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Bellona Channel #2
Safe Passage
Wounded government agent Scott Armstrong hated his newest assignment - baby-sitting beautiful scientist Dr. Skye Van Rijn. He missed the excitement of working in the field, his only salvation from the tragedy that haunted his dreams. But the mission turned dangerous when he discovered an evil terrorist was also after the mysterious doctor.
Skye was a genius at developing biological antidotes to new diseases. Her tender touch and warm body soon began to heal Scott's battered heart, but the deadly secrets she hid put them both at risk, forcing them to run for their lives. As their enemy closed in, Scott had to choose between his loyalties to his job and his passion for the woman who'd saved his soul
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2004
8 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Loreth Anne White
93 books7,299 followersLoreth Anne White is an Amazon Charts, Washington Post, and Bild bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and suspense. With over 3 million books sold around the world, she is an ITW thriller award finalist, a three-time RITA finalist, an overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, Arthur Ellis finalist, and winner of multiple industry awards.
A recovering journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now calls Canada home. She resides in the Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Victoria on Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a rustic lakeside cabin in the Cariboo.
When she’s not writing or dreaming up plots, you will find her on the lakes, in the ocean, or on the trails with her dog where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears. For more information on her books please visit her website at lorethannewhite.com
Connect with her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Loreth.Anne....
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Loreth
Or via Instagram: lorethannewhite
Visit her at www.lorethannewhite.com
A recovering journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now calls Canada home. She resides in the Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Victoria on Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a rustic lakeside cabin in the Cariboo.
When she’s not writing or dreaming up plots, you will find her on the lakes, in the ocean, or on the trails with her dog where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears. For more information on her books please visit her website at lorethannewhite.com
Connect with her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Loreth.Anne....
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/Loreth
Or via Instagram: lorethannewhite
Visit her at www.lorethannewhite.com
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 19, 2022
3.5 stars
Read for the "Flirting With Danger" for the TBR Challenge, October 2022.
I’m a big fan of Loreth Anne White’s romantic suspense titles (although she now seems to have moved to writing just “suspense” without the romance part) – and as I’d decided to read a romantic suspense novel for the flirting with danger prompt this month, I went for one of her early Harlequin titles. Safe Passage, originally published in 2004, boasts a gripping, fast-moving plot that has clearly been very well researched, and two interesting protagonists, but the romance is rushed – something I’ve complained about in other category-length romantic suspense novels - and includes some really wince-inducing cheesy dialogue that kept taking me out of the story.
But first things first; the plot of Safe Passage is compelling, one of those ripped-from-the-headlines stories that is scarily plausible. A deadly disease has attacked the US cattle industry and shows signs of being transmissible to humans and now, a plague of whitefly is making its way towards the US border, an epidemic that could devastate the farming industry, lead to widespread food shortages and have a catastrophic effect on trade and the financial stability of the country. Dutch etymologist Dr. Skye Van Rijn is one of those working round-the-clock to find a way to counter the infestation, and at last, she thinks she’s found it. No-one knows where the whitefly has come from and so far, no-one has found a natural predator to counteract it, so Skye has engineered one, adapting a beetle from Asia and breeding it in her lab at Kepplar Biological Control Systems. The project is in the final testing stage, but Skye’s boss is trying to rush the process, desperate to gain the literal fortune that’s going to be paid to whoever can find the solution to the infestation.
Scott Armstrong is an operative for Bellona Channel, an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting bio-crime and bio-terrorism. A serious injury sustained on his last mission means Scott can no longer operate in the field, so his boss has assigned him what Scott thinks of as a babysitting gig – to keep an eye on Skye Van Rijn, a brilliant scientist with possible links to a worldwide terrorist organisation. Scott – in the guise of author, Scott McIntyre – is moving into the house next door to Skye’s and is carrying some stuff inside when he’s startled by an unfamiliar voice behind him; reacting instinctively, he barely stops himself throwing the knife he always keeps in his boot and finds himself face to face with the most striking woman he’s ever seen, a woman whose movements and body language clearly show her to be as adept at wielding a weapon as he is. Scott conceals his surprise when she introduces herself as Skye Van Rijn, his neighbour, and refuses to identify the strange hollowness he feels in his gut when she tells him she’s getting married the day after next.
Both protagonists are carrying a lot of emotional baggage, Skye as the result of the past she’s been running from for a decade, Scott from the deaths of his wife and child in an accident nine years before. The two of them are understandably wary of each other even as their mutual attraction is pulling them together; Scott wants to believe Skye played no part in the dissemination of the cattle plague and that her work into countering the whitefly epidemic is genuine, but there’s too much evidence – albeit circumstantial evidence – against her for him to be able to believe in her completely. And Skye has learned the hard way that the only person she can really trust is herself; she doesn’t want to be attracted to Scott and she doesn’t want to need his help. When her fiancé leaves her at the altar and she hares off on her Harley, Scott is compelled to find her and comfort her (while telling himself it's his job to find out whatever he can about her) and when she realises she’s being followed and fears it’s her past catching up with her it's to Scott she turns for help while making sure to tell him as little of the truth as possible. Scott knows she's being deliberately evasive, and insists she levels with him so he knows what he’s getting into while also knowing he can use her fear to find out what he needs to know.
Deception is a commonly used trope in romantic suspense, and sometimes it’s used for very good reason, but I realise that for some it’s a no-no regardless of circumstance. It’s not usually a problem for me, but Scott does a couple of things that didn’t sit at all well, and I really didn’t care for Skye’s ‘how dare he lie to me’ attitude once she finds out who he really is. She’s been lying to him for just as long as he’s been lying to her and two wrongs don't make a right. The level of deception they engage in is one of the reasons the romance didn’t work for me; another is that they go from complete strangers to ILYs in about three days, and there’s so much emphasis on how Scott/Skye ‘made him/her feel things he’d/she’d never felt before’ that my eyes hurt from the rolling.
While the romance is rushed, the plot is well done with real insight into the potential effects of eco-terrorism on the world’s agriculture and food supply. Skye’s background is fascinating and the more we learn about it and what she’s been through, the easier it is to understand her trust issues and her desire for a normal life. I did, however, have to wonder why a supposedly brilliant and intelligent woman didn't realise her fiancé was a dodgy bastard. Scott is more of a stereotype though; devastated by grief, he has eschewed emotional involvement – until Skye comes along and something about her starts to melt his frozen heart. *eyeroll*
With fascinating storylines, a badass heroine and movie-style climax, Safe Passageis a cut above the other category romantic suspense novels I’ve read, but the limited page count doesn’t allow the author to achieve a proper balance between the romance and the suspense plot. Read it for the story and try not to groan too much at the cheesiness of the romance.
Read for the "Flirting With Danger" for the TBR Challenge, October 2022.
I’m a big fan of Loreth Anne White’s romantic suspense titles (although she now seems to have moved to writing just “suspense” without the romance part) – and as I’d decided to read a romantic suspense novel for the flirting with danger prompt this month, I went for one of her early Harlequin titles. Safe Passage, originally published in 2004, boasts a gripping, fast-moving plot that has clearly been very well researched, and two interesting protagonists, but the romance is rushed – something I’ve complained about in other category-length romantic suspense novels - and includes some really wince-inducing cheesy dialogue that kept taking me out of the story.
But first things first; the plot of Safe Passage is compelling, one of those ripped-from-the-headlines stories that is scarily plausible. A deadly disease has attacked the US cattle industry and shows signs of being transmissible to humans and now, a plague of whitefly is making its way towards the US border, an epidemic that could devastate the farming industry, lead to widespread food shortages and have a catastrophic effect on trade and the financial stability of the country. Dutch etymologist Dr. Skye Van Rijn is one of those working round-the-clock to find a way to counter the infestation, and at last, she thinks she’s found it. No-one knows where the whitefly has come from and so far, no-one has found a natural predator to counteract it, so Skye has engineered one, adapting a beetle from Asia and breeding it in her lab at Kepplar Biological Control Systems. The project is in the final testing stage, but Skye’s boss is trying to rush the process, desperate to gain the literal fortune that’s going to be paid to whoever can find the solution to the infestation.
Scott Armstrong is an operative for Bellona Channel, an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to fighting bio-crime and bio-terrorism. A serious injury sustained on his last mission means Scott can no longer operate in the field, so his boss has assigned him what Scott thinks of as a babysitting gig – to keep an eye on Skye Van Rijn, a brilliant scientist with possible links to a worldwide terrorist organisation. Scott – in the guise of author, Scott McIntyre – is moving into the house next door to Skye’s and is carrying some stuff inside when he’s startled by an unfamiliar voice behind him; reacting instinctively, he barely stops himself throwing the knife he always keeps in his boot and finds himself face to face with the most striking woman he’s ever seen, a woman whose movements and body language clearly show her to be as adept at wielding a weapon as he is. Scott conceals his surprise when she introduces herself as Skye Van Rijn, his neighbour, and refuses to identify the strange hollowness he feels in his gut when she tells him she’s getting married the day after next.
Both protagonists are carrying a lot of emotional baggage, Skye as the result of the past she’s been running from for a decade, Scott from the deaths of his wife and child in an accident nine years before. The two of them are understandably wary of each other even as their mutual attraction is pulling them together; Scott wants to believe Skye played no part in the dissemination of the cattle plague and that her work into countering the whitefly epidemic is genuine, but there’s too much evidence – albeit circumstantial evidence – against her for him to be able to believe in her completely. And Skye has learned the hard way that the only person she can really trust is herself; she doesn’t want to be attracted to Scott and she doesn’t want to need his help. When her fiancé leaves her at the altar and she hares off on her Harley, Scott is compelled to find her and comfort her (while telling himself it's his job to find out whatever he can about her) and when she realises she’s being followed and fears it’s her past catching up with her it's to Scott she turns for help while making sure to tell him as little of the truth as possible. Scott knows she's being deliberately evasive, and insists she levels with him so he knows what he’s getting into while also knowing he can use her fear to find out what he needs to know.
Deception is a commonly used trope in romantic suspense, and sometimes it’s used for very good reason, but I realise that for some it’s a no-no regardless of circumstance. It’s not usually a problem for me, but Scott does a couple of things that didn’t sit at all well, and I really didn’t care for Skye’s ‘how dare he lie to me’ attitude once she finds out who he really is. She’s been lying to him for just as long as he’s been lying to her and two wrongs don't make a right. The level of deception they engage in is one of the reasons the romance didn’t work for me; another is that they go from complete strangers to ILYs in about three days, and there’s so much emphasis on how Scott/Skye ‘made him/her feel things he’d/she’d never felt before’ that my eyes hurt from the rolling.
While the romance is rushed, the plot is well done with real insight into the potential effects of eco-terrorism on the world’s agriculture and food supply. Skye’s background is fascinating and the more we learn about it and what she’s been through, the easier it is to understand her trust issues and her desire for a normal life. I did, however, have to wonder why a supposedly brilliant and intelligent woman didn't realise her fiancé was a dodgy bastard. Scott is more of a stereotype though; devastated by grief, he has eschewed emotional involvement – until Skye comes along and something about her starts to melt his frozen heart. *eyeroll*
With fascinating storylines, a badass heroine and movie-style climax, Safe Passageis a cut above the other category romantic suspense novels I’ve read, but the limited page count doesn’t allow the author to achieve a proper balance between the romance and the suspense plot. Read it for the story and try not to groan too much at the cheesiness of the romance.
April 25, 2018
Well-written
April 18, 2019
Very interesting plot about Eco-terrorism, bioterrorism and its' potential affect on the food supply chain and how terrorists can make a lot of money and wreck a lot of devastation. Romance was a tad forced, but interesting. The imagery evoked is wonderful and haunting. Several reality issues, but overall, I liked it a lot.
Scott Armstrong, an agent for Bellona Creek a nongovernment agency, suffered his knee being blown apart on his last mission. It was a miracle he survived. Now he is assigned "babysitting duty" while he fully recovers. The Babe he is babysitting is the very smart, beautiful and sexy Dr. Skye Van Rijn, the "Bug Doctor". She has awakened feelings Scott thought died with his wife and daughter. Not anything he wants to feel when he has good reason to suspect she is part of an Eco terrorist group.
Skye is working on a way to control the whitefly outbreak in the Canadian agriculture that is making its' way south to the US. But she has never seen this species of whitefly and while she is confident her engineered beetle will take care of it, it needs more testing and her company wants it released ASAP, without proper testing. She is also quite taken with the new, handsome next door neighbor. Feelings she has no business feeling as she is getting married. When she is abandoned at the alter, Scott is there to comfort her. When baddies come after her, Scott it there to protect her. 3 1/2-Stars
Scott Armstrong, an agent for Bellona Creek a nongovernment agency, suffered his knee being blown apart on his last mission. It was a miracle he survived. Now he is assigned "babysitting duty" while he fully recovers. The Babe he is babysitting is the very smart, beautiful and sexy Dr. Skye Van Rijn, the "Bug Doctor". She has awakened feelings Scott thought died with his wife and daughter. Not anything he wants to feel when he has good reason to suspect she is part of an Eco terrorist group.
Skye is working on a way to control the whitefly outbreak in the Canadian agriculture that is making its' way south to the US. But she has never seen this species of whitefly and while she is confident her engineered beetle will take care of it, it needs more testing and her company wants it released ASAP, without proper testing. She is also quite taken with the new, handsome next door neighbor. Feelings she has no business feeling as she is getting married. When she is abandoned at the alter, Scott is there to comfort her. When baddies come after her, Scott it there to protect her. 3 1/2-Stars
August 3, 2019
2-2.5 stars - Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews