Covert Evidence by Rachel Grant

Narrated by Nicol Zanzarella

In this action-packed romantic thriller, the fifth in Rachel Grant’s Evidence series, marine archaeologist Cressida Porter travels to South Eastern Turkey (near the borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran) in order to reconnoitre a possible excavation site as a subject for her thesis, only to end up on the run from a dangerous terrorist network with an American covert operative who may or may not be trustworthy. I should point out that although a number of characters from the previous books make cameo appearances in Covert Evidence, it’s not absolutely necessary to have listened to or read them to be able to understand and enjoy this story.

On her last night in Antalya before heading out to the prospective site, Cressida and a friend are enjoying a night out at a bar while waiting to meet with the guide and translator with whom she has arranged to travel. Completely out of the blue, Cressida’s ex-boyfriend Todd Ganem turns up and starts making a nuisance of himself, and their heated exchange ends with Cressida decking him in rather spectacular fashion. Some months earlier, Todd had stolen some extremely valuable Lidar (a kind of Radar, but which uses laser technology) equipment from the university and then dragged Cressida into it by claiming he stole it at her instigation. An enquiry exonerated her, but her reputation is still a little suspect in some quarters, and now all she wants to go is to regain the respect of her colleagues, move on and finish her PhD.

Also in the bar that night are a couple of CIA operatives, Ian Boyd and his back-up, rookie Zack Barrow, both of whom can’t help but be impressed by the beauty with the mean right hook. The men are waiting for a drop to be made by one of Ian’s contacts, Hejan, a Kurdish rebel with a score to settle. Hejan has promised to deliver a microchip containing sensitive information about terrorist networks and contacts, money laundering routes and lists of those funding terrorist operations around the world. As Ian and Zack watch, Hejan approaches the unknown American woman, engages her in conversation and hands her a package – which is marked with a special symbol indicating the presence of the microchip within.

At this point, Ian has no way of knowing whether Cressida is complicit or just an unwitting courier, but his mission is to follow the chip, which is what he does, assuming the identity of security consultant John Baker on the flight out of Antalya as a way of getting close to Cressida and the package. The chemistry between the two is electric, but it’s not long before what should have been a fairly simply follow-and-retrieve mission goes completely pear-shaped and Ian and Cressida find themselves in danger from the terrorists who will stop at nothing to prevent the information Hejan gathered from falling into enemy hands, and the US authorities, who have been fed false information about Ian’s loyalty.

I really couldn’t bear to stop listening to this audiobook in order to do things like work and sleep – it was THAT compelling. Ms. Grant achieves a perfect balance between the suspense plot and the romance in this story, and both are intertwined so well that the listener is never left feeling as though anything out of place is happening. The romance unfolds slowly, which it should, considering the pair is on the run, and the author does a terrific job showing two wary people gradually letting someone else in. The romantic interludes – when they happen – take place at appropriate points in the story and never feel as though they have just been ‘shoved in’ because it’s time for a sex scene. The plotting is superb; I have read a few of the other books in this series recently, and love the fact that the heroines are historians and archaeologists (which happens to have been the author’s profession), and the way that the technology employed in those areas is incorporated into the stories. Also masterful is her grasp of the politics of an incredibly sensitive region of the world, and the way in which she has interwoven so much interesting information about its culture and politics makes for a wonderfully informative backdrop to her story.

Ian and Cressida are well-developed, attractive but flawed characters. Cressida is smart and tough, and when she’s thrust into a terrifying, life-threatening situation she finds it in herself to roll with it. I liked that about her; she doesn’t turn into a whimpering damsel in distress and keeps going, even though she’s scared. Ian is, as one would expect, all alpha, but there’s a vulnerability about him that rounds out his character and is actually rather sweet. He has spent most of the past twelve years in the Middle East working counter-terrorism, and in the course of his work, regularly assumes other identities. He’s suave and comfortable as John Baker, but much less confident as himself, and relationships are unknown territory. Given his occupation, it would be odd if he didn’t have trust issues – and Cressida, as the result of her upbringing by a neglectful single mother and a poor track record with men (culminating in sleaze-bag Todd), is naturally wary of getting involved with a man who can’t – or won’t – tell her the whole truth about himself.

Nicol Zanzarella is an experienced but new-to-me narrator, and she has narrated four out of the five books in this series that are currently available. Her performance is very accomplished technically and I enjoyed it on all counts; her acting choices are spot on, she differentiates well and she does a great job with the pacing, conveying just the right degree of urgency, excitement or peril in all the right places. Ms. Zanzarella’s voice falls naturally into the mezzo range and has an attractive husky quality to it which works really well in the more intimate scenes (which are nice and steamy), and also helps in portraying the male characters in the story, of which there are several. There are a number of scenes which feature four or more different men, but I never had a problem distinguishing between them; and while there are fewer female characters and fewer scenes featuring more than one, the same is true for the women.

Covert Evidence is a brilliantly constructed story, and I am in awe at the amount of research that must have gone in to the history, geography and politics of the area in which it is set. Ms. Grant weaves everything together so seamlessly that it seems effortless, and I will definitely be checking out the other audiobooks in the series and hoping for more of the same.

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Caz

AUDIOBOOK INFORMATION

TITLE: Covert Evidence

AUTHOR: Rachel Grant

NARRATED BY: Nicol Zanzarella

GENRE: Romantic Suspense

STEAM FACTOR: Glad I had my earbuds in

REVIEWER: Caz [button type=’link’ link=’http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KYLM9HQ/?tag=audiogalsnet-20′ size=’btn-lg’ variation=’btn-default’ target=’blank’]Buy Covert Evidence by Rachel Grant on Amazon[/button] [section label=’Excerpt’ anchor=’Excerpt’]EXCERPT: