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Shattered Truth by Barbara Freethy

Shattered Truth by Barbara Freethy is one of the lovely suspenseful romantic thriller novels.  The combination of the events and people made it suspenseful.  The cruelty of the participants and their purposeful choices made it a thriller.  The characters, who trusted no one, managed to forge a strong relationship that made it a romance.  

Barbara Freethy’s newest book, Shattered Truth is the fifteenth book in the Off the Grid series.  The books can be read as a stand-alone. (I have done this.) There are repeating characters, but the main story is usually with newer people who have joined (or at least one) the FBI.  There is an elite FBI unit that operates in a more independent manner compared to the rest of the FBI.  

Matt Larson has just been asked to join this elite group.  He is excited by the prospect, but not expecting that he had to start early because a dead person has his name and number in her pocket.  He does not know her, nor does he know how she would have gotten his number.

Haley is determined to discover why her brother died 6 years ago.  She has balanced her job as a newspaper writer and finding her brother’s murderer.  She is positive he was murdered and it was not an accident.  As she goes to meet a woman who has information for her, she sees the woman killed right in front of her. She picks up her phone and runs away, later calling the police.  

Suffice to say Matt finds Haley and the phone.  Soon both of them are caught in the murder past and present.  Some of the characters they question are so sure that they are above the law, that you might cringe.  I sure did.  More people are being attacked.  Haley’s apartment was broken into.  This is when the plot line starts to ramp up and things start to pile up.  

I like Barbara Freethy books and I enjoy her characters.  I was not thrilled with the “conflict” as to be honest, it was nothing I am usually interested in.  However I didn’t put the book down so we can say it certainly kept my attention.  Shattered Truth by Barbara Freethy was a good book. 

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A Nonfiction Read

What a great week for reading!  The heat and humidity kept me in, but books kept me enthralled.  I have put up 5 new reviews, although I will admit to reading a couple of other, older books (including a fantasy with dragons and shape shifting) that I did not write reviews about.  

I branched out and read a nonfiction book without any ill effects.  It was about the Danes and their resistance in helping the Jews leave Denmark before Hitler could put them in camps.  The book was interesting.  I was disappointed that it debunked a couple of situations with the king, Christian X.  While he was supportive of his people, he did ride daily without guards.  He did not sew a yellow star on his uniform to wear while riding.  So many of the people who worked in the resistance were younger people, in some cases still in high school/college. 

Writing about WWII seems to be having a renaissance, which does make me wonder.  I have not read that many as it is such a sad time in history.  When I went into the archives of ‘books read’, I noticed that in 2021 and 2022, I read a large number of books about WWII.  I have some more in the queue to read that I have not addressed.  The purposeful attack on a group of people based on something like religion or nation of origin is abhorrent to me.  (Yes, I am leaving this statement in, knowing the consequences by some people.) 

I noticed that next week, there are going to be more hot, humid and smoky days ahead.  So I guess I will be reading a lot again.  Luckily the Sox have been gutting out games, so at least I can watch them.  

Elise and I are on the same page again with the same books (but not baseball teams).  She sent in a review of The List by Steve Berry (as I did previously).  She also sent in an interview with Jeff Wilson and Brian Andrews  and their newest book in the Sons of Valor Series.  Great reading as always!  

I have listed the books I have lined up in August to read.

The Violet Hour 8/12 ( I am going to reading the first book in this series first)

Everything is Probably Fine 8/12

The Frequency of Living Things 8/12

Kiss Her Goodbye 8/12 (Frankie Elkin series)

Marigold Cottage Murder Collective 8/19

Through an Open Window 8/19

Joy Moody is Out of Time 8/19

The Wrong Daughter 8/26

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Interview with Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson

False Flag, Sons of Valor book IV

Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson

Blackstone Pub

July 22nd, 2025

False Flag, Sons of Valor book IV, by Brian Andrews and Jeff Wilson deliver another riveting thriller.  This one is ripped from the headlines. They use their professional experience to write modern military thrillers that portray modern warfare in realistic scenarios. Andrews is a US Navy veteran, nuclear engineer, and former submarine officer, while Wilson served numerous tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a Navy combat surgeon, deploying with an east coast-based SEAL Team.

As with many of their books, readers see how high-stake missions use both military operatives and intelligence analysts to achieve successful missions. But the novels also show the loyalty, sacrifice, and bond that each Special Forces operators have for each other.

This plot takes off from page one when the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is brutally murdered by his power-hungry brother, Faisal, with the Israeli government becoming the prime suspect. The three sub-plots show how all the pieces are in play when, to get to the bottom of it, Gold Squadron must split up. Lieutenant Keith "Chunk" Redman leads a team of Israeli operatives, sniper Nick “Saw” Sawyer is enlisted to stop the Iranian missiles and intel analyst Whitney Watts, heads into the belly of the beast itself, the Royal Palace in Saudi Arabia, where she must risk her life to uncover the truth about the Crown Prince's murder. The team must quickly uncover the truth before Iran achieves its goal of eliminating Israel and plunging the world into WWIII.

This is another powerful installment where it appears that Andrews and Wilson can predict the future. Readers will hold their breath as they turn each page. 

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Brian Andrews & Jeff Wilson: This is the fourth book in the series.  We tend to write in a 3-book arc to open and close the plot. It was driven by what we set up in book 3 with the character evolution.  We want the characters to have to make critical decisions. For the number of books in this arc we will let the characters push us to where it needs to be. There is room to grow with the current antagonists. 

EC: You had to have a crystal ball considering the plot of this book. Do you agree?

BA/JW: We work very hard to follow geo-politics, especially as military veterans we tend to keep up with what is happening. We have been fascinated by decades of Iran’s seemingly unchecked ability to have “false flag” operations. We wanted to play it out.  It is terrifying that Iran has the money and connections to possibly make the scenarios we put in the book happen. It is not uncommon for us to push the world to the brink of war in our books. 

EC: For me, there were three major similarities to real-world events and what happened in your story: the Abraham Accords that blew up because of Iran and its proxies, the Gazan tunnels, and the Iranian nukes.  Do you agree? 

BA/JW: Yes, the plot mirrors the real world. I do believe people would have to bury their head in the sand on purpose to not see all the overt fingerprints showing the connection between what is happening in Gaza, what is happening with Hamas, what is happening with Hezbollah, and the role of Iran in all of that.  Someone would have to be willfully ignorant to not see the players are funded by Iran.  We did not know when we started to write this book what would happen on October 7th, but it should not be a shock.  These are terrorist states that have as their mantra wiping out Israel.  The primary antagonist in this story is Iran. I think Hamas and Hezbollah would basically not exist without Iran. They do not have other partners with the weight, might, and money that Iran has. Our writing procedure is ‘what if’ and in this story the ‘what if’ pertains to the regime change in Saudi Arabia manipulated by Iran. 

EC: Were there three subplots in the book: Whitney and the Saudis, the missiles, and the nukes to eliminate Israel?

BA/JW: Yes, I agree these were the three subplots. Each of the subplots is linked to a character evolution.  Whitney in the last couple of books was left in a fragile state because she has been through a lot. She is trying to get back in the groove to be the brilliant analyst that she is. We wanted readers to appreciate the inherent danger of that job. In Special Operations these types of professionals are in harm’s way, and we wanted readers to appreciate that through Whitney, including the sacrifices and emotional injuries. Yet, we also want readers to see her rally and get back up like a good Navy SEAL would and continue.  The DEA guy who was in multiple previous books was brought back to partner with her because Chunk is not there. Readers can see this dark side versus the more direct-action side that Chunk must deal with the missiles and the nuke threat. 

EC: How would you describe the Saudi, Khalid?

BA/JW: He uses wealth, influence, and privilege. He is considered a moderate who works with the West.  He is pragmatic and forward thinking. He probably does not love the West but is smart enough to know what is best for his people: to have global relationships that serve his nation and help to grow it economically. He possibly would have put his ideological views aside to do what is best for this country. 

EC:  How would you describe his brother, Faisal?

BA/JW: He is smug, wants to be thought of as powerful, controlling, arrogant, a liar, has contempt for women, and evil. He is manipulated by someone from his college days. He is agnostic politically until the right demon started to whisper in his ear, ‘what if.’ He only cares what is best for him, to seek power and prestige. He has a puppet master behind the scenes, and he is a weak person. This is played out in the real-world history. 

EC: What about the Iranian, Reza?

BA/JW:  He is confident, cautious, deliberate, wants to be a power player, and manipulative. He underestimates the American will that they will not have the stomach to play the long game and make the sacrifices necessary for the world peace. They underestimate Israel’s ability to do whatever is necessary to protect their country.  In this story we combined a joint special operation task force between Israel and America that was an unstoppable force that the Iranians cannot compete with.

EC: How would you describe the Saudi Ambassador to the US, Princess Ramia?

BA/JW: Idealist, moderate, realist, thoughtful, and helpful.  She is pragmatic and what drives her is how she cares for her country.  Her decisions are based on what she truly believes is best for her country. She is a fun character.  She has a lot of goodness and soul. 

EC: What do you want readers to get out of the book?

BA/JW:  The problem with Iran is that there is leadership there that is not interested in growing the wealth of their nation or their people.  They are interested in an ideology they serve. In general, the Iranians are a patriotic, loving people. Those here in the US now refer to the country as Persia, not Iran, because they remember how it could have been. In most countries most of the people are not what is seen on the news. They love their country and want what’s best for it. 

