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Carol Golden #3
Dangerous Wind
In the third Carol Golden novel, Dangerous Wind , Carol is abducted from Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she lives with her grandmother and is thrown into an adventure that will take her to all seven continents. It involves a former boyfriend she doesn’t remember (because of her amnesia), who is trying to bring about the “downfall of the Western World” according to people in power. While Carol is hunting for the bad guys she has to sort out the truth and figure out who they really are. But she isn’t prepared for the shocking answer.
- GenresMystery
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2013
About the author
Alan Cook
48 books70 followersAlan Cook is an author of mystery/suspense novels and young adult/Children's books. However, his latest novel is a comedy, ROCKY ROAD TO DENVER, set in 1968. His novella, DEATH AT MONKSREST, takes place in England in the 1960s and is the third book of the Charlie and Liz series. EAST OF THE WALL takes places in East Germany in 1963 when the Berlin Wall was up. It is the second book in the Charlie and Liz series. TRUST ME IF YOU DARE, the first Charlie and Liz novel, takes place in 1962 in the U.S. and Cuba. YOUR MOVE is the seventh Carol Golden book. A serial killer is on the loose. FOOL ME TWICE is the sixth Carol Golden book. It deals with scams, and we've all been fooled. GOOD TO THE LAST DEATH is the fifth Carol Golden novel. It deals with junk science. HIT THAT BLOT, with a backgammon theme, is the fourth Carol Golden novel. DANGEROUS WIND is the third Carol Golden novel. It takes place on all seven continents. RELATIVELY DEAD and FORGET TO REMEMBER, the first two, are about a young woman who loses her memory and calls herself Carol Golden. His short story, "Checkpoint Charlie," is in the anthology, MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA PRESENTS ICE COLD: TALES OF INTRIGUE FROM THE COLD WAR, edited by Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson. PICTURELAND, is a Young Adult novel that takes place in a dystopian world. DANCING WITH BULLS, his first children's book, takes place at Knossos Palace on the island of Crete 4,000 years ago. YOUR MOVE is he seventh Carol Golden book, in which Carol is asked to help track down a serial killer. RUN INTO TROUBLE has won a Silver Quill award from the American Author's Association and was named best Pacific West book by Reader Views. It is about an ultra-marathon along the California coast in 1969, during the Cold War. But is the Cold War about to heat up? HONEYMOON FOR THREE, has received a Silver Quill award from the American Author's Association and was named best Mountain West book by Reader Views. WALKING THE WORLD: MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES has been named one of the "Top 10 Walking Memoirs and Tales of Long Walks" by walking.about.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 5, 2015
A thrilling global hunt by an alluring woman, suffering amnesia, forced into a mission to track down a former lover she can no longer recall! These are the riddles that make Dangerous Wind such an intriguing read. From the security of my chair I raced pell-mell alongside our heroine, across seven continents, in pursuit of a master mathematician--the alleged villain bent on destroying the Western financial system. Reflecting true life, nothing is quite as black and white as first thought.
And as author Alan Cook's intriguing story unfolds we witness allegiances change, and in the process motives of the principal characters become better defined; but he is also ringing a cautionary bell about the overreach of big government, the hazards to the world economy by "to big to fail" banking institutions, and the slippery slope spiral of restricted freedoms. Hence, in the spirit of "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" Mr. Cook succeeds in informing us as he simultaneously so ably entertains us.
And as author Alan Cook's intriguing story unfolds we witness allegiances change, and in the process motives of the principal characters become better defined; but he is also ringing a cautionary bell about the overreach of big government, the hazards to the world economy by "to big to fail" banking institutions, and the slippery slope spiral of restricted freedoms. Hence, in the spirit of "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" Mr. Cook succeeds in informing us as he simultaneously so ably entertains us.
March 10, 2018
In Dangerous Wind by Alan Cook, investigator Carol Golden is kidnapped and ends up on a whirlwind journey that takes her across the seven continents and into some prickly, yet highly entertaining, predicaments. Carol, who also goes by the names Cynthia and Iako, has quite the checkered past, further complicated by amnesia, a fierce independence and a low tolerance for nonsense. While she is a beauty, the heroine’s street sense and intelligence are what really distinguish her as a character. By the way, the code-breaking scenes are terrific. Carol is thrown into many bewildering situations where she has to make judgments on old lovers, newly encountered spies, and even assassins. Those supporting characters are well drawn – many given surprisingly sympathetic and nuanced portrayals – and Cook masterfully shifts perspectives from Carol’s first person narrative to the third person interludes that not only propel the action forward, but builds suspense.
Simply put, Dangerous Wind is a tremendously enjoyable read. One of the great pleasures of this novel is the wonderful globetrotting, described in loving detail. The list of locales has numerous Grand Tour destinations and include many surprises (as I read, I kept a running tally, but felt I would be spoiling some of the fun by revealing). What is so impressive about all of these plot movements is that they seem to be orchestrated not by Cook but by the charismatic, yet morally ambiguous, antihero of the novel, Eric Nordahl. The layers of relationships give the novel gravity even as it drives toward a rousing and satisfying climax. The ancillary commentaries about financial institutions and governmental controls ground the novel. Dangerous Wind is a smart, entertaining read, and it receives my highest recommendation.
Simply put, Dangerous Wind is a tremendously enjoyable read. One of the great pleasures of this novel is the wonderful globetrotting, described in loving detail. The list of locales has numerous Grand Tour destinations and include many surprises (as I read, I kept a running tally, but felt I would be spoiling some of the fun by revealing). What is so impressive about all of these plot movements is that they seem to be orchestrated not by Cook but by the charismatic, yet morally ambiguous, antihero of the novel, Eric Nordahl. The layers of relationships give the novel gravity even as it drives toward a rousing and satisfying climax. The ancillary commentaries about financial institutions and governmental controls ground the novel. Dangerous Wind is a smart, entertaining read, and it receives my highest recommendation.
October 11, 2013
Within the first few pages of this third in the Carol Golden novels, we are swept immediately into the world of terror into which the protagonist finds herself, as she is kidnapped and flown partway across the world from her hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The reasons behind her kidnapping are unfathomable to her, other than the thought that it could be related to the wealth she had come into from her parents’ estate. Her captors appear to be a could-be model and a sexual harasser.
This is hardly the firs time Carol (whose real name, Cynthia Sakai, she had only recently discovered) had survived an attempt on her life. She had had most of her memory destroyed after being attacked and left, unconscious, in a dumpster nearly a year ago. Still recovering from amnesia, she has only recovered bits and pieces of the first twenty-five years of her life before the attack. Her captors release her soon after they all arrive in London, when she becomes involved in their mission to track down a man with whom she was in a relationship when she was in college, in fact a professor who was even then considered a radical. She is told that he is trying to bring about the “downfall of the Western World,” which would seem to be hyperbole until they explain that his weapons are financial as opposed to militaristic and involve various complex financial manipulations which would affect the world banking system, all too real and sounding very close to exactly what the U.S. (among other countries) is and has been going through in recent years..
To say the plot is international in scope would be a vast understatement, taking our protagonist as it does from England to Switzerland, Egypt, Tahiti, New Zealand and on and on, covering all seven continents. (The brief descriptions of the world capitals and their most famous sites are beautifully done, I might add.) There is quite a bit of action and suspense here, and the plot doesn’t sound like a recipe that would lend itself to humor, but don’t let that fool you (although it is rather sly). If this work of fiction causes its readers some unease, that may have been at least part of the author’s intention. Be that as it may, it is a page-turner, and definitely recommended.
Parenthetically, the title derives from an old Chinese proverb: “A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind.”
This is hardly the firs time Carol (whose real name, Cynthia Sakai, she had only recently discovered) had survived an attempt on her life. She had had most of her memory destroyed after being attacked and left, unconscious, in a dumpster nearly a year ago. Still recovering from amnesia, she has only recovered bits and pieces of the first twenty-five years of her life before the attack. Her captors release her soon after they all arrive in London, when she becomes involved in their mission to track down a man with whom she was in a relationship when she was in college, in fact a professor who was even then considered a radical. She is told that he is trying to bring about the “downfall of the Western World,” which would seem to be hyperbole until they explain that his weapons are financial as opposed to militaristic and involve various complex financial manipulations which would affect the world banking system, all too real and sounding very close to exactly what the U.S. (among other countries) is and has been going through in recent years..
To say the plot is international in scope would be a vast understatement, taking our protagonist as it does from England to Switzerland, Egypt, Tahiti, New Zealand and on and on, covering all seven continents. (The brief descriptions of the world capitals and their most famous sites are beautifully done, I might add.) There is quite a bit of action and suspense here, and the plot doesn’t sound like a recipe that would lend itself to humor, but don’t let that fool you (although it is rather sly). If this work of fiction causes its readers some unease, that may have been at least part of the author’s intention. Be that as it may, it is a page-turner, and definitely recommended.
Parenthetically, the title derives from an old Chinese proverb: “A crisis is an opportunity riding the dangerous wind.”
May 20, 2014
Deceit, conspiracy, and a wild worldwide chase!
Alan Cook often combines a bona-fide murder mystery and adventure story with reality...a well documented and thought out presentation of deceit and revelation of conspiracy. This book is no different, in fact as it delves into international financial institutions and governmental bailouts, I would say he has done a great deal of research on the subject.
This is the 3rd book in the series If you have not been following the adventures of Carol Golden, she is still trying to recover memories she has forgotten having suffered amnesia. Now, after a quick "abduction" while buying chocolates for her grandmother, she finds herself again facing the man who helped her regain what memories she has. Now she is about to go undercover with these two agents (her abductors and now team-mates) to locate, and possibly kill, a man she has been told was her lover in college. A man she has no recollection of. A worldwide seven-continent chase ensues, making this one of the most interesting chase books I've read.
Her former mentor has said that the man they are looking for is trying to bring down the Western World; she has been told this man is financially ruining the countries by security transactions causing banks to lose billions and possibly causing banks to fail. Cook's books usually contain the use of logic and/or mathematics puzzles and games, as played out by Carol in solving mysteries and personally, I enjoy these. In this case she is able to break an important code. But all is not as it seems. Is she on the right side or the wrong side? Has she been duped? Unbelievable end twist! I really enjoyed this book with its suspense, characters, some humor and most of all its glimpse of the world.
Alan Cook often combines a bona-fide murder mystery and adventure story with reality...a well documented and thought out presentation of deceit and revelation of conspiracy. This book is no different, in fact as it delves into international financial institutions and governmental bailouts, I would say he has done a great deal of research on the subject.
This is the 3rd book in the series If you have not been following the adventures of Carol Golden, she is still trying to recover memories she has forgotten having suffered amnesia. Now, after a quick "abduction" while buying chocolates for her grandmother, she finds herself again facing the man who helped her regain what memories she has. Now she is about to go undercover with these two agents (her abductors and now team-mates) to locate, and possibly kill, a man she has been told was her lover in college. A man she has no recollection of. A worldwide seven-continent chase ensues, making this one of the most interesting chase books I've read.
Her former mentor has said that the man they are looking for is trying to bring down the Western World; she has been told this man is financially ruining the countries by security transactions causing banks to lose billions and possibly causing banks to fail. Cook's books usually contain the use of logic and/or mathematics puzzles and games, as played out by Carol in solving mysteries and personally, I enjoy these. In this case she is able to break an important code. But all is not as it seems. Is she on the right side or the wrong side? Has she been duped? Unbelievable end twist! I really enjoyed this book with its suspense, characters, some humor and most of all its glimpse of the world.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews