I received this book for free from Netgalley in order to prepare an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wildfire (Fire, #3) by Anne Stuart Series: Fire #3
Published by Amazon Digital Services on February 14th 2017
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 290
Goodreads
FINAL DECISION: I really enjoyed this story because there is serious drama and suspense as Sophie and Malcolm are trapped on the island with Sophie’s insane husband. The pacing and characters makes this a very enjoyable book.
THE STORY: Sophie Jordan was an operative with the Committee until she fell in love and married a target of her investigation. He turned out to be a psychopath and an arms dealer. Once her husband found out that she had lied to him, he tried to have her killed. Instead, Sophie was left parallelized and at the mercy of her husband. Malcolm Gunnison, undercover as an arms dealer, comes to the island in order to finish the job that Sophie botched. He’s going to discover Sophie’s husband’s new biological weapon and then kill him. Mal will also kill Sophie if necessary or if she gets in his way.
OPINION: I am a huge fan of Stuart’s Ice series. Several of those books are on my all time favorites list. Until this book, the Fire books have been okay but don’t begin to approach the amazing Ice books. I’m happy to report, however, that WILDFIRE, while not as superlative as the best Ice books, is definitely worthy of being in the same universe.
I really liked Sophie in this story because as the book begins she has been in a deadly battle of wills with her evil husband. I prefer this damaged and dangerous heroine over the sweet innocent. Sophie made mistakes in her past and has paid for it for years. Now she is ready to win her freedom and kill her husband, if possible. She also is immune from handsome dangerous men — or so she believes. Of course, she find herself reluctantly attracted to the dangerous Mal. The combination of innocence, cynicism, ability to survive and desire to be free makes Sophie’s character one that I desired to follow her journey.
Mal is a nicer Stuart hero than most in these series. While he begins the book entirely willing to kill Sophie if necessary — or even if she is somewhat inconvenient to him — he quickly begins to fall for her as well. And although he does some bad things in this book, he is not as dark as some of Stuart’s heroes. I liked his competence, his determination to do what is necessary and his total commitment to his mission — until, of course, Sophie begins to upset this world.
The story is tense and filled with danger and drama. There is always the question of the motives of the various characters. I liked that there is almost constant danger with the characters. From the first page, the characters are in precarious positions and that made the story go quickly. By having all the action of the book take place on a private island with limited characters and danger all around, the constant sense of peril is preserved. I liked the story and the development of the characters as they progress.
While not reaching the heights of the best Ice books, this book is the best of the Fire series so far.
WORTH MENTIONING: The Fire series is about the American branch of the Committee, an anti-terrorism group that uses whatever means necessary, including murder, to stop terrorists. The series this spins off from, the ICE series, has characters which are mentioned or make appearances in this book.
CONNECTED BOOKS: WILDFIRE is the third book in the Fire series. This book can be read as a standalone.
STAR RATING: I give this book 4.5 stars.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions contained herein are my own.