Huntress by A.E. RadleyMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I hadn't looked too closely at the story when I first spotted this book and started to drool over it. Based on some comments I'd seen, a few glimpses from reviews, ratings, etc. So I watched as the days to publication counted down, knowing mostly that this book involved loads of humor. But not really much else (my fault, and somehow I took everything I'd glimpsed, combined it with the book cover, and came up with the insane idea that this might be a humorous fantasy/horror book - I mean, come on, the cover looks like a zombie/werewolf/vampire is creeping up on a car driving along - and, quite frankly, now that I look at it, completely confuses me for being on the cover of this book (the 'fleeing couple' (they aren't a couple but best friends, one lesbian, other straight) ditched the car early on, and everyone chasing them did so, for the most part, with access to modern technology - as in, the fleeing people were afoot, chasing people were acar. So . . . what's with the cover?).
Right, sorry. All I meant to do was say something like: things I had read made me think this would be a humorous lark, maybe vampire related. Took me awhile to realize this was a spy caper. I mean, the book starts off with a coffee shop worker talking to some incompetent police about a missing woman. She doesn't actually know anything about the woman except for the name 'Cara', some kind of 'Spanish' vibe, and that she'd been coming in the shop every work day for 10 months, except for three days ago when she didn't pop in. And is therefore missing. See, I'd been thinking - ooh, I know, she'd been turned into a vampire, like, yeah. That's why she couldn't come in the morning? No - I'd entered this via the wrong genre. This isn't a fantasy/horror doofus. mmphs. Stupid me. Stupid.
Right, so, what is this about? A woman of exactly 25 has great schooling 'but' works as a coffee shop worker because it's safe and pays the minimal bills. She's been flirting for ten months with one of her customers named Cara. Until she wasn't because Cara poofed on her. So, as noted, she told the police. Who didn't give two shits about it. So Amy, the 25 year old is named Amy by the way, decided to investigate the matter herself. So she looks at the video tapes. Mostly to try to pick up on the woman's license plate on the car. Saw how incredibly obvious her flirting was. Also saw that the woman always seemed to park in the same spot which hid the license plate. Also saw that the woman had, at the very least, been using her. Distracting her with mild flirtation while she hid something under one of the tables. She also saw that whatever she had been hiding under the tables for 10 months had: 1) been picked up by 'spiky' so named because of his 'bad hair'; and 2) whatever she'd been hiding, one of those 'things' was still under one of the tables (the 'wrong' table).
Amy looks. Finds USB thingy. Before she can investigate further the spiky haired guy is in her face demanding to know if she had found any USB drives. Because he lost one. Amy lies and says no (which, on the face of it, didn't mean anything right then and there, but now that I've read the book and know that Amy is quite horrible at lying and incapable of doing anything but telling the truth . . . changes that scene in my mind). Man leaves. May or may not believe her. She goes back to the back area, retrieves her laptop (there’s a story there why she has it at work – and why she has a massive camping bag – she and her friend were going to go camping in a test run thing, and after one time she forgot her knickers, she wasn’t going to forget anything ever again, and I mean anything). Plugs the USB into the laptop and . . . before you can say boo, the man pops in and screams at her to give him the USB drive. Mentions several things. She flees. He chases. Her friend Kerry pops up (since they were going to meet there shortly). Man pulls the friend into the crisis. Then police show up, or at least people looking police like with weapons. Amy and Kerry then duck into the ladies (as, obviously, a spy wanting something from you wouldn’t dare follow you into the ladies, right?). And then proceed to continue in their fleeing.
They end up on a train. Then off a train. Then camping. Then . . . well, more fleeing.
Meanwhile other characters are introduced to the story. We have an older fella at MI5 who is tasked with investigating this case. Not immediately obvious but I think part of his scenes actually were set before the USB disk was found. Then scenes in which he hires an ex-MI5 person to track the two women, Amy and Kerry. And she, Claudia, does. All over the place. Driving. Sleeping in car. Driving.
To add to the confusion, Amy, as hinted at earlier, simply can’t stop from being honest. So she basically tells any and every one that she meets that they are on the run from the police. Naturally . . ..
If I had gone into this story correctly, there’s a good chance that I might have ended up on 5 stars. For one, I expected an hilarious romp, whatever genre we were actually going to be in. Some funny moments here and there, but no. This is not an hilarious romp. Soooo…..
Right, last thought: for those looking for romance, yes that trickles in. And no it does not involve ‘spoiler’ (view spoiler).
Rating: 4.55
June 26 2017
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