The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry

Cotton Malone, a supposedly retired U.S. Justice Department agent, deals in rare books, until he nearly dies in a particularly nasty fire in a local museum. Now, he and his friend, Cassiopia Vitt, are chasing the villains across Europe trying to connect the dots among Irina Zovastina, president of the Central Asian Federation, President Daniels of the United States, and Enrico Vencenti of the Venetian League. The treasure appears to be Alexander the Great's tomb. Really, the truth involves biological weapons, billions of dollars in pharmaceuticals, and a medallion with the microscopic inscription for "life" in ancient Greek. Like most spy thrillers, Venetian Betrayal throws characters at the reader at an intense pace, and then bounces from location to location and action to action scene. Initially, I was annoyed that the plot just didn't move forward efficiently in a more connected style. But, as the pace increased and the enemy encounters intensified to reach the ultimate conflict, I found myself envisioning the action on the big screen, and it was amazing. Malone is a bit of a sap when it comes to Cassiopia, but one brilliant and capable spy when it comes to solving the intricate puzzle that Berry created. Worth every word read, I enjoyed chasing Malone and Vitt across Europe and Central Asia. Of course, the historic connection to ancient Greece caught my historian's interest. The action, while plentiful and violent, really intensified a sense of reality that the story needed. Overall a solid addition to the spy thriller with overtones of ancient treasure hunting genre.

Royal Target by Traci Hunter Abramson

A CIA operative, Janessa Roger specializes in linguistics, who sometimes finds a little excitement. While at a Brazillian state reception, she is suddenly requested to act as additional security detail for the royal family of Meridia, namely, Prince Garrett Fortier. He finds it quite humorous that a tiny woman like Janessa is his "body gaurd". But, Janessa and Garrett make a connection that neither expects, and when Janessa is sent home because of her religious beliefs, she is suddenly available to act as Garrett's fiance and lead the CIA's security detail to protect the royal family from what appears to be terrorist attacks associated with the possibility of the U.S. building a naval base in Meridia. Cute describes this fairly predictable book. The characters have just enough spice and chemistry to make them likable. Abramson throws believable distractions and complications (within the context of a spy novel) into the romance to keep the reader in suspense about who is targeting the royals and whether Janessa and Garrett will truly make a love match. An LDS suspense romance with a palpable religious conflict, Royal Target, is an escape piece that was just fun to relax and read. Nothing deep or thought provoking, but the book doesn't pretend to be those things, it is just a wonderfully, complicated and cute love story. Yeah!