Monday, October 25, 2010

Velocity by Alan Jacobson.

Title:  Velocity 

Genre:  Suspense/Thriller
Pages: 400
Source: FSB Publicity

FBI profiler Karen Vail returns in Velocity, national bestselling author Alan Jacobson’s most explosive thriller to date. Vail’s boyfriend, Detective Robby Hernandez, has seemingly disappeared into the dense air of a Napa Valley evening. There are no clues to his whereabouts, other than a blood stain and potential connections to a serial killer operating in the wine country.

Despite using all means at her disposal to find out what happened to Robby, Vail is thwarted—until her colleague, Detective Paul Bledsoe, hooks her up with Hector DeSantos, a covert Defense Department operative who has a knack for finding di0cult to locate information. But DeSantos is an unwilling partner, and other than superficial cooperation to pay back the debt he owes Bledsoe, he is reluctant to work his valuable informants for what he views as Vail’s personal crusade to find her lover.
 
That is, until Vail pries loose long-buried secrets, lies, and deceptions on the part of her own task force members. It’s information that even DeSantos can’t ignore, a discovery of great magnitude that reveals larger forces at play forces that propel Vail and DeSantos into a frantic search that takes them from the wineries of Napa Valley to the monuments of Washington, D.C., the wealthy beach enclaves of San Diego, and the bright excesses of Las Vegas.

My Take: When I started this book I felt like I'd walked into a movie midway through and was trying to catch up.  Apparently, the previous book, Crush, provides the reader with a background that is nearly completely necessary to catch on to what is happening in Velocity.  The problem is, I didn't have anybody to bother during the action scenes so I could get caught up.  Why the action scenes?  Because it was ALL action scenes.  From the first page to the last, there is not a moment to take a breath.

I said that the story was nearly impossible to grasp walking into the story, but not completely.  The author spends some time recapping the comings and goings while allowing the characters to run to the hospital and make threats to the serial killer while covered in somebody else's blood, then jump right back into the action.

When I caught up to the story, the book was compelling and difficult to put down.  The irony, humor, dialogue, and spilling of secrets keeps the reader bug-eyed and up far too late into the wee hours.

I would suggest reading the previous book before jumping into this one.  I enjoyed it but found myself frustrated for the first 50-75 pages.  Like I said, the author does fill in the blanks, but I prefer to start a story at the beginning.

4 hearts
*This book was provided by FSB in exchange for an honest review.

1 comment:

CountessLaurie said...

Would you say that it is gory?