5 stars
This heroine of this novel unexpectedly charmed me, and the action kept me riveted.
Juno Hardwick has recently left the Marine Corps where she served as an intelligence officer and fought in Afghanistan, and finds herself directionless in Los Angelos after years of service. She’s drifting, taking on security shifts at a pole dancing bar. One night Min, an old CIA friend who wants to take advantage of Juno’s keen situational awareness and ability to instantly sense danger, asks her to take on a private security job guarding a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who’s in town to accept an award for outstanding women.
Juno doesn’t quite know what she’s getting into- which turns out to be a complex plot with deadly assassins and a large conspiracy afoot. The other members of the security team she’s joining for the gig view her with suspicion, her friend’s security company seems to be tanking, and the journalist she’s assigned to protect has definitely been targeted for assignation to stop her latest secret journalistic investigation.
And so endless action unfurls – with Juno relying on her keen instincts through hand-to-hand combat to car chase scenes. Juno also starts investigating what really may be going on, and who’s behind it. Most alarmingly, someone on her team’s leaking insider information that’s placing June, her client, and their security team in danger.
Not only is Juno a valiant action hero, but she touchingly captures the tough transition back to civilian life for military veterans.
SO hoping Juno will return for a sequel!!
Thanks to Ballentin, Bantam and NeGalley for an advance reader’s copy.
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