This is Stuart Woods' annual contribution to the mass market pile of current fiction. He has 4 continuing characters, Stone Barrington (ex-NYPD/lawyer), Holly Barker (ex MP, ex Orchid Beach police chief, now CIA), President Will Lee, and Teddy Fey (retired CIA now making trouble eliminating politicians who don't conform to his vision of America).
Holly Barker is on a forced vacation from the CIA. She returns home to Orchid Beach for some R&R only to stumble onto a serial rapist case. She suspects the new chief, her MP nemesis from her army days and sets out to help trap him. Lauren, another local cop was also raped by this army cad. In between clues, both Holly and Lauren meet new guys (an ER doc and a retired inventor, respectively) and hop in the sack repeatedly, eat glorious meals at sunset on the beach and drink copious amounts of wine. To make a predictable story shorter, the inventor turns out to be Teddy Fey. Teddy executes the army slug, the chief of detectives (the real rapist) finds the body and plants a suicide note to hide his crimes. Holly and Lauren set a trap for the detective and spring it successfully. Lauren and Teddy run off to who knows where and Holly and the doc move back to the CIA. Yawn.
The books by Woods are always best sellers, easy travel reading, linear plots, few twists, and a reasonable waste of time while traveling or during sleepless nights with jet lag. You can't go wrong with Woods, but they are tres lightweight and won't stay with you long. Of the main characters, Teddy Fey is probably the most interesting. The rest are just too smooth to be real.
East Coast Don
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