EC: Where are you going with the relationship between Whitney and Chunk?

BA/JW: They both have regrets.  He has built a wall. She feels he has gone overboard with his ‘professionalism.’ It is dangerous for them to have a personal relationship, something they both want. Since we have worked in those communities, we want people to understand what that step would have for the unit, the team, and the national security.  There probably could be some paths in which a relationship could be maneuvered where readers can possibly see it in future books or maybe not.

EC: You have a Ben Franklin quote that made me think of President Reagan’s doctrine, ‘Trust but Verify,’ and President Trump’s, ‘Peace through Strength.’ Do you agree he seems to be the first to use this philosophy?

BA/JW: You are referring to, “Believe none of what you hear, and half of what you see.” This is easy to discern. He has one click bumper sticker quotes.  This was not an endorsement of Ben Franklin but having this quote as a header into the storyline, don’t always believe your eyes. This book had a false flag operation, so the quote fit perfectly.

EC: There is another Ben Franklin quote that I assume was because one of the team members dies?

BA/JW: That quote was, “Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.” All our books are about honoring the sacrifice made by our service members and their families. This is reminiscent of some who we served with. This was put in to give a shout out to the personal and family sacrifices made by our warriors.

EC: Will there be a TV series/movie?

BA/JW: “Tier One” will be optioned by Legendary Television. We have the producers, a show runner, and a writer. This one is just about done. “Shepherds” is still in development for TV.  Four Minutes is in development for a feature film. We have multiple projects under development for film and television with major motion picture studios and producers including Legendary Entertainment, PictureStart, Walden Media, Imagine Television, Sony, Fifth Season/Endeavor Content, Hutch Parker Entertainment, and Marc Evans Productions.

EC: Next books?

BA/JW: This year four books will or have come out.  The fourth book in the “Shepherds series” came out in April, titled Dark Rising. The plot has the leader of the Dark Forces finally taken out, but the power vacuum is filled by a dark nefarious force who is kidnapping children in Haiti. 

The “Tier One” book will be out in late fall, titled Adversary. It will continue the arc including the relationship between John Dempsey and his son Jake. The plot continues where the last book, Ember, left off. A Chinese agent was helping the terrorist organization al Qaeda that was responsible for the bombing that killed President Warner and the Indian Prime Minister. Richard Wang of the task force is kidnapped so it's about trying to figure who took him and how to thwart the Chinese and the terrorists. 

In December the third installment of the “Tom Clancy series” will be out titled Executive Power. Katie Ryan’s brother Kyle will be featured. Katie is an intelligence officer, Jack Ryan Jr is an operative, and Kyle is a Naval Academy graduate that does something technology driven. The plot setting is the West Coast of Africa where there is a coup and forces the President to make a choice between putting country first or family first. In this book the Marines are brought to front. 

THANK YOU!!

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Guest Review: The List by Steve Berry

Grand Central Publishing

July 2025

The List by Steve Berry has multidimensional characters within a riveting plot. 

“This story is a little biographical. My hero is a lawyer in a small Georgian town that works for a paper company. The town is a company town.  As with Brent, at one time I was representing the unions and then switched to represent the company. While in a meeting in the 1980s it occurred to me what if they got rid of their problems, not through arbitration, but by killing people to control all their costs. The story was born.”

After a ten-year self-imposed exile, Brent Walker is returning home to Concord, a quaint town in central Georgia nestled close to the Savannah River. Brent left the town he was raised in after his wife and father died. But he returns after being hired by Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company as its assistant general counsel. 

“He was a former prosecutor, practiced law in a small town, and was very successful. He was close to Hank and eventually decided to represent the union, making a name for himself.  Unfortunately, he got himself into a bad marriage that ended tragically. He has a lot of guilt because of what happened to his wife. He now tries to stay out of trouble.  After leaving for a while, he returns, gets a job with the paper company, and must rise to the occasion.”

For decades, Southern Republic has invested heavily in Concord, creating a thriving community where its employees live, work, and retire. But the civil luster of this quiet town is deceiving, and when a list of cryptic codes surface, Brent starts to see the cracks. 

“The plot has a Priority Program. The prologue sets up how the owners are very brutal people.  The one plot is what they are doing, while the other characters of Brent, Ashley, and Hank revolved around each other. In some respects, it is a great Shakespearean tragedy, but with a good ending. I wanted to show how the three owners of the company were amoral. They did not care about anything except profits.  They decided to kill off their employees to maximize them.  Because one of them is dying he has a change of heart and tries to clear his conscience. I hid the crime until about page 50. They are very careful about how they kill.” 

Southern Republic’s success is based largely on a highly unorthodox and deadly system to control costs, known only to the three owners of the company.  Now, one of them, Christopher Bozin, has had a change of heart. Brent’s return to Concord, a move Bozin personally orchestrated, provides his conscience with a chance at redemption. But his other partners were used to controlling everything since it was a company town.  They try to make sure no gets wind of what they are doing which puts Brent, his good friend Hank, and the love of his life, Ashley, in the crosshairs.

This story is a page turner. 

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Road Trip with a Rogue by Kate Bateman

Road Trip with a Rogue by Kate Bateman is the third book in the Her Majesty’s Rebels series.  In this historical romance series, our main character works for  King & Co., London's premier private investigation firm.  Daisy Hamilton is trying to catch a young lady who is eloping with a man who parents feel is unsuitable.   

She is determined to stop the carriage that they are eloping in.  As a highway robber, Daisy stops the wrong carriage and is forced to join Lucien Vaughan, Duke of Cranford (the owner of the carriage).  

Lucien is making sure his nephew gets to elope with his lady love.  Daisy is trying to stop the elopement at the behest of the parents.  Not that they share that important knowledge.  They bicker and argue most of the journey alone in a carriage.   The novel is a fun read with one carriage chasing the other.  Daisy and Lucien are forced together for the trip (despite their background).  I enjoyed the journey they took (both physical and mental).  Road Trip with a Rogue by Kate Bateman was a great read.   

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The Sanctuary Keepers by Alexandra Barber

The Sanctuary Keepers by Alexandra Barber is a contemporary romance.  There is also an awakening of self and finding your true purpose in life.  Carrie Adams is shocked to find out she is not the new partner at her advertising agency.  She knows she is creative and a hard worker.  That wasn’t to be.  Carrie leaves abruptly to consider her next moves.  

Carrie rents a cottage on the Isle of Wight called Hideaway House.  The cottage is seemingly the best place for her  to contemplate her next moves.  There are many characters she meets and people that she connects with.  She almost feels like this is where she is supposed to be.  Then her past shows up and wants to make amends.  

I loved the main character, Carrie,  and felt she was realistic as we all get “stuck in our own loops”.  There are also ghosts or spirits who live in the cottage that occasionally rearrange things into how they feel they should go.  What I liked the best for Carrie, was the feeling of companionship with the island natives.  

This is Alexandra Barber’s first adult romance.  I am hoping that there are more in this series to come. I thought the book was an interesting read full of great characters.  The Sanctuary Keepers by Alexandra Barber was a good read. 

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Dead of Winter by Rebecca Zanetti 

Dead of Winter by Rebecca Zanetti is the first of a series about four brothers who live in Knife Edge, Alaska.  The brothers were found as young children after an avalanche.  Hank found them and raised them.  Each brother joined the service and have since left and are living back in their home town.  The first book is about Brock Osprey.  He is an ex Navy Seal and has been roped into being the sheriff by the people in town, even though he keeps refusing.  

Ophelia Spilazi is sent to Knife Edge.  She is an FBI agent, who is supposed to find out who murdered Hank.  Her boss has threatened her job if she is not able to find the murderer.  Ophelia was picked up by Brock as he was the only person available.   The town is full of quirky characters (none more quirky than the four brothers:  Ace, Brock, Christian and Damian). Ophelia is sure one of the four brothers killed Hank.  She is determined to find out which one.  Meanwhile, Brock is sure she is the one for him and their chemistry is off the charts.  It is clear that Brock and Olly (Ophelia) are meant for each other as they work together.

Rebecca Zanetti is a prolific writer who writes romance and suspenseful novels. She is well known for her novels about Laurel Snow.  The next book in the series is Thaw of Spring about Christian.  (Yes, I ordered it!)  Dead of Winter by Rebecca Zanetti  is a good read. 

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Wyoming Bodyguard by Danielle M Hass

Wyoming Bodyguard by Danielle M Hass is the first book in a series called Sunrise Security.  The book’s setting is Wyoming in a small town that is surrounded by ranches.  Madden McKay is the main character as well as the owner of Sunrise Security.  Too bad his name is not the best in town  after his father sold the ranch to a development company and now people are very reluctant to hire him.  

Lily Tremont used to be a great friend but through growing up and deaths in the family, they grew apart.  He left for the service and returned wounded unable to do ranch work.  With the ranch sold a schism developed between the families.

Until Madden witnessed Lily’s father being shot down in cold blood by an unknown assailant.  That is when things start to change.  Lily needs Madden’s help to figure out what is happening and who is trying to kill them.  

The book is a fast read, with action and romance.  It is clear the book is the first of a series as time is spent introducing us to the area. I enjoyed Madden and Lily together.  The action kept me curious about what was really happening in the story.  Wyoming Bodyguard by Danielle M Hass was a good read. 

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