Maybe I could ask him again,” Gene said, something close to desperation in his eyes. They both knew to which him Gene was referring.
“He’s already told you no three times,” Tony reminded him. “He thinks it’s a bad investment. He’s grown risk adverse over the years. Too risk adverse. And he’s pushed you to this.”
“No.” Gene shook his head. “It wasn’t him. It was OPEC. Goddamned OPEC!” Gene cursed, taking off his Stetson to run a hand through his gray hair. His droopy handlebar mustache quivered when he glanced out at the open ocean, hoping to see a way out. But Tony knew that nothing but endless, undulating waves surrounded the vessel. Certainly no other solution to their problem.
If they wanted to save the oil business, this was it. A Hail Mary pass in the final minutes.
“Goddamn OPEC,” Gene said again, pounding his fist on the arm of the molded fiberglass sofa before replacing his cowboy hat. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—made up of the twelve most oil-rich and least American friendly nations—was a cartel that kept a stranglehold on the world through its control of the majority of the earth’s crude oil reserves. And right now it had a stranglehold on their company. “I don’t know why we didn’t bomb the shit out of all of them when they first incorporated sixty-five years ago.”
Tony snorted. “We didn’t ‘bomb the shit out of all of them’ because leveling entire nations just to make sure they couldn’t profit from their own natural resources would’ve been frowned upon by…well…pretty much everyone,” he explained, noticing the time on his gold GMT-Master Rolex and getting increasingly antsy as the seconds ticked by.
“Well, now they’re tryin’ to stop us from controllin’ and profitin’ from our natural resources,” Gene snarled. “How’s that fair?” Before Tony could respond, Gene answered his own question. “I’ll tell you how. Plain and simple, it ain’t.”
“That’s why we have to see this through,” Tony said. “If we do this, we’ll have enough cash to get a couple of new ventures up and running. Once they are, they’ll fund the rest. And then when everything is online and we’re pumping out hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude a day, the United States will be safer than it’s ever been. And that’ll be thanks to us. You and me, Gene. Just imagine it.”
The only reason Gene had finally agreed to this scheme was because Tony had couched his arguments in a bunch of flag-waving hoopla. It had worked like a charm then. It worked liked a charm now.
“You swear to me no one will get hurt,” Gene demanded. His bottom lip, visible beneath his ridiculous mustache, quivered. His eyes misted.
Oh, for God’s sake. If the man started crying, Tony would be hard-pressed not to slap his face.
“My guys’ plan is sound and every scenario has been accounted for.”
“Your guys.” Gene shook his head, sounding so much like Foghorn Leghorn that Tony was surprised he didn’t start his next sentence with I say, I say. “You keep callin’ them that. Where did you find them anyway?”
“You’d be amazed how many ex–armed forces types are willing to sell their services for the right price.”
Gene grimaced.
Poor Gene. Always thinking the best of people. It was genetic. Everyone in the Powers family suffered from the same affliction.
“Come on, Gene.” Tony sighed. “It’s just three girls, one woman, and a wet-behind-the-ears park ranger. It’ll be a breeze.”
“A breeze, huh?” Gene smoothed his mustache and wet his lips with his tongue. “Then tell me again why there are guns involved.”
Tony smiled, but the expression held no humor. “Surely, since you’re a born-and-bred Texan, I don’t need to explain that to you.” When Gene scowled his impatience, Tony elaborated. “Shock and awe, my man. Shock and awe. Besides, we need to make this thing look legit if we want him to pony up the cash and do it quickly.”
“Shock and awe better be all it’ll be.” Gene pressed a hand to his chest as if his heart was hurting. That’s all Tony needed. For the waffling old cuss to have a heart attack. Although, on second thought… If Gene keeled over with a coronary, Tony would be left at the helm. Which would make things so much easier.
“If anything happens to Maddy,” Gene said, shaking his head, “I’ll never—”
“Nothing is going to happen to her,” Tony assured him. When Gene searched his eyes, he made sure his expression reflected one-hundred-percent sincerity.
Gene turned to stare out at the ocean again, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Tony simply sat and waited. Gene had donned his decision-making face, and Tony knew better than to intrude. Finally, Gene blew out a breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Tony flashed Gene a reassuring wink before lifting the satellite phone in his hand and barking two words: “Go time.”
FOLLOW Julie: Facebook / Goodreads / Website / Twitter
Be sure to sign up for Julie’s occasional newsletter at: http://julieannwalker.com
NOTE: The Reading Cafe is NOT responsible for the rafflecopter giveaway. If you have any questions, please contact the publisher.
a Rafflecopter giveaway