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Cleo Cooper Mystery #2
Trusting Viktor
Betting her life savings on a risky offshore natural gas enterprise, brilliant geologist Cleo Cooper has high hopes for a big payday. But a violent attack onboard the drillship darkens Cleo's optimism. Days later, a man washes up on the coast near the drill sight, but is it the man who assaulted Cleo? When Viktor, a promising young Russian geologist is hired as the dead man's replacement, Cleo isn't sure if he's friend or foe. The truth seems to be lurking beneath the surface, and as she gets closer to it, Cleo begins to wonder if she's standing between a murderer and a treasure worth killing for. "A breezily entertaining whodunit."― Publishers Weekly "[A] fun read."― Mystery Scene
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 26, 2016
I love a good mystery and this didn't let me down! The geology was interesting, too.
June 14, 2016
Title: Trusting Viktor - Cleo Cooper Mystery 2
Author: Lee Mims
Published: 2-8-2014
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Pages: 314
Genre: Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense
Sub Genre: Women Sleuths; Women's Fiction
ISBN: 9780738734262
ASIN: B00HNEPEZC
Reviewer: DelAnne
Reviewed For: NetGalley
Rating: 5 Stars
.
Cleo Cooper, a geologist is out diving when she becomes trapped. Luckily Viktor Kozlov finds her and frees her allowing Cleo to rise safely to the surface with only seconds to spare. On the advice of her ex-husband, Bud Cleo has invested a large chunk of her savings into a company's off-shore drilling exploration for natural gas of the coast of North Carolina. Unsure of the talents of their young geologist Global Oil wants Cleo to supervise. Both she and Bud end up having to stay on the rig overnight due to bad weather. Cleo having trouble sleeping decides to explore the rig when she is attacked and passes out. A few days later the body of the rig's geologist washes ashore. Viktor is hired as his replacement. Cleo has begun to trust no one not even her own judgments. Who exactly is Viktor and was his saving Cleo as fortuitous as it seemed at the time or planned? Was the man who washed ashore the one who attacked Cleo? What was Bud doing the night Cleo was attacked? Cleo has decided the time has come to find the answers before something else happens.
Cleo is an interesting character with only one truly glaring flaw, Cleo has a bit of a quirky habit of becoming involved with dead bodies. I reserve judgment on Bud and Viktor. This is a fast paced story that pulls you in quickly and keeps you glued to your set until the very end. A bit darker than a cozy mystery, but still not as gory and violent as the modern thriller/suspense novel. Cleo Cooper Mysteries are a good mixture of the two. Each book in the series can be read as a stand- alone so don't worry if you haven't read the first book in the series yet. My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HNEPEZC/...
Barnes and Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trust...
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The Reading Room link: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
Author: Lee Mims
Published: 2-8-2014
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Pages: 314
Genre: Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense
Sub Genre: Women Sleuths; Women's Fiction
ISBN: 9780738734262
ASIN: B00HNEPEZC
Reviewer: DelAnne
Reviewed For: NetGalley
Rating: 5 Stars
.
Cleo Cooper, a geologist is out diving when she becomes trapped. Luckily Viktor Kozlov finds her and frees her allowing Cleo to rise safely to the surface with only seconds to spare. On the advice of her ex-husband, Bud Cleo has invested a large chunk of her savings into a company's off-shore drilling exploration for natural gas of the coast of North Carolina. Unsure of the talents of their young geologist Global Oil wants Cleo to supervise. Both she and Bud end up having to stay on the rig overnight due to bad weather. Cleo having trouble sleeping decides to explore the rig when she is attacked and passes out. A few days later the body of the rig's geologist washes ashore. Viktor is hired as his replacement. Cleo has begun to trust no one not even her own judgments. Who exactly is Viktor and was his saving Cleo as fortuitous as it seemed at the time or planned? Was the man who washed ashore the one who attacked Cleo? What was Bud doing the night Cleo was attacked? Cleo has decided the time has come to find the answers before something else happens.
Cleo is an interesting character with only one truly glaring flaw, Cleo has a bit of a quirky habit of becoming involved with dead bodies. I reserve judgment on Bud and Viktor. This is a fast paced story that pulls you in quickly and keeps you glued to your set until the very end. A bit darker than a cozy mystery, but still not as gory and violent as the modern thriller/suspense novel. Cleo Cooper Mysteries are a good mixture of the two. Each book in the series can be read as a stand- alone so don't worry if you haven't read the first book in the series yet. My rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HNEPEZC/...
Barnes and Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trust...
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
The Reading Room link: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.ph...
February 22, 2015
Author Lee Mims is a fellow North Carolinian. I always enjoy reading books by local authors set in areas I've visited myself, Holding a degree in geology and having worked in the field brings gravitas to her character Cleo Cooper, a geologist working on a natural gas project off the coast of our state. She's sunk her life savings into the deal and hopes for a big payoff.
But in this mystery, something else is going on as well.
Cleo is attacked late one night on board the drillship, a large hairy man attempting to rip her clothes off. Head knocked, she loses consciousness, only to come to asleep in her bunk, clothes arranged neatly, and no sexual assault on her person. And no one seems to know anything untoward happened to her.
When a body turns up floating downwards from the ship, the police show up asking questions. Cleo, while not getting a good look at her attacker, it was pitch black, is pretty sure he's the one. She can't explain and the cops keep att it, especially when it's learned the man's head was fractured.
That sets Cleo to wondering exactly what happened. Her ex-husband was on board. Their relationship is friendly and she wonders if he'd saved her. Had another?
The Viktor of the title is a young Russian, twelve years her junior, who she first met in the Gulf of Mexico when he saved her life while diving among drill rigs and in danger of drowning when caught up in wreckage.
They become brief lovers, then when he shows up replacing the dead man off North Carolina, she gets her hackles up. Friendly enough, almost like a puppy dog, she fends more advances off.
And one more mystery.
A fabulous treasure that someone seems ready to kill for. Cleo keeps doggedly pursuing each clue she uncovers.
I like the author's writing style. Smooth and clean, she keeps a nice pacing on her tale, no dull stretches, as she moves toward the conclusion. Second in the series, I definitely have the first on my reading radar.
But in this mystery, something else is going on as well.
Cleo is attacked late one night on board the drillship, a large hairy man attempting to rip her clothes off. Head knocked, she loses consciousness, only to come to asleep in her bunk, clothes arranged neatly, and no sexual assault on her person. And no one seems to know anything untoward happened to her.
When a body turns up floating downwards from the ship, the police show up asking questions. Cleo, while not getting a good look at her attacker, it was pitch black, is pretty sure he's the one. She can't explain and the cops keep att it, especially when it's learned the man's head was fractured.
That sets Cleo to wondering exactly what happened. Her ex-husband was on board. Their relationship is friendly and she wonders if he'd saved her. Had another?
The Viktor of the title is a young Russian, twelve years her junior, who she first met in the Gulf of Mexico when he saved her life while diving among drill rigs and in danger of drowning when caught up in wreckage.
They become brief lovers, then when he shows up replacing the dead man off North Carolina, she gets her hackles up. Friendly enough, almost like a puppy dog, she fends more advances off.
And one more mystery.
A fabulous treasure that someone seems ready to kill for. Cleo keeps doggedly pursuing each clue she uncovers.
I like the author's writing style. Smooth and clean, she keeps a nice pacing on her tale, no dull stretches, as she moves toward the conclusion. Second in the series, I definitely have the first on my reading radar.
April 11, 2015
Cleo Cooper (female) is a talented geologist that consults for energy companies in their searches for new sources of fossil fuels. She is divorced but still has an occasional fling with her ex-husband Bud. He works in the financial industry and together they are heavily invested in a drilling operation off the North Carolina coast.
Cleo helps the drilling managers in planning their tactics and predicting when they will hit the gas pocket and how much is there. She travels to the rig on occasion and all are well aware that if this drilling operation is not wildly successful, the company will most likely go bankrupt. Therefore, both Cleo and Bud face the possibility of major financial failure as well.
Late one night, Cleo is assaulted by one of the workers and she passes out, only to wake up in the bed assigned to her. After a frantic examination, she realizes that she was not raped but has no idea how she managed to escape the man and end up in bed.
The body of the man that was most likely her assailant washes up on the beach and he is replaced by Viktor, a young, talented and attractive Russian geologist. This begins a story of sexual intensity, a hunt for riches, intrigue, uncertainty and danger.
The story moves along at a rapid pace, Cleo is an independent woman whose passion matches or exceeds her talents as a geologist. Mims weaves the professional, familial, danger and mystery aspects of the story into a fairly seamless and integrated story. While all are present, none overwhelms the other as she is portrayed as an active, intelligent woman with a bit of a snappy mouth that does not always work as fast as she would like.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon.
Cleo helps the drilling managers in planning their tactics and predicting when they will hit the gas pocket and how much is there. She travels to the rig on occasion and all are well aware that if this drilling operation is not wildly successful, the company will most likely go bankrupt. Therefore, both Cleo and Bud face the possibility of major financial failure as well.
Late one night, Cleo is assaulted by one of the workers and she passes out, only to wake up in the bed assigned to her. After a frantic examination, she realizes that she was not raped but has no idea how she managed to escape the man and end up in bed.
The body of the man that was most likely her assailant washes up on the beach and he is replaced by Viktor, a young, talented and attractive Russian geologist. This begins a story of sexual intensity, a hunt for riches, intrigue, uncertainty and danger.
The story moves along at a rapid pace, Cleo is an independent woman whose passion matches or exceeds her talents as a geologist. Mims weaves the professional, familial, danger and mystery aspects of the story into a fairly seamless and integrated story. While all are present, none overwhelms the other as she is portrayed as an active, intelligent woman with a bit of a snappy mouth that does not always work as fast as she would like.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review also appears on Amazon.
June 13, 2015
This is Lee Mims' third book in her Cleo Cooper mystery series (Hiding Gladys and Saving Cecil are the others), and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cleo is a middle aged, divorced mother of two adult children, with a complicated but cordial relationship with her ex-husband. She's also a geologist who has invested her life savings in an off-shore oil well and then finds herself a suspect in a murder on the oil rig. Enter Viktor, a handsome and much younger Russian man who seems besotted with Cleo.
Cleo is a spunky, smart, funny, independent character and I really enjoyed getting to know her. Being of a similar age, I could identify with her relationship with her children, her career ambitions and her concerns about middle aged body issues. The interaction between Cleo and her ex-husband is sweet and teasing, and the romantic scenes with Viktor rang true.
The author gave a lot of details about geology and the oil industry, which I found very interesting. Because the author is an actual geologist who has done the work Cleo does, her female point of view in this mostly-male industry made the story that much more believable.
There's an unexpected second mystery within the story, which kept me guessing and riveted until the last action-packed pages. This is one of the best mysteries I've read, and I give it five stars for believable characters and a realistic storyline.
The author sent me a complimentary copy of her book, in exchange for writing a review. I wasn't asked to leave a positive review, nor was I paid or otherwise compensated for reviewing this book.
Cleo is a spunky, smart, funny, independent character and I really enjoyed getting to know her. Being of a similar age, I could identify with her relationship with her children, her career ambitions and her concerns about middle aged body issues. The interaction between Cleo and her ex-husband is sweet and teasing, and the romantic scenes with Viktor rang true.
The author gave a lot of details about geology and the oil industry, which I found very interesting. Because the author is an actual geologist who has done the work Cleo does, her female point of view in this mostly-male industry made the story that much more believable.
There's an unexpected second mystery within the story, which kept me guessing and riveted until the last action-packed pages. This is one of the best mysteries I've read, and I give it five stars for believable characters and a realistic storyline.
The author sent me a complimentary copy of her book, in exchange for writing a review. I wasn't asked to leave a positive review, nor was I paid or otherwise compensated for reviewing this book.
May 31, 2014
#2 in the Cleo Cooper Series. The look into the professional life of geologist Cleo Cooper makes this book worthwhile. Her relationship with her ex-husband is funny but her adult kids' angst over his affairs is tedious. Author Mims needs to search for another plot device - she surely doesn't want athletic sex with an inappropriate character to become a hallmark of her novels. The detectives encountered in this entry were completely different from the Sheriff of her prior novel, Hiding Gladys (2013). I'm glad she is not slipping into the cozy device of having the protagonist encounter the same law enforcement agent repeatedly. Recommended, especially for those who read the prior entry.
Cleo Cooper series - the geologist is risking her life savings on a new gas well off the shore of North Carolina. During Cleo’s first night aboard the drill ship Magellan, she goes to investigate a curious item on deck and is attacked and almost raped by an unknown assailant.
Soon afterward, crewmember Nuvuk Hunter’s dead body is discovered floating in the water, causing Cleo to wonder if he was her attacker. Cleo, now under police suspicion for Nuvuk’s death, finds one bright spot onboard the Magellan: handsome geologist Viktor Kozlov, who previously saved her from a diving mishap. The mystery deepens when the mysterious item proves to have come from a sunken German U-boat."
Cleo Cooper series - the geologist is risking her life savings on a new gas well off the shore of North Carolina. During Cleo’s first night aboard the drill ship Magellan, she goes to investigate a curious item on deck and is attacked and almost raped by an unknown assailant.
Soon afterward, crewmember Nuvuk Hunter’s dead body is discovered floating in the water, causing Cleo to wonder if he was her attacker. Cleo, now under police suspicion for Nuvuk’s death, finds one bright spot onboard the Magellan: handsome geologist Viktor Kozlov, who previously saved her from a diving mishap. The mystery deepens when the mysterious item proves to have come from a sunken German U-boat."
September 9, 2014
Dirk Pitt and Kurt Austin move over. Lee Mims has created a brilliant geologist, Cleo Cooper. In Trusting Viktor, Cleo is violently attacked on a gas exploration drill ship, and becomes involved in a murder and an international mystery. She meets Viktor, a promising young Russian geologist, who joins her in this non-stop action/adventure, along with her ex-husband Bud, and her two adult children. Trusting Viktor is the perfect mix of science, action, and mystery. Cleo is daring, and adventurous, and shows us what a smart, strong, independent, over 40 woman can do. I loved Viktor, the mysterious, carefree, Russian scientist, who seemed to turns up whenever he was needed, and certainly knows how to appreciate women! I hope we get to meet him again! If you love action/adventure mysteries with strong female characters, you can't go wrong with Trusting Viktor!
April 14, 2015
I have done some diving. However, interesting shells is the best thing I found. AND, I never ran into Ashton Kutcher either in or out of the water. But, then, my name is not Cleo either! Thank goodness! She starts out getting caught in some falling debris while rig diving, attacked several times, and thrown overboard… You get the idea. In the midst of all of this, we learn a lot about drilling for gas in the Atlantic Ocean and geology. And then there is Ashton, I mean Afanasy Viktor Kozlov, at your service. All in all it was a very interesting book – although I would never call it a Cozy Mystery. I do recommend it though. Trust me.
June 3, 2014
I liked this mystery. The main character is a woman geologist and quite a bit of the book details some of her day to day activities as a geologist which I found very interesting. I think the author has done a good job informing the reader of the details of drilling an offshore natural gas well without overwhelming the reader. While there were no explicit scenes in the book, there is an affair with a younger man. I found this affair a bit boring and was more interested in Cleo's relationship with her ex-husband. I have not read the 1st book in this series "Hiding Gladys" but intend to.
October 6, 2014
Wow! if this is thefirst, bring on the repeats for Lee Mims. This is a wonderful read. Really got into and liked the main character and hope to see her again. The other characters which were important to the story were well sketched out and the plot was a good one and kept you reading until the end. It was a good read and I really enjoyed it.
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"
J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the Isms" "Wesley's Wars" and "To Whom It May Concern"
July 23, 2014
Intrigue and suspense as geologist Cleo Cooper drills for natural gas off the North Carolina coast. Readable mystery with a good plot and notable characters including her ex-husband and their grown son an daughter; and a mysterious Russian geologist who serves as a love interest for Cleo.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews