Skyjack by KJ Howe
The Blurb
The electrifying sequel to THE FREEDOM BROKER, featuring Thea Paris, a kidnap and ransomspecialist. For Thea, kidnap is always personal - her brother's life was nearly ruined when he was taken as a child. Lisa Gardner says THE FREEDOM BROKER is 'clever and gritty' and Peter James calls it 'spellbinding'. If you like David Baldacci's King and Maxwell series, you will love this.
When Thea Paris's flight is hijacked over the Libyan Desert, her first priority is the two former child soldiers she is escorting to a new life in London.
As an international kidnap specialist, Thea Paris negotiates for hostage release as part of her job. She knows one wrong move could lead to deadly consequences.
After she is forcibly separated from the boys and the other passengers, Thea and her tactical team quickly regroup. And in their desperate search for the hostages that follows, unearth a conspiracy involving the CIA, the Vatican and the Sicilian Mafia, and a plot far more sinister than Thea could ever have imagined.
About K.J. Howe
Born: Toronto, Canada
Website: http://www.kjhowe.com
Genre: Thriller
Kimberley Howe is the Executive Director of ThrillerFest. Thrillerfest is a conference of International Thriller Writers held every July in New York City. She is also a former medical, health, and fitness writer, as well as, a world traveler, cyclist, swimmer and tennis player.
My Review
Having read and delighted in the thrill and adventure of KJ Howe's debut novel 'The Freedom Broker,' I was expecting greatness in her second novel 'Skyjack' and greatness was what I got. It becomes blatantly obvious that the prose wasn't penned by someone who merely does research then writes. This is written by someone who has travelled extensively, because how else can she transport the reader so realistically into the scene by her vivid descriptions of multinational locations around the globe. Thea Paris, kidnap and ransom specialist, is en-route to London with the care of two 'child soldiers' who she is going to hand over to new adoptive parents, when the plane is hijacked and forced to land in the Libyan desert, which turns out to be masterminded by a mafia mobster Prospero Salvatore. The story shifts to Austria with an underground terrorist organisation plotting a genetically-targeted chemical warfare strike against people of Arab descent, which is written from the POV of Johann, who is the son of the leader of the group, and has muslim girlfriend called Fatima. I particularly enjoyed the character of Johann, an unlikely hero who suffers from Marfan Syndrome. As with Thea with her diabetes, KJ Howe illustrates that very few of us are given the body we want, but nevertheless can still go on to do great things if we put our minds to it. The various parts of the story all come together in the end. It's action from beginning to end, and I really would like to Skyjack develop into a movie.
