Straight Reading from the Library: Cargo by DV Berkom

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READ THE BLURB

Haunted by memories of an op gone bad, former assassin Leine Basso travels to Bangkok in search of a missing backpacker. With help from an old contact, she discovers the man responsible for the girl’s disappearance is connected to a violent Hong Kong triad and is the linchpin of an extensive trafficking network—both animal and human.

Making enemies isn’t new for Leine, but making one in the triad is—she soon finds herself a prisoner onboard a cargo ship headed for sub-Saharan Africa. To ensure her survival and to continue her hunt for the missing girl, she must join forces with Derek, an ivory poacher who promises to help her.

For a price.

READ THE REVIEW

Even though this is the 4th book of the series, it can easily be read as a standalone. This was the first book of this series I have read, but I enjoyed it as thoroughly as I did the last one I had the opportunity to read. I enjoyed it so much, I checked out the possibility of getting at least the first book in the series and was pleased to discover that the first three books are available, on sale, as a boxed set! I have some fun reading ahead of me to catch up on what happened to Leine Basso before the current adventure!

And, an adventure it was! What was supposed to be a fairly routine rescue attempt turned into a desperate fight for her life, as well as many others. It is non-stop and kept my attention riveted throughout the entire book. I liked the characters-- and could so see this unfolding in my mind as I read...and believe it would make an excellent movie!

There are is one scene especially that was hard to read, but it was necessary to see the cruelty that can take place in the illegal realm of ivory smuggling. Fortunately, scenes such as this are kept to a minimum and are not thrown in gratuitously just for the sake of shock value.

Now, I just need to wait for a period to sit down and begin reading the first three books, because if this one is any indication, I'm not going to want to get up for a while! 4.5 stars.

READ AN EXCERPT

This wasn’t right.

Kylie leaned over the side of the tuk tuk and gasped for air but only succeeded in choking on the thick exhaust of heavy evening traffic. The neon signs of Bangkok’s Soi Cowboy District streaked past at dizzying speed, shifting her unsettled stomach into epic nausea.

I didn’t have that much to drink.

She’d been at the bar for less than an hour, waiting with her friends from the hostel for the legendary lady boys to appear. The thought that the bartender had spiked her beer skated across her mind, but she rejected the idea. Why drug a customer who was obviously part of the backpacking crowd and wouldn’t have much money?

The motorized rickshaw turned down an unfamiliar street, heading in the opposite direction from the hostel.

“Wait—where are we going?” she asked, her breathing shallow. The words echoed in her brain, like she was standing in a hole. Slowly, she swiveled her head. Alak, the guy she’d been talking to who worked at the hostel, sat across the seat studying her closely, as though she were an insect pinned to a bug board. Frowning, she glanced in the rearview mirror. The driver was watching her, too. Dread crawled deep in her stomach, clawing at the thought that the two men knew each other, knew what was wrong with her, expected it, in fact.

I have to get out…get back to the hostel. She curled her fingers around the metal rail that surrounded the backseat and leaned toward the open doorway. I need to call Mom and Dad, tell them I’m ready to come home…

Alak grasped her arm and pulled her back. Unable to keep her grip, her fingers slid from the railing.

MEET THE AUTHOR

DV Berkom is a slave to the voices in her head. As the bestselling author of two award-winning thriller series (Leine Basso and Kate Jones), her love of creating resilient, kick-ass women characters stems from a lifelong addiction to reading spy novels, mysteries, and thrillers, and longing to find the female equivalent within those pages.

Raised in the Midwest, she earned a BA in political science from the University of Minnesota and promptly moved to Mexico to live on a sailboat. Several cross-country moves later, she now lives just outside of Seattle, Washington with the love of her life, Mark, a chef-turned-contractor, and several imaginary characters who like to tell her what to do. Her most recent books include Cargo, The Body Market, Bad Traffick, A One Way Ticket to Dead, and Yucatán Dead.

Website: http://www.dvberkom.com
Blog: http://dvberkom.blogspot.com
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