Title: Seven-Sided Spy
Author: Hannah Carmack
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: January 15, 2018
Heat Level: 1 - No Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 75800
Genre: Suspense Thriller, abduction, historical, spies, revenge, gay, lesbian, secret agents
Synopsis:
In the midst of the cold war, the CIA’s finest and most fatal female agent, Diana Riley, vanishes. Kidnapped by the KGB and taken to the backcountry of North Carolina, she and her team of unsavory partners are forced to undergo illegal experimentation.
But, when the experiments leave them horribly deformed and unable to reenter society without someone crying monster, the previously glamorous and high-maintenance spies must escape KGB captivity, and avoid recapture at the hands of Nikola, a ruthless KGB agent with an intense and well-justified grudge against her former flame.
My Review:
I’ll be the first to admit history is not something I excelled at, so the time frame of Carmack’s Seven-Sided Spy – the Cold War – isn’t something I have any familiarity with. Having said that, Carmack’s use of slang and descriptions of fashion plunged me into the early 1960’s.
I’m also not a huge espionage-thriller type of guy, that’s more my husband’s shtick. But living with someone who loves that genre means I have had the opportunity to watch every single one of the James Bond movies, and let’s face it, when we’re talking Spy stories, everyone immediately thinks of 007.
What drew me into reading this story was a description I had seen, promising spies with X-men like abilities. Being a huge fan of the X-men, I had to give this a go.
Seven-Sided Spy is laid out quite different in that it follows Diana Riley, Codename: Hera, also known as “the goddess” through a rather tumultuous and dangerous job, fighting off Russian KGB agents, using all her feminine charms and deadly hand-to-hand combat skills. But Diana isn’t the only character that’s given page time. In fact, there are seven different spies, each with their own backstory. Carmack’s ability to create detail-oriented scenes is spectacular, which is surprisingly adept considering this is her debut novel. I got lost in the richness of the stories as they unfolded, and I was completely immersed in each of them. These sections of the book were by far, my favorite. Of note, I totally enjoyed Rigan Hevel, Codename: Marco and Sergei Durova, Codename: Kal’s histories. Not exactly sure why perhaps they felt more relatable to me? Regardless, definitely spots in the book I savored.
There’s a constant struggle back and forth between all of the various characters. Small victories and then followed with earth-shattering losses. Our heroine and her colleagues are captured by the enemy and then experimented on, which ultimately ends in our heroine and her associates developing super-human abilities. Unfortunately, it also means that their physical appearance is altered into inhuman forms making them unable to return to life amongst the regular population.
From there, I’m not saying much more, otherwise, I’ll ruin the twists and turns that this book takes.
There’s a decidedly steep learning curve while reading this book. Each of the characters goes by not only their given name, but also their codename, and some even have nicknames. I found myself flipping to the front of the book where the author has laid out each character and their codenames. At times, it was difficult to keep them all straight.
I also had some mental backflips to do as the timeline of the story not only occurs in the early 1960’s but also jumps further back into history as snippets of the characters former lives are revealed. If you like flashbacks, this is the book for you.
All in, the story is steeped in characters and lively with action, but sometimes a bit of a brain twister to keep everything organized.
Rating:
Available at:
NineStar Press: https://ninestarpress.com/product/seven-sided-spy/
Amazon: http://hyperurl.co/nwcqdf
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/772934
Meet the Author:
Hannah Carmack is a writer and spends most of her time connecting reluctant readers and bookworms alike to the world of literature and science. Although living with an auto-immune disease is difficult, she finds power in using her writing as a way to convey the world that people with disabilities live in to people who may not fully comprehend it. Her debut novel, Seven-Sided Spy, will be hitting shelves this January with NineStar Press.
Author Links:
Website: http://hannahcarmack.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/manlyhamm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manlyhamm/
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