Devour

Olivia Wolfe #1

by L.A. Larkin

Their greatest fear was contaminating an ancient Antarctic lake, buried beneath the ice for millions of years. They little knew about the catastrophe they were about to unleash.

Welcome to the high octane world of Olivia Wolfe,

As an investigative journalist, Wolfe lives her life in constant peril. Hunted by numerous enemies who are seldom what they first seem, she must unravel a complex web of lies to uncover an even more terrifying truth.

From the poppy palaces of Afghanistan and Antarctica's forbidding wind-swept ice sheets, to a top secret military base in the Nevada desert, Wolfe's journey will ultimately lead her to a man who would obliterate civilisation. She must make an impossible choice: save a life - or prevent the death of millions.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Action, Suspense

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 2016

About the author

L.A. Larkin’s crime-thrillers have won her fans all over the world. Described as a superb “chiller thriller” writer by Marie Claire magazine, and praised by the king of crime, Lee Child, for her “fast and immersive” thrillers, Louisa’s novels will keep you reading all night.
Her new Sally Fairburn crime thriller series is receiving rave reviews: Next Girl Missing (book 1), Her Deadly Truth (book 2) and First Victim (book 3) and is available in ebook, audio, and paperback. Amazon link: https://geni.us/B0CD7ZJ5QCauthor

Here’s what readers are saying :
“An absolute page-turner.” @mandylovestoread
“Will have your heart racing with every page… Completely sucks you in! … Absolutely addictive!” @oh.happy.reading, 5 stars
C.J. Carver, "Dark and menacing, Larkin's characters are heart-wrenchingly real"
Peter James, "Intrigue in spades"
Marie Claire, "This chiller thriller will reel you in"
Good Housekeeping, "Brilliant!"
James Phelan, "'L.A. Larkin is a world-class thriller writer"
Literature Works, "Exciting, original and utterly captivating"
Bookseller + Publisher, "Exciting, compulsive reading"

Connect with L.A. Larkin:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LALarkinAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lalarkinauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/la_larkin_a...
Join her quarterly emailed newsletter: https://lalarkin.com/

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a lot going on in this big novel by L.A Larkin. Through her protagonist, investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe, she takes us from the danger of Afghanistan to the icy world of an Antarctic expedition and finally to a US military base in the middle of Nevada.

After she barely escapes with her life in Afghanistan, Olivia is sent to Artarctica to report on a race between British and Russian scientific teams to find life in lakes deep below the ice. Acts of sabotage and murder in the British camp raise the possibility of a spy in their team. Olivia also has her own personal stalker who is trying to destroy her reputation. Once back in the UK, the hunt for the murderer ramps up as it becomes clear he has a plan that could ultimately destroy all civilization. Olivia gets caught up in trying to find the murderer and the plot is complicated by the involvement of the British secret service, the Russian secret service and Olivia's stalker.

Although it is a big book, the action rarely slows down for long and the ending is as nail-biting as they can be. Olivia is a strong, feisty character, she keeps in shape and trains in unarmed combat with her retired detective friend Jerry Butcher. Not much scares her and she will place herself in danger to save her friends and the innocent. The other main characters are also well developed such as DCI Dan Casburn of the anti-terrorism squad who distrusts Olivia. Vitaly Yushkov, a Russian defector and member of the British exploration team is another central character, suspected of being involved in the conspiracy. There are threads in the novel that the author has indicated will be continued in a sequel and I expect we will also be seeing more of these characters in the future.

[Veronica ⭐️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

L.A. Larkin’s Devour is a cleverly plotted and action packed tale of biological warfare mixed with espionage, fear, anger and despair. By page 7 I was totally immersed and didn’t want to leave this book.

Larkin’s protagonist Olivia Wolfe, an investigative journalist, is gutsy and determined. She will stop at nothing to get the truth.

The story runs along two plot lines, both mysteries, with Wolfe at the centre of both. Small offshoot plots leave scope for future novels featuring Olivia Wolfe.

The character of Wolfe was well developed as we get to know what does and doesn’t make her tick.

As Wolfe follows stories on the streets of Afghanistan then the chilly stations of a scientific exploration centre in Antarctica the danger and action never stops.
With just enough romance to show that she is only human after all and an eerie stalker who is seeking their own revenge the Olivia Wolfe series is sure to be devoured by all crime thriller readers.

With my thanks to the author for my copy to read and review.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her escape from Afghanistan and the men who wanted to kill her left investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe shattered. Heading straight to her office when she stepped off the plane, she wasn’t expecting her boss to remove her from the story she was doggedly pursuing to investigate another in Antarctica. But when Olivia learned what it was, she was fired with enthusiasm.

When Olivia arrived at the base, the intense cold shocked her. The recent death of one of the scientists searching for a lake buried at least three miles beneath the ice had been thought a terrible accident. But was it? The continuing spate of mishaps which had frustrated the team was making them suspicious. It was when success was finally achieved, but the vials of liquid awaiting transportation were sabotaged, that they knew something was very wrong. Would Olivia’s investigations put her life in danger as well?

With the base abandoned and everyone, including Olivia, returned home, the risks that Olivia faced intensified. But she couldn’t let it go, even knowing what could happen. The shocking secrets that had been unearthed could be the end of everything ever known. Olivia’s decisions had never been harder or more important…

Devour by Aussie author L.A. Larkin is the first in the Olivia Wolfe series and I can’t wait for the next! Action-packed, intense, gripping and breathtaking, the determination and brutality of one group of people who will stop at nothing to get what they want, is outstandingly well done. Chilling (and not just because of the location!), the suspense and intrigue kept me enthralled. Devour is a thriller that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devour is the third novel by British/Australian author, L.A.Larkin. Before investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe has even unpacked the backpack she took to Afghanistan, her editor is sending her to Antarctica. A friend of his is directing the British Antarctic Survey’s mission to drill down to Lake Ellsworth in search of life below the ice. The various mishaps all start to look more and more like sabotage when one of their engineers is murdered.

The race is on between the BAS and the Russians to be the first to find life, so the Home Office doesn’t want a police investigation. Olivia shares the team’s excitement when they finally succeed and a hitherto unknown species of bacteria is discovered, but when she spies some suspicious activity, she becomes a target herself, and is blamed for yet a further instance of sabotage.

It seems no one has been completely open about their past, including their brilliant Russian-born engineer, Vitaly Yushkov, and when samples, scientists and reporters head back home, he suffers the worst that terrorism task force DCI Dan Casburn can dish out. But it’s not over when they return to England: there’s a vial of the lake water missing and few people know just what it can do.

Larkin gives the reader a rollercoaster ride that careens through the mansion of an Afghani terrorist, the icy wastes of the Antarctic, the top secret laboratories of England to a gripping climax at the Hoover Dam. Olivia is shot at, beaten, framed, stalked and slandered as she tries to get justice for the wrongly accused, save the innocent and get her story. Non-stop action makes this an exciting page-turner.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

LA Larkin’s Devour features investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe’s world of big stories, hair’s-breadth escapes from danger and fearless reporting on the worst of human excesses. Newtown Review of Books

[Elite Group · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly frightening scenario

In 2012 a British expedition to Antarctica attempted, unsuccessfully, to drill through three kilometres of ice to reach the subterranean Lake Ellsworth, looking for new life forms. This thriller is based on that mission.

When a British Antarctic Survey team encounter delaying problems, there is a suspicion of sabotage, particularly as there is a similar Russian mission in the nearby vicinity and time is of the essence.

Investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe, just back from a dangerous mission in Afghanistan, is sent by her editor to see if there is enough evidence for a story. What she eventually finds is not only a story, but a global scoop and threat to mankind!

So begins a thriller that has all the elements of an outstanding book. The characters – particularly Wolfe – are strong and resilient and the plot moves on relentlessly. There is subterfuge, betrayal and some strong romantic lines.

As a hero, Wolfe is very much a bloody-minded, justice-focused journo. She knows what is right and never fails to follow her beliefs. She is ably assisted by the father-figure of retired DCS Jerry Butcher who always supports and uplifts her.

I do, though, have some niggles which have probably lost this book its 5 star rating. There is a section where Wolfe jumps off York Bridge in Regent’s Park to escape pursuers and is then wandering around London for quite some time. It is winter and snow is falling, but still our hero manages to avoid hypothermia in her wet clothes. Then there is a question of continuity. Wolfe and companion escape a situation on motorbike, decide to abandon this to steal a car, and then eventually get out of the car and remove their helmets! This may, of course just be in the advanced copy that we received. One last niggle for me is the choice of title for the real menace of the book. I won’t spoil the fun, but to me it seemed rather shallow.

However, I am more than happy to give this book 4 stars and would thoroughly recommend it. I look forward to the next in the Olivia Wolfe series, Prey.

Sméagol

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review

[Lauren Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devour is the third crime thriller novel written by Australian author LA Larkin and the first in her new Olivia Wolfe series. I enjoyed her last novel, Thirst which was set in Antartica and centred around Australian scientists and a murder mystery. But I absolutely loved Devour. LA Larkin has definitely stepped up the plotting, characterisation and suspense in her latest novel and I found it really hard to put down.

Olivia is an investigative journalist who escapes a near death experience in Afghanistan and returns to London with the creeping sensation that she has a stalker. She jumps at the chance to investigate a suspected murder in Antarctica and leaves right away, on request from her boss. Once again, Wolfe’s curiosity places her life at risk and it’s not long before the small team of scientists she has infiltrated start to point the finger at her when crucial assets go astray. Olivia discovers there’s a potential ‘mole’ in the team who is feeding information to a rival team of Russian scientists which places the English scientists’ discoveries at significant risk. She is drawn to an English scientist of Russian heritage and strives to uncover which side exactly he works for… before it’s too late.

Olivia is a likeable, tough and intelligent protagonist with enough emotional damage and mystery to make for an interesting series. Larkin has also set up an arc for the series with a number of plot elements that will likely carry through into later novels. I thought the romantic plot line also added an interesting dynamic to the story… It’s exactly the kind of crime series that I really enjoy!

From murders to biological warfare, Devour has plenty of action-packed drama, suspense and intrigue to keep a crime fiction fan turning the pages until the very end. Highly enjoyable read and I look forward to reading the next book in the Wolfe series!

[Hazel Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Olivia Wolfe is a feisty journalist with a conscience, addicted to warzones & challenging personalities.
I was attracted to the Antarctic setting but much of the action is in other countries, and each reveal the author's eye for detail. Impressive plot twists. Evidence of through research into biological warfare, police and espionage procedures, let alone security for the President's family. I learnt a lot and I appreciate fiction which gives a new insight into current international politics.

Olivia always seems to be on the run and in physical danger. Rarely suffers longterm from bruises or fatigue despite lots of fighting, and is very stoic. I really liked the way L.A. Larkin provided intelligent solutions, like leaving information in a Dropbox with new password, while on the run.

The first person viewpoint of the stalker seemed contrived, but did provide plot links.

At first I was confused by the number of Antarctic expeditioners and had trouble distinguishing them.
Later, the Russian became an enigmatic, fascinating character , her match. And an extremely well written sex scene.

This book is definitely filmic and I'd willingly read more of Olivia. Wonderful to find a resourceful and highly skilled female sleuth operating internationally. And to have strong secondary characters who have full story potential in future series.

[Deb Bodinnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, where do I start? Olivia Wolfe is one gutsy and determined woman, from Afganistan, London, the Antarctic to the USA she doesn't give up on chasing down the story that's been given to her by the newspaper she works for. With the Russians and British trying to achieve the same goal there is always going to be trouble, but just how much? L A Larkin keeps the reader wanting to keep turning the pages, her research shines through in her writing and makes you think, OMG what if this really happened??
With a murder, a scientific breakthrough, a touch of romance, a case of stalking and a potential international incident, Devour grabs your attention and doesn't let go. I was imagining this as a movie the whole time I was reading it and would love to see Devour on the big screen.
I have read the previous two books by this author and I have to say that Devour is the best so far. I say so far because I know that there is more Olivia Wolfe to come, the chances are there will be bigger and better things to hit the pages.
Crime, thriller and suspense readers do yourselves a favour, get your copy of Devour now and settle in for a great ride on the suspense train.

[C.J. Carver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love opening a brand-new book by an author and reading those first few lines. I especially love it when those first few lines tell me I’m in safe hands, and that the book is going to ring all my bells with believable characters, great action scenes and a watertight plot line that leads to a cracking ending.
I loved the protagonist Olivia Wolfe, and although she’s super-capable, almost a superwoman, Larkin uses a deft touch to show her character’s vulnerabilities. Out of all the book characters I’ve read, Olivia Wolfe is at the top of my list to invite to dinner and L.A. Larkin is now firmly on my must-read list.

[Steven Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

You need a strong constitution for 400 pages blistered with sentences like this: "[S]he looks into Casburn's gunmetal grey eyes, which somehow seem fitting given he was one of the SAS's best snipers."

[Mike Stotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, old-fashioned thriller. Yep, definitely a thriller.

[Paul Finch · Rating 5 out of 5]

WARNING FOR MINOR SPOILERS ...

After a high-risk assignment in Afghanistan’s poppy-growing region, on the trail of a terrorist network, energetic investigative-journalist, Olivia Wolfe – who is no stranger to danger, but even by her normal rip-roaring standards only just returns from this trip with her life and limbs intact – is dispatched by her demanding editor, Moz Cohen, to the even more perilous realm of western Antarctica.

At first, she isn’t keen. It doesn’t sound like her normal field: a team from the British Antarctic Survey drilling down through fathoms of concrete-hard ice in a quest to discover samples of prehistoric life that may still be lurking in subglacial Lake Ellsworth … until she learns that her real mission is to investigate the various ‘accidents’ that are befalling the BAS crew at their research station, including an unexplained and rather horrible death, which more than likely was murder.

This is more up Wolfe’s street, but the situation is complicated by an unseen but menacing presence at home, a mysterious stalker, pursuing her both in reality and online, who barely leaves a trace of himself but is always undeniably there. Who this person is, and why he/she may have a beef with Wolfe is a complex thing to ascertain: there are plenty of people with reason to punish a journalist who has uncovered their dirty dealings in the past. At the same time, of course, Wolfe has to head down to the bottom of the world, to find out whatever she can about the problems facing the BAS.

This, in itself, is no picnic. The difficult conditions of the Antarctic and an engineering/scientific team who, though on the surface they seem quite normal, soon start to reveal stresses and strains among their ranks, combine to make Wolfe’s job a real challenge. While team-leader Professor Michael Heatherton is a time-served professional, dedicated to his cause and with no apparent interests other than a pursuit of knowledge, other members of the group are more secretive, in particular the intense and rather introverted Scottish scientist, Toby Sinclair.

On top of that, she learns that a rival Russian expedition to nearby Lake Vostok, whose mission failed when the lake was polluted by inadequate drilling processes, are now trying to bribe and bully their way into the British effort, which, in Wolfe’s eyes, puts them high on the suspect list – not least the most menacing member of the Russian party, Sergey Grankin, who is almost certainly a government agent. It also raises questions, particularly among the rest of the British team, about naturalised Brit but Russian-born engineer, Vitaly Rushkov; he is one of their own colleagues, at least superficially, but though Wolfe finds him attractive, he also frustrates her because he won’t reveal enough about himself to win her trust.

The tension is ramped up even more – to breakneck pace in fact, when the British team succeed in their quest, breaking through into the subterranean lake – an incredible three kilometres below the ice – and discovering something that hasn’t seen the light of day for millions upon millions of years; something so appalling that it has the potential to completely destroy modern society.

Needless to say, in the time-honoured fashion of greedy world-powers both fictional and real, it isn’t long before various shady forces are competing for control of this monstrous thing.

Even from this relatively early stage of the novel, it is difficult to reveal any more of the actual synopsis for fear of giving away spoilers, but suffice to say that, even when Wolfe returns to London, she finds herself in the midst of a deadly conflict, with numerous vying interests turning the city into a war-zone, and even the little she has already discovered making her into a prime target. Wolfe has developed lots of good contacts in her time, but even two of the best on her home turf – former top cop, Jerry Butcher, something of a father to her, and the infinitely shadier DCI Dan Casburn – are of minimal help; they may even be a hindrance as she tries to battle her way through a tangled web of confusing lies and life-threatening deceit, only to uncover a shocking and terrifying truth …

If you like your thrillers to have an international scope, then this one is definitely for you. Devour is a wide-ranging, continent-spanning adventure played out in tough, no-nonsense fashion against a latter-day Cold War-type atmosphere. But don’t make the mistake of thinking we’re in 007 territory here. There is a high-tech dimension to Devour for sure, but there is also an aura of realism. We’re not talking ridiculous gadgetry, improbable skills and mind-boggling schemes for world-domination. New heroine, Olivia Wolfe, though she herself is a more than competent globe-trotter and thoroughly au fait with all the latest communications devices, is also very human, which is her most appealing aspect.

In fact, Devour’s greatest strength for me – considering that it’s painted on such an immense canvas – is that it’s all very plausible.

I’d go as far as to say that it’s terrifyingly plausible.

To start with, there is a real sense of danger in this book, and I don’t just mean the horrific force lurking in the sub-Antarctic depths (more about that later), but also from our heroine’s various antagonists. Whoever’s on your tail in Devour, whether they be opium lords, terrorists or security service personnel gone rogue (or even not gone rogue – just doing their government’s dirty work at full throttle!) – you soon get to learn that they are experts at what they do; it’ll only ever be a page or so before they catch up with you. It also becomes plain at an early stage that none of these heinous individuals are playing by the rules of chivalry.

Oh yes, there is some real brutality on show here. Everything about Devour is harsh, gritty and real. Its central characters spend much of it in a state of fear, particularly the civilian scientists who never imagined that their ground-breaking research could have caused such chaos, not to mention Wolfe herself, who soon learns that even if she emerges from this adventure unscathed, her life as she knew it will be over. Several times there are references to people who simply disappear, or run the risk of disappearing – in L.A. Larkin’s world, the niceties of international law just don’t apply when such threats as this endanger the planet, and I, for one, am more than prepared to believe that could be true.

Even routine activities, such as travelling, are given a rugged makeover. We’re talking long plane journeys, soulless waystations, the extreme geophysical conditions of the Arctic, not to mention a drab and wintry London which itself has the potential to endanger life – for example, in one scene, Wolfe gets soaking wet and as it’s December, it isn’t long before she’s struggling with hypothermia. At the same time, death means death; during an early sojourn to Afghanistan, she witnesses the shooting of a young woman, and it haunts her afterwards; she sees it playing through her head again and again.

These are the uber-realistic touches that we simply don’t get in run-of-the-mill thrillers, and Larkin hits us with them repeatedly, as if saying: “This is what it means, this is how it would actually be if you were to genuinely participate in this world”.

And I totally loved it, almost as much as I loved the central character.

Olivia Wolfe is an excellent heroine. She may not be the sort who can take waves of bad guys apart with her bare hands, or jump from plane to train to motorbike and still make it to her favourite restaurant in time for dinner. She may be a martial artist of sorts, but she gets battered, she gets hurt, she gets frightened. However, her main asset is that she is a skilled and highly driven investigative journalist. She hasn’t just got a nose for a great story, no matter how far afield it may lie, she has the determination and wherewithal to get there in time to cover it. But she has a survival instinct too. In anticipation of the dangers she will face, she is technically proficient, and perhaps more importantly, an exceptional judge of character, knowing instinctively who to trust and who to suspect.

In some ways, this may make her a tad unsympathetic. All the way through, she has an on/off romantic relationship with the Russian engineer, Yushkov, and yet she maintains an antipathy towards him too because … well, mainly because he’s Russian, and in this book the Russians are generally up to no good. It reaches a stage where as a reader it almost becomes tiresome, and yet that’s the point. Olivia Wolfe has survived as long as she has because she’s smarter than we are. She has really played this game, whereas we haven’t.

If I’m giving the impression that this is an edgier-than-usual book, that’s probably accurate. It’s no romp, that’s for sure. But this slap-in-the-face factor serves two purposes: it makes you believe it absolutely, and it keeps you glued to the pages – as, of course, does the overarching, and vaguely monstrous – concept.

On that subject, it would be easy, if you’d only read the blurbs, to think that what you’ve got here is something akin to John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? (filmed as The Thing from Another World). And why not? Something nasty is lurking under the polar ice, a bunch of well-meaning scientists discover it and thaw it out, only to find that it’s a force beyond Man’s experience, which imperils the Earth as a result. And if it sounds like science fiction, there may be an element of that, though I draw your attention to the real attempt by British scientists to drill down to Lake Ellsworth in 2012, which failed (maybe fortuitously, or maybe it was halted – who can say?). But it’s all still incredibly plausible. I’m not going to give out any spoilers concerning the nature of the thing, but it’s truly horrifying because, even if surprises you – which it did me – you can very quickly envisage the colossal destruction that would result.

In addition, the novel is underlined with in-depth research – no B-movie stuff, this. LA Larkin, an Antarctic explorer in her own right, handles the biological and engineering complexities of the mission to the South Pole and the follow-up investigations with the same authority and conviction that she does the political intrigue and secret service chicanery, and yet weaves it all seamlessly into the narrative and the dialogue so that at no point do we feel we’re being hit by a cut-and-paste from Wikipedia.

It all makes for a totally believable and completely enthralling techno/eco thriller, perhaps with a few dollops of psycho horror mixed in for good measure (because let’s not forget that there’s an equally formless, equally dangerous threat to Olivia Wolfe lurking at home).

An all-round, superbly-crafted reading experience, which just screams for your attention.

[Paula Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Olivia Wolfe is an investigative reporter who was seemingly James Bond in a former life. She is sent to Antarctica, where a research team is about to discover new bacteria lifeform in a lake hidden beneath the ice. One of the crew members recently died and murder is suspected. The Russians also want to be the first to get hold of this bacteria. When a canister is stolen, Olivia must figure out whether it is an internal traitor or one of the Russians. The intrigue only increases once she returns to England, where the Russians still want to get hold of the bacteria, while a mysterious someone who actually has the deadly pathogen plots something that could cause worldwide catastrophe.

This was just dumb and I struggled to finish it. I would have been entertained by a race-against-time thriller in which heroes rush to stop a deadly bacteria from replicating throughout the world and causing chaos and destruction, but this has a ridiculous protagonist and the story spreads itself entirely too thin with about 1,001 subplots that don't add anything to the proceedings. There's the person who actually has the bacteria and plans something deadly with it. There's the Russians running about trying to get their hands on it. There's the back and forth over engineer Vitaly Yushkov's loyalty to either England or Russia. There's his ties to Afghanistan and a previous story Olivia was doing on a terrorist, who may still be active and plotting something in London. There's Olivