Tactical Deception
Silent Warrior Series
Buy Links
Night Owl Reviews
Reviewed by Talina
Score: 5.00 / 5 – Reviewer Top Pick
Plot & Characters:
An all consuming powerful story that shows the price we pay for the bonds that tie us to the lives of others and the power of the choices made by them.
This riveting story holds strong roots in the romance and love we search for in life, the love that Mari and Lt. Col. Roger Weston battle against and eventually for. We see it time and again serve as the bases of what makes us human, bringing us back from the brink of destruction. Tactical Deception is a masterfully crafted story with a message hidden in and around an action packed gut-wrenching tale of horrific plots of terrorism and those that must step up to the plate to defend their country no matter the cost to themselves.
In book one we meet and follow a Delta Force Team through cracking a plot of terrorism set to unfold and destroy the lives of so many. Each member is shown to us through their actions to reach the end of what is going on; actions that offer us great insight into their character. Lives were saved, a family formed, but lives were also lost which leads us to the major romance plot in book two. In Tactical Deception we join up with them again as they deal with the aftermath of the fallout from the previous attack while trying to break through recently discovered terrorist cells already killing innocent people in America and gunning for the President while also weeding out the threat from the White Aryan Vipers Militia training Camp set on setting the balance straight again.
There are intense moments when you think everything is going to go south and other moments when you are cheering for whatever advancement the main hero and heroine make in reaching towards some kind of happiness between them. Then the author throws us in the deep end by showing us what’s going on in the minds of the antagonist, of which there are many. It’s a tangled web of deceit, family treachery and love. Love of friendship. Love of camaraderie between the men of the Delta force. And love between a man and a woman that just might beat all the odds stack against them. The road is a bloody one but so worth the fight when you reach the end. It will bring a tear to your eye and pull at your soul. It also sheds a ray of light on a people and culture that are misunderstood at times. The author definitely did her research for this series and it shows through the seamless story she has written.
To go into detail of how this book’s scenes unfold would be pointless in that you, as the reader, need to experience each moment for yourself to grasp the full concept and emotion buried within each page. It’s that intense. Ms. Saint, you’ve really outdone yourself. This is the blockbuster of military romantic suspense!
Writing:
True to her talent Ms. Saint has delivered a well written a story worthy of her title as a USA Today’s Bestselling author under her writing name Jennifer Saint [St.] Giles. Her ability to write with such depth and perception, smooth prose, fast paced action and hot loves scenes make on heck of a combination that delivers explosive stories that readers will never forget.
Summary:
Ms. Saint can write one hell of a military romantic suspense! I highly recommend this book, this series, THIS AUTHOR to readers that love to step into stories with heart and meaning. Not to mention hot heroes the heroines they fall in love with! Tactical Deception was just too good to put down and I want more! Here’s to hoping bad boy Corporal Rico Santana gets his story in the next installment in the Silent Warrior Series!
Startled over how clearly I’d heard Benedict’s voice in my sleepy mind, I jumped up from my reading chair confused.
“Damnation, what in the devil?” came a deep voice from the other room. Blocks clattered on the floor followed by a heavy scraping sound. I ran to the schoolroom with my lamp. Benedict came barreling through the secret passage door, thunder furrowing his dark brow. I stared at him, drawn, as one might be to gaze at the beauty and fury of a dangerous storm during the dark of the night.
“Miss Lovell, what in the bloody hell is going on here?”
His clothes were dripping wet and plastered to his imposing body. His dark hair gleamed with moisture and a rakish stubble shadowed the determined set of his jaw.
From the look he centered on me above his Roman nose, I got the feeling I was in for a good dose of his dominating characteristics. “I will have that answer immediately. You are boxed in like a bloody rebel unit with nothing but bluecoats in sight.”
I stiffened my spine. “I was merely being prudent, Mr. Trevelyan.”
“Indeed, Miss Lovell?” He raked his fingers through his hair, sending droplets of water flying as he stepped over the blocks and advanced on me. “Did you fear I would steal in upon you in the middle of the night? Good God, woman. If nothing else, I am a man of honor.”
He was so close I could smell the rain on him and feel the damp chill of his body. “P…pardon? I do not see–” My eyes widened. “Mr. Trevelyan, do you think you are the only person on earth? Might you consider that there are others about who use the secret passage? That perhaps I sought to warm them that I would not tolerate being spied upon? And that I most certainly would want to warn myself if they did?”
He took hold of my shoulders, dampening my gown with the water dripping from him. I shivered, but not from the cold of his fingers. I shivered with the need to warm him.
“What are you talking about? Dobbs telegraphed me that my household had run amuck. Justin and Robert were in tears and you had overstepped your position and had taken them off to picnic at their mother’s grave. I come rushing home to find you barricaded in your room. What is going on?”
“What is going on?” I blinked, quite taken by surprise that Dobbs had contacted Benedict. I considered the battle that Dobbs and I waged a private one. The man had had no right telegraphing tales. It had never occurred to me that Dobbs could be my intruder, the author of my warning note, and the destroyer of the children’s garden. Maybe it should have. I then recalled that I was miffed at Benedict. “If you were not always running off maybe you would know what is going on in your own household.”
“Running off?” He released me and stepped back as if I’d slapped him. “Running off!”
“Precisely,” I said. I knew I’d more than overstepped my boundaries. In fact I had most probably obliterated them, which left me no choice but to brazen out the truth. I decided to pace, for an instinctual self-preservation told me that a moving target was harder to shoot than a standing one. Benedict looked as if he were a loaded six-shooter in what
Captain Balder would have described as a poker game gone sour.
“I have been giving a great deal of thought to the situation and can see how business decisions rather than the complexities of personal problems could have an appeal to a man of your nature,” I said.
Benedict crossed his arms and his gaze targeted me. I paced faster and spoke faster, too, feeling the urgency to get everything said while I had the chance. “It is entirely logical for you to gravitate toward financial dealings. You are a man who requires instant results. You see situations as clear cut and have little time for emotional difficulties, such as Justin’s fear that something dreadful will happen to you and he will have lost both his mother and his father. Then there is Robert’s fear that while you are away you will find a boy who will behave perfectly and you will love that boy better…then there is the matter of your kiss and your prompt business departure. What other conclusion can a woman draw, but that business has more appeal than–”
I paced passed him. He grabbed my shoulders and swung me around to face him. “Than what, Miss Lovell?” His voice had lowered and softened, doubling its smoothness. My heart raced like a runaway stagecoach.
“Than complexities,” I whispered, the heat of my ire dampened by his obvious concern.
“Would that I had an aversion to…complexities, Miss Lovell. Unfortunately, I find myself quite attracted to them…Miss Lovell,” he whispered hoarsely. “I must warn you that—”
“No,” I said, stopping his words. “I want no warning, Mr. Trevelyan. I fear all I want is for you to kiss me again.” Before I could finish my sentence, his mouth fell upon mine, and he pulled me into his embrace. His body was wet and hard against my warm softness and I needed to press closer to him more than I needed to breathe…
