Description: Talia Inger is a rookie CIA case officer assigned not to the Moscow desk as she had hoped but to the forgotten backwaters of Eastern Europe--a department only known as "Other." When she is tasked with helping a young, charming Moldovan executive secure his designs for a revolutionary defense technology, she figures she'll be back in DC within a few days. But that's before she knows where the designs are stored--and who's after them. With her shady civilian partner, Adam Tyler, Talia takes a deep dive into a world where only criminal minds and unlikely strategies will keep the Gryphon, a high-altitude data vault, hovering in the mesosphere.
Even Tyler is more than he seems, and Talia begins to wonder: Is he helping her? Or using her access to CIA resources to pull off an epic heist for his own dark purposes?
In this Ocean's Eleven-meets-Mission Impossible thriller, former tactical deception officer and stealth pilot James R. Hannibal offers you a nonstop thrill ride through the most daring heist ever conceived.
My Thoughts: This is a fun heist novel. I don't often read these types of stories, but I thought I would try this author, especially to see how his background would be worked into the story. In the end, what I felt set this book apart from others in the genre wasn't the author's background, but his characters. The tag team he developed for this series really plays well and I am excited to see how these characters interact in future books.
Sadly, the weakest character seemed to be Talia, who read more as who the reader was meant to see themselves as. For much of the story, I wondered what she brought to the table, not just for the heist but also for the CIA. Hopefully her role will develop more as the series goes on. Still, Talia's inclusion in the story did allow for Tyler to be a more engaging character than he would have been otherwise.
If you enjoy heist stories and have a high level of suspension of disbelief, I think this is a great book to read. If only for Eddie, I would say give it a try, as this geek tries really hard to make his sci-fi references a part of most conversations. And despite how cliché that last part sounds, it actually made for a great character.
I have provided an honest review after having received a copy of the book from the publisher.
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