Dr Cameran Young is a biologist arriving in Labrador, Canada to conduct an environmental impact assessment on char fish in a river close to a nearby mining project. Her results could have the ability to shut the mine down, or move it so she’s not exactly expecting a warm welcome from the local miners who rely on the project going ahead uninterrupted for their livelihood.
What she doesn’t expect to find is a dead body in the toilets of the local bar while she’s waiting for the helicopter that will take her to the offshore research ship that is to be her base for the duration of her stay. Running out and headfirst into Daniel Fox, the helicopter pilot who couldn’t have arrived five minutes ago, Cameran is swept up by Fox into the chopper to get her away from the crime scene and treated by the medical team on the research vessel before she goes into shock. Her and her assistant, the blonde and predatory Vikki who wastes no time going after the handsome former SAS soldier, are to be chauffeured around by Fox for the duration of their study – a slightly awkward situation given the hostility between Cameran and Daniel and the soured one night stand between Daniel and Vikki.
Daniel Fox was burned during an operation as an undercover agent and when his organisation basically hung him out to try he decided to go as far away as he could in order to try and recover from the ordeal. Drowning himself in alcohol and mindless sex with anyone who offers, Daniel is a perfect candidate for the local police to look into for being the murderer. After all, he knew the victim, he has the skills and he’s not exactly giving out the warm and fuzzy vibes. Trying to prove his innocence will be difficult, given his past. But Daniel has discovered that he might’ve found something worth fighting for over here and he’s not going to be framed for any murder, nor is he going to let another one happen.
My Kindle has really gotten a workout the last little while and I received a copy of this one as an eARC from Carina Press and read it pretty much right away. The opening was great, setting a fantastic scene – fish out of water (hehe) Dr Cameran Young and her glamorous assistant Vikki in a bar filled with miners. Cameran needs the bathroom and so she makes the journey alone to the disgusting room and finds a dead body, a young local female who has had her throat slashed. As she’s stumbling back out, enter the hero, the dashing Daniel Fox who is billed as a sort of James Bond, 007 type in manner, and also looks.
I haven’t seen many James Bond movies, mine are strictly limited to the ones that contain Pierce Brosnan as Bond, but I don’t remember him being such an alcoholic control-freak. It’s one thing to be a macho and protective love interest, it’s another thing to be a rude, bossy, domineering jerk which is pretty much what Daniel Fox is. Cameran has diabetes and was diagnosed as a teenager and maintains a strict diet and insulin-injection regime to keep it under wraps. Including the diabetes may have been very important to the author because it’s mentioned way too often and talked about at length way too many times to just be a part of the character decided on a whim. But it’s great for being the catalyst that makes Daniel Fox act like a tool and treat Young like she’s about three years old and can’t take care of herself. He’s always bossily demanding to know when she’s just eaten or when she needs to take her next injection or trying to stop her from doing something because of her diabetes. She’s a grown woman for gods sake, who has managed this condition for many years. Leave her alone! He’s also proof that those afflicted are always the last to know, being utterly oblivious and then in denial about his PTSD from his last mission.
Ignoring the fact that Fox was too overbearing for me, I liked the mystery part of the novel. Trying to figure out who the murderer was and who was trying to frame Fox for it (they were not necessarily one and the same at any one time) was interesting and I enjoyed the little mystery points of view that we got. I wish a little more had been devoted to fleshing out the miners and giving them a voice rather than just being a menacing figure in the background for Cameran’s work. I also liked the secondary characters of the police investigating the murder. They were amusing and well developed and when we were seeing things from their point of view was almost my favourite part of the novel.
A pretty decent mystery but the romance side of it just didn’t really do it for me.
6/10
Book #174 of 2011
Thanks to Carina Press for a chance to read and review this one.
I’m counting this one towards my 2011 Global Reading Challenge! Set in Labrador, Canada it fits into the North American continent which means that my reading for this continent is complete! It’s the 11th book read over all for the challenge.
All The Books I Can Read 
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