SILENT THREAT (Mission Recovery #1) by Dana Marton-Review, Excerpt & Giveaway
SILENT THREAT
Mission Recovery #1
by Dana Marton
Release Date: January 2 2018
Genre: adult, contemporary, romantic, suspense
Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / Chapters Indigo /
About the book: Release Date January 2, 2018
A former Navy SEAL, Cole Makani Hunter has returned home from a disastrous black ops mission without his best friend, his hearing, or the use of his right arm. So when his ex–commanding officer assigns him to an undercover mission at a rehab center for vets to discover who leaked sensitive military information to an enemy, he’d rather be anywhere but there. Almost immediately, Cole finds himself at odds with Annie Murray—a peace-loving ecotherapist whose dream is to open an animal sanctuary out of her home. While the two seemingly have nothing in common, their spirited arguments soon fuel a passion for each other.
But just as things begin to heat up between therapist and patient, dangerous complications arise. So does the past—and a shocking revelation that puts Cole and everything he now holds dear in the path of a murderous traitor.
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REVIEW: SILENT THREAT is the first instalment in Dana Marton’s contemporary, adult MISSION RECOVERY romantic, suspense series. This is former Navy SEAL Cole Makani Hunter, and eco-therapist Annie Murray’s story line. The Mission Recovery series is a spin off from (or loosely connected) to the author’s Broslin Creek series. Several characters cross over for cohesion and familiarity. You do not have to have read the original series to follow or understand any of the events of the current story line
Told from several third person perspectives including Cole Hunter and Annie Murray SILENT THREAT follows the building relationship between former Navy SEAL Cole Hunter and eco-therapist Annie Murray. Cole Hunter returned from his latest disastrous Black Ops mission a broken man but a man determined to take down a traitor thought to be working out of Hope Hill, a local rehab centre for wounded vets. Enter eco-therapist Annie Murray, a would-be animal rehabber with whom our hero will fall in love. What ensues is the slow building romance between Annie and Cole, and the potential fall out as Annie is targeted by a psychotic mind.
Annie Murray finds solace in the rehabilitation of animals and man. A ‘tree-hugging’ eco-therapist Annie’s form of therapy connects man with nature in an attempt to ground the client when things begins to spiral out of control. Cole Hunter is a former Navy SEAL who battles his own demons including his escalating PTSD from his time as a POW, a loss of hearing, and an injury that has left our hero struggling without the use of his arm. When a traitor is discovered selling secrets to the enemy Cole must go undercover at Hope Hill to ferret out the person responsible for selling out the American government, risking the lives of the men and women who serve.
The relationship between Annie and Cole is slow to build as Annie believes Cole is her client, and Cole is on a mission to find the person responsible for destroying so many lives. As their friendship begins to grow so do the threats against our story line heroine –threats believed to be coming from a stalker who is determined to pull Annie back into his life. The $ex scenes are limited, mostly implied and fade to black.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including several members of the local police force, and a number of former military vets who are battling their own demons from outside and within. We are introduced to Annie’s cousin Kelly whose need to succeed threatens Annie’s stability and home; and Dr. Dan Ambrose, the resident psychiatrist at Hope Hill.
SILENT THREAT is a story of romance and suspense; betrayal and revenge; falling in love and moving on from the past. The premise is intriguing; the romance is sweet but I had a difficult time connecting with the couple’s attraction to one another due in part to the very slow build towards friendship and love; the characters are eclectic and colorful.
Copy supplied by Netgalley
Reviewed by Sandy
She blinked at him. “People moved and left them behind.”
“What was the worst you ever had?”
“A tarantula that lost a leg.” A delicate shiver ran through her. “I hate spiders.”
“Did you save it?”
A tragic look came over her face. “A goat ate him.”
A strangled laugh escaped him. “What happened to the goat?”
“Adopted.”
“Do you ever turn anything away?”
She rubbed the head of one of the baby skunks with the back of her crooked index finger. “Not anything, not ever.”
That people like her lived in the world scared Cole a little. Too soft-hearted, too easy to take advantage of, too vulnerable. Annie Murray needed a keeper. Not that he was volunteering.
He watched as she slid down into the hay, flat on her back, her head on the folded comforter. The orphaned skunks were all over her instantly, like love-smitten kittens, snuggled into every nook, a different baby tucked against every curve.
She closed her eyes, the picture of peaceful bliss.
Cole stood against a nearly irresistible pull to lie next to her and be part of the magic she was weaving.
He never thought he’d be jealous of a skunk, but he wanted to be tucked against her breast. She had generous breasts to go with her generous mouth. She was murmuring something to her little charges that he didn’t catch, a soft half-smile on her lips.
He wanted to sink into Annie Murray’s earth mother goodness, dissolve in her peace.
She was the most wholesome person he’d ever known.
He was the opposite, too damaged in too many ways. He was deaf, and his right arm might never fully function again. He had nightmares . . .
He wouldn’t wish waking up next to him on his worst enemy.
In his dreams, either he was killing someone, or someone was killing him.
He was a killer. He’d been a damn good sniper before his right arm had been rendered useless. Maybe as punishment for his sins.
He didn’t care about the arm. He didn’t care about his lost hearing. He would gladly give more, give anything, if it brought back Ryan, his spotter, his best friend.
Since Ryan and the others had died, screaming in pain, Cole hadn’t been the same.
So no, he could not have the peace Annie Murray was offering.
Dana Marton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Agents Under Fire series, the Hardstorm Saga, and the Broslin Creek novels. She is the winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, the Readers’ Choice Award, and the RITA Award. For more information about Marton and her work, please visit her at www.danamarton.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/danamarton.
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