Review: Lock 'N' Load

Lock 'N' Load by Tee O'Fallon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Along similar lines to the great K9 Rescue Series by D.D. Ayres but unfortunately not in the same league.

Trista Gold is a mousy, computer analyst for the CIA, her speciality is a computer program that she designed which allows her to overhear conversations on the dark web and she has been tracking the movements and conversations of a Russian spy called Alexy Lukashin. She overhears an intriguing conversation in one chat room which talks about a mysterious 'someone' who is not what he seems, a reporter called Thomas George, and refers to a place called Iqaluit.

Sergeant Matt Connors and his dog Sheba are a K-9 unit in CIA security. Trista is afraid of dogs and seeing Sheba throws her off balance and she falls over in the security line in front of Matt. Later that evening Matt is just in time to stop Trista being dragged into the woods by a man. Taking no chances, the CIA revokes Trista's clearance and puts her on administrative leave until they can determine whether the attack had anything to do with her work or Lukashin. As Trista's life is in danger she and Matt work together to try to piece together the meaning of the conversation that she overheard and why Lukashin wants her dead.

I don't know whether I am exceptionally bad tempered recently or whether I am just in a string of books in which the characters have to tick every possible cliche but this was another one. Matt has issues dating back to his teenage years which mean he believes he can never be happy, or at least shouldn't be allowed to be happy. He must atone for the tragedy in his past and is building a centre for troubled teens where they will work alongside rescue dogs. Trista is a 30-ish virgin in frumpy clothes who suddenly becomes a goddess overnight after putting on a t-shirt and jeans. And of course as soon as she has sex she is suddenly a vixen in bed - yep, she's a sexual unicorn!

For a virgin, her inherent sense of just how to drive his body crazy with need was beyond amazing.

Trista's terror of dogs is miraculously cured by Matt in one afternoon, oh and he also buys her new clothes (after another attack on her means she can't leave the house) including a sexy green silk negligee - creepy or not? There's a 40 year old mystery to solve, a political situation to unravel (which of course both Matt and Trista instantly understand), psychotic Russians, incompetent FBI agents, kidnappings and multiple murders. And TBH, I still don't understand WHY Lukashin wanted Trista dead, he must have known that she had shared the transcript of the conversation with the CIA, after which killing her was pointless. This book could have done with less things going on.

However, despite the 'kitchen sink' approach to plotting, this was an enjoyable CIA/FBI mystery which kept me reading on a long-haul flight. It is clearly intended to be a series featuring Matt's incredibly good-looking group of friends with their K-9 companions, each of whom works for a different law enforcement group. I will definitely read more in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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