Its difficult to get away from these Jack McClure book series of Eric Van Lustbader ! There are five books in all and I still have one more to go.
Book No. 3 – Blood Trust
This one is a little far fetched in that no government to my mind will send three people (however great they may be) to fight a terrorist outfit ! But then again, across the world, the way many countries are fighting terrorism, it does seem plausible :). Anyway, Blood Trust brings the dark trade of child trafficking into the plot.
Its horrific just thinking about the reality of child trafficking and slavery in this day and age. There are millions of children who are sold/stolen/snatched and become sex slaves. This book tries to show the unholy alliances that heads of state make with these traffickers. The ex-first lady and Alli Carson’s mother dies and the same day Alli is arrested. The whole drama unfolds in typical Lustbader style, totally gripping. Jack McClure and Alli go off on a transatlantic adventure all the way to Albania with the young man Thate who happens to be on Annika’a payroll (*&%@$!!). Jack and Annika, kiss and make up almost literally. The Syrian and Alli’s cousin Caro (who had disappeared) make their appearance in this book and for some strange reason Caro works for The Syrian. The ending is very loose and you are wondering what happened to The Syrian and Caro… the book just seems to end abruptly. When you read the next book, you realise this one had to end this way so that the plot could be thickened in the next one.
Book No. 4 – Father Night
As if mixing the Russian govt/mafia/good mafia (Annika’s grandfather) and Americans wasn’t enough, in this book a long forgotten secret group of Nazis are added to the mix. Its a book about the “twins” project and all the loose ends in Book 3 are neatly tied off in this one. Just a crazy patch up between Caro and Alli and Vera (Alli’s room mate who helped frame her but is actually her cousin and Caro’s step sis) that’s bizarre to say the least.
Anyway, Henry Carson, Alli’s uncle is bumped off as is Alan Fraine, Waxman and Annika’s grandfather ! Caro never shares how she ended up working for The Syrian but she comes to Alli’s aid and they track the money. Interestingly Morgan Herr’s twin kidnaps Alli and the whole Nazi experiment with twins is unravelled. At the end of the book, Jack and Annika again separate…. but Annika ensures he stays alive. Her twin step-brothers are revealed in this book and its quite fast paced.
I will read book 5 and finally be done with fiction for the year :).
Both these books are highly recommended. I haven’t written the whole plot because that’s not fair. These books are truly a fiction lover’s treat.
