Rescue Me, by Christy Reece

The first in a trilogy of romantic suspense novels, Rescue Me is also Ms Reece’s debut. The books follow three operatives from the shadowy private organization Last Chance Rescue which, oddly enough, specializes in rescuing people (particularly children) when other, public channels, have come up dry. This installment follows one Eden St Claire, LCR operative extraordinaire, and Jordan Montgomery, literally a blast from Eden’s past.

Here is the terribly misleading back cover blurb:

Dare to Survive

A covert operative of Last Chance Rescue Enterprises (LCR), Eden St. Claire has made secrets her life’s work. Seven years ago, an evening of emotional vulnerability and pure pleasure almost destroyed her. Now Eden wears her beauty like a mask, concealing any hint of vulnerability or the demons of her past.

A daring rescue of an innocent girl on a Greek island leads Eden to a new partner. Jordan Montgomery, new to LCR, has been looking for Eden—though he knows her by another name, from another time. But his search for her is over-shadowed by a case that’s gone international. A powerful, ruthless organized network is stealing women and children around the world—as a lover, a traitor, and a killer all wait for Eden’s next move.

Allow me to rant—yet once again—about blurbs.

This blurb makes the book look interesting, doesn’t it? Even as it gives away details that do not become apparent until a good third into the story, it nonetheless sells the novel as an action-packed, high-stakes adventure with a wild romance thrown in for good measure.

It is not.

Not by a rather long shot.

And that annoyed me, quite a bit, I confess.

It’s an intriguing premise, and in all fairness, there are some interesting twists here and there, but there are so many—and such humongous!—plot holes all over the place that my willingness to suspend my disbelief was exhausted rather early on, and never recovered. On top of that, there was so much repetition! The more things were repeated, the less I liked the characters. The less I liked the characters, the more critical I became of the plot. The more I looked at the plot, the more annoyed at the book I got.

Yes, it wasn’t really pretty.

In fact, this review is going to be rather snarky—at any rate, much snarkier than is the norm with me. Those of you who believe in my innate goodness may want to look away, click away, whatever—stop reading, at any rate.

…

Gone?

…

Good.

For example, we are told a couple of times that LCR operatives—indeed, all the employees—are highly capable and trained, with prospective agents being carefully selected on the basis of the unique talents they bring to the company.

These people are so extraordinary that the founder of LCR will often go to great lengths to recruit them. This was the case with Eden, who was herself rescued and transformed—extensive reconstructive plastic surgery and physical therapy included. Her original talent? She’s multilingual.

Huh. Color me not very impressed.

It gets better, though.

Jordan has just retired from his very own mysterious spy-like position with the US government. They also only recruit the crème de la crème of candidates. One of Jordan’s top recommendations for the position? He’s multilingual!

Hey, whaddayaknow? I could be a super spy too!

Okay, they both also have black belts in some martial arts discipline or another.

Hey, whaddayaknow?!?!

…

…

Well, no, I couldn’t—I’d need another test for that. Rats. Oh well.

Then there was the telling.

In the prologue, as we are introduced to Jordan, another character starts his speech with, “I am your godfather I was your parents’ best friend” and I’m sitting there wondering, what? didn’t Jordan know this already? (kinda “Luke, I am your father” vibe there, right?) But the set up made it clear that indeed, Jordan knew all this and pretty much the rest of that little discourse. The only reason it is in there is to dump the information on the reader.

Frankly, for me it just went down hill from there, to the point where I’m not sure why I finished the book (stubbornness? I prefer to call it persistence, but whatever).

Rescue Me gets a 5 out of 10 from me.