Helicopter pilot Annie O'Donnell had made a split-second decision deep behind enemy lines - a decision that nearly cost a man his life. Now it was up to her, and her alone, to make sure he got home in one piece. But Major Thomas Folly wasn't exactly making it easy. Even badly wounded and trapped in hostile territory, the battle-hardened soldier was a very dangerous man - and not just to the enemy. He was easily the most powerful, most compelling man she had ever known. And as they raced together toward freedom, she was having a very hard time keeping her mind on the mission - and her hands off the major .
Cindy Dees started flying airplanes while sitting in her dad’s lap at the age of three and got a pilot’s license before she got a driver’s license. At age fifteen, she dropped out of high school and left the horse farm in Michigan where she grew up to attend the University of Michigan.
After earning a degree in Russian and East European studies, she joined the U.S. Air Force and became the youngest female pilot in the history of the Air Force. She flew supersonic jets, VIP airlift and the “C-5” Galaxy, the world’s largest airplane. She also worked part-time gathering intelligence. During her military career, she traveled to forty countries on five continents, was detained by the KGB and East German secret police, she got shot at, flew in the first Gulf War, met her husband and amassed a lifetime’s worth of war stories.
Her hobbies include professional Middle Eastern dancing, Japanese gardening and medieval reenacting. She started writing on a one-dollar bet with her mother and was thrilled to win that bet with the publication of her first book in 2001.
I seem to be on a military romance kick at the moment. The female lead of this book truly annoyed me though so I've switched to historical romance. In the beginning she is the helecoptor pilot running a dangerous mission to extract a team from a mission. Then she becomes this naive nervous embassy aide, not showing any military training or toughness. Then at the end she whips out the heroic helecoptor pilot jazz again. It didn't work for me. Having her and the male lead get frisky feeling each other up while laying next to a member of the team under cover in an alley while trying to escape the rebel soldiers was an eye roller too. The more I type, the more I've decided to change my rating rom two to one star.
Behind Enemy Lines is an oldie that lived in my to-read pile of books for a long time. As I recently enjoyed going through Cindy Dee's Beyond the Limit, I decided it was more than time to read Behind Enemy Lines.
Sadly, I was terribly disappointed. The only great thing about Behind Enemy Lines is that it's a quick read. Other than that you have: one silly female character that is almost an offense to all the women serving their countries in the armed forces; one macho male character that cannot keep his head focused in the mission because he's too busy asking above mentioned female character to sin with him (when he's not ordering her around to do house work); one covert operation where you go from being under strict surveillance in a hospital to a rented house where everyone comes and goes freely - because the hostile country they are in is apparently full of dumb people who cannot keep track of their own surveillance targets even when they're on the brink of war...
Silly, silly, silly.
Strangely, Behind Enemy Lines has a 4 stars rating, so I'm left wondering if I read the same book as everyone else. But what I did read - I don't recommend.
Thoroughly enjoying The Blackjacks books of Cindy and this one is a corker of a read with their leader Tom Foley injured in a hot extraction in the jungles of Gavarone by Annie who suffered a winch jam after the rest of his team is winched to safety in the helicopter and had to make a life and death decision to bug out at tree top height due to enemy fire and rockets. Tom was badly injured and Annie stayed with him for weeks while he mended giving him a needed alibi and to run interference with some of the hospital staff. In the meantime his team found accommodation and jobs until they were all able to escape together. The book is filled with suspense as they waited and escaped and unwilling romance as Tom battled his demons. You won’t be disappointed with this one. Looking forward to reading the next one.
This book was really good!! This book was high above the standard Harlequin Romance novels. There was a lot of action, intense scary moments, and you really got a good read of the characters.
The characters are Annie (captain with the air force) and Tom (commander of a special ops team) In the beginning, Annie is piloting a helicopter into the jungle in the middle of the night to pick up the special ops team. They come running with rebels on their tails. Annie's crew begin the process of dropping a basket down to retrieve the men one at a time. Just as she has the last man in the basket, the line gets jammed and one of the rebels on the ground has a shoulder missile locked and loaded aimed for the helicopter. She makes the decision to just start flying away, even though she figured the last man had very little chance of surviving being thwacked and dragged through all the trees. She risked one life to save 9.
That man was Tom, and he miraculously survived. He had both legs broken, one arm, a color bone, several fingers, three ribs, ect ect. She was ordered to pose as his wife and give the cover story that he was rock climbing and fell. She was to rent an apartment and sneak him out of the hospital as soon as he was able to walk. For 7 weeks he was basically out of consciousness. When he woke he recalled waking a few times to her stroking his hair offering words of comfort. He immediately thought of her as an angel.
She explained the situation, and a couple days later they left the hospital (his room was bugged) and holed themselves up in the apartment she had rented. Immediately he got into contact with his team, and they made frequent visits. Quickly enough the attraction between Annie and Tom took over and they stopped fighting it. Annie couldn't bring herself to tell him that she was the pilot who was flying the helicopter on the last mission.
So the politics in this country are taking a major nose dive and the government is quickly losing control to the rebels. When the rebels had staked claim to land completely surrounding the city they were in, they knew they had to get out. They quickly learned from one of Tom's men that the US Embassy had cleared out and it was too late to escape the country that way. They had to work together dressed in all black and move through the city only at night killing any soldiers who got into their way. This part of the book is very intense, and very good! I was captivated. I could imagine it all and think it would make a fantastic movie! The ending was awesome and I really wish I could see it on film!
Behind Enemy Lines - Charlie Squad #1 ((Tom and Annie)
Helicopter pilot Annie O'Donnell had made a split-second decision deep behind enemy lines--a decision that nearly cost a man his life. Now it was up to her, and her alone, to make sure he got home in one piece.
But Major Thomas Folly wasn't exactly making it easy. Even badly wounded and trapped in hostile territory, the battle-hardened soldier was a very dangerous man--and not just to the enemy.
He was easily the most powerful, most compelling man she had ever known. And as they raced together toward freedom, she was having a very hard time keeping her mind on the mission--and her hands off the major..
If you like action, this is a great choice - there's very little down time between helicopter rescues, bombing, street fighting and explosions. The down time though is fun as it's filled with romance, a little angst and two pretty awesome characters, Tom and Annie. I really enjoyed the parts where Tom and his special Ops guys and Annie were functioning as a team, gave me the warm fuzzies in the middle of all the adrenaline.
I love this series had to find them all. I normally do not read the suspense book. I like Cindy Dees though i now have the whole charlie squad they are excellent.