Books: Athena Force series (S, R)

For the first twelve months after its launch, the Silhouette Bombshell line included one book each month in the Athena Force series. The series focuses on graduates of the all-female Athena Academy, a private high school focusing on giving its students a variety of skills to prepare them for influential positions in the real world. When one of the women dies under Very Suspicious Circumstances, her friends work together to solve the mystery of her death. (I've used an asterisk to mark each book on my keeper shelf.)

Note: A short story prequel to the Athena Force series will be online here until 7/18/06.

Proof (Justine Davis) For the opening book in a series like this, Proof really failed to hold my interest. The protagonist is Alex Forsythe, a forensic scientist who is the first to suspect foul play in her friend Rainy's death. She uncovers several clues, but plotwise very little happens; the story moves slowly and the writing is just plain clunky. You could easily skip this book and catch up in the next one. Grade: C-

*Alias (Amy J. Fetzer) Darcy Steele is on the run. A former makeup artist in the movie industry, she now creates disguises to protect herself and her young son from the abusive husband she escaped years ago. She also helps other women escape bad relationships and begin new lives. While this story loosely intersects Alex's, it provides enough detail to replace Proof as the series' first book and stands alone nicely on its own merits. Grade: B+

Exposed (Katherine Garbera) When reporter Tory Patton lands a plum assignment in Central America, she uncovers an international scandal and finds herself running for her life... (Not on my keeper shelf simply because I don't care for reporters or the news media in general.) Grade: B+

*Double-Cross (Meredith Fletcher) Samantha St. John is a CIA operative. When her boss uncovers video evidence of Sam committing a terrorist act, she must prove her innocence and convince her CIA colleagues to investigate Rainy's death--all from behind bars. Grade: A

Pursued (Catherine Mann) Josie Lockworth is an Air Force test pilot trying to develop new stealth technology based on her own mother's experiments. Determined to succeed where her mother failed, Josie works to discover who's trying to sabotage her plans- and why. Grade: B+

*Justice (Debra Webb) Police lieutenant Kayla Ryan is putting all her resources into investigating Rainy's death. This novel offered some nice plot twists and really moved the mystery along. Grade: A

*Deceived (Carla Cassidy) Lynn White is no ordinary jewel thief. With her fantastic speed and enhanced senses, she is prepared for anything--except the truth... Grade: A-

*Contact (Evelyn Vaughn) Faith Corbett can smell what you had for breakfast. She can hear conversations through closed doors. She can read your mind by touching your skin. What she can't do is convince a (yummy) detective who doesn't believe in psychics that anonymous tips from "Madame Cassandra" can help him track down a serial killer. I confess, I love mutant powers AND mysteries AND cops, so I definitely loved this story! Grade: A++

Payback (Harper Allen) Dawn O'Shaugnnessy, the world's greatest assassin, has taken one last assignment in order to right a horrible wrong done to her. Dawn is cold and ruthless and, honestly, boring. She constantly talks to herself out loud, not thinking in her head but actually muttering under her breath, even while she's trying to sneak silently. Not just brief comments, but whole paragraphs about what's going on, and in a voice that doesn't sound at all like how people really talk or think. Other than her assassin persona, Dawn doesn't really have any distinguishing personality traits beyond a hyper-sensitivity to the fact that others perceive her as different (she heals quickly after an injury, like Wolverine of the X-Men). The guy she falls for is also a one-note tough guy, and the whole story just seemed bland.

I normally reserve low ratings for poorly-written stories; other than the voice issues, this was written fairly well (meaning my Internal Editor wasn't constantly reworking sentences and complaining about how much tighter the writing could have been). The problem is, this story just didn't have any emotional resonance at all. As I was reading, I kept looking at how many more pages I had to go and thinking, something HAS to happen between now and the end. By the time anything happened, I just didn't care anymore. Grade: C-

*Countdown (Ruth Wind) Kim Valenti is an NSA codebreaker. She is also working for Oracle, a top-secret agency connected to the Athena Academy. Kim must work with a handsome FBI bomb-squad agent to determine the location of an upcoming terrorist attack. This was a strong addition to the series. Grade: A

*Target (Cindy Dees) Diana Lockworth has 24 hours to stop a terrorist cell from assassinating the President-elect, who is also the most interesting man she has ever met. The format is a lot like the TV show 24, with govt. employees who won't listen and a lot of "I am the only one who can possibly resolve this situation," but this was still a thrilling ride. Grade: A

*Checkmate (Doranna Durgin) Selena Jones has just left her husband and is working abroad when terrorists overtake her building. As she works to undermine their actions and tries to find a way to set the other hostages free, she realizes her marriage is worth fighting for. Grade: A-