Political-Military backdrop with strong female protagonist
It is the first spring of the new millennium. Susanna Marcasi prowls Washington, D.C., looking for lost love. Thoughts of her brutal New Orleans youth haunt her. She suffers physical and mental anguish stemming from a so-called “accident” of which she has no memory and believes something more occurred.
The banished Marine Corps officer receives a surprise 3 a.m. call. She meets estranged Lori O’Reilly. Susanna senses an opportunity for redemption and truth and agrees to unravel the apparent suicide of Lori’s lover, Joe Earhardt
While stringing at a White House ceremony, Susanna surprises Naval Academy classmate Mike Singleton. The carnage from a bitter lovers’ struggle has kept the couple apart until now. Singleton, on a special tour with the Defense Intelligence Agency, hunts Earhardt for suspicious liaisons.
Susanna finds herself toe-to-toe with Manfred Stahl, a man to whom all are beholden and whom a cowering president has crowned defense secretary. Stahl’s unabashed lust for power and emotional instability are eclipsed only by his vile and vindictive nature. She waged war with the senator and Marine War hero on the Hill, but feels their relationship may transcend Washington. She has learned the powerful have secrets and Stahl has his share. Susanna has worked to decipher the disappearance of billions targeted for New Orleans’ aging levees. Her spot-on funding query enrages the new cabinet secretary-cum-clandestine paramilitary broker, sending the two on the deadly collision course they shared a lifetime earlier.
322 pages
Reviews:
Blood Stripe is a heart pounding military thriller with sex, politics, and intrigue that grabs the reader in a headlock and never lets up. Jess Todtfeld – Former Producer FOX News, NBC, ABC-TV; President, Success in Media, Inc
“Blood Stripe” reads like a movie, yet it feels like real life. … a fast-moving, action-packed shocker … an emotional rollercoaster from elation to utter despair … masterfully intertwines seemingly divergent elements to give readers a book they will find hard to put down.
–Robert Curbeam, former astronaut and U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1984
This was tough to put down. As a military insider I recognized some of the characters, places, and languages. At first I thought that’s what kept me coming back to story but it was the well-crafted plot and the characters that kept my nose in the book over the course of just a few days. Looking forward to reading the next installment.
A really fun read! A bit more of the character’s sex lives than maybe I needed, but that’s just me. The story was great and I had a hard time putting it down!
Read this book!
Bought it, read it and loved it — think you will too! Found it to be a page-turner and was almost sad to see the book come to an end. Buy it and see what you think — you won’t be disappointed . . . Oh — I bought the Kindle version, but there wasn’t a place to review the book, but I wanted people to know it is WELL worth the read.
