Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Catch Her if You Can-Merline Lovelace

Catch Her if You Can
Merline Lovelace
Berkley, Jan 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 978042523924

Once she was a cocktail waitress in Vegas, but now she is USAF Second Lieutenant Samantha JoEllen Spade on loan to DARPA as an officer in charge of testing inventions from civilians with potential military applications. Right now they are coming out of the desert after testing Snoopy SNFIR (self nurturing find and identify robot). They reach Pancho’s to get a drink when Snoopy tries to get into a truck.

The overseer comes out of Pancho’s furious that people are at his vehicle. He takes out a gun, but Poncho kills him. In the trunk, they find a cooler with three heads inside it. The story hits the media who focus on Samantha and her previous exploits which they covered. After the hoopla dies, the Air Force brass feel Samantha is in danger from an enemy of her lover as several incidents aimed at her occur. They provide her protection, but a Mexican Warlord kidnaps her anyway in attempt to use her as bait to lure her boyfriend into a lethal trap.

Smart, sassy and insecure summarizes Samantha who though unsure of herself, gets the job done. Filled with action and acerbic often self-deprecating wit, readers will admire Samantha as she overcomes her doubts about her skills to perform what is needed. Fans of military home-front thrillers will enjoy Catch Her If You Can and Spade’s previous DARPA escapades (see Now You See Her and All The Wrong Moves).

Harriet Klausner

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