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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Havoc by Steven F. Freeman

Havoc (The Blackwell Files #4)

When Cryptologist Alton Blackwell takes his girlfriend, FBI Agent Mallory Wilson, on a surprise trip to Italy, the couple expects the vacation of a lifetime, but their pleasure is short-lived. Intent on selling Vidulum Inc.’s proprietary technology to the highest bidder, a rogue employee of the high-tech company arranges a clandestine meeting at one of Rome’s most famous tourist attractions. Rather than collecting a huge payday, however, the company turncoat encounters a lethal surprise. When Alton and Mallory rush to assist the dying scientist, they find themselves pulled into the subsequent murder investigation.

Foreign and domestic agents, corporate spies, intellectual-property thieves, and shadowy underworld figures race to acquire the technical files stored on the dead employee’s missing cellphone and reap the billions of dollars and technological superiority now at stake. 

Despite their efforts to leave the tragedy behind and continue their vacation, Alton and Mallory soon learn their own lives are in danger. They are left with no choice but to join forces with the Roman police in an effort to crack the case. While diving into the investigation, the discovery of another man in Mallory’s past disrupts Alton’s plan to move his relationship with her to a new level. 

As they encounter unexpected twists at a breakneck pace, Alton and Mallory must summon all their intellectual powers to reveal the truth behind the Vidulum employee’s death and track down the missing technological plans before a life-threatening end game can be set in motion.



4.5 Stars

Stolen files, murder and another mystery mean Alton and Mallory's trip to Italy just went from vacation to working in solving another mystery and when they are targeted by assassins things get allot more personal for the couple. When files that could change the world are stolen and the seller is killed in Rome where Alton and Mallory find him they are thrust into another situation where they must figure out "who done it" before the files get into the hands of the wrong people.

Alton is determined to use this trip to see if Mallory could be happy with him, a cripple, for the long term. When he learns of a mysterious "Tom" who Mallory may have dated after Afghanistan he becomes nervous about weather or not she actually sees a future with him. He's a bit insecure because of his injuries and what he can and can't do with Mallory at times, but he's learning who to trust her and it's so sweet seeing him doing everything he can for her.

As with the other books in this series this one is told from several POV's including Alton's, the people the files were stolen from, and the bad guys. You see not only what's going on with Alton and Mallory, but also how things are going from the other perspectives and what everyone is trying to do to get the missing files.

I enjoyed seeing more of Alton and Mallory story as they continue to grow and another great mystery we get to solve with them.

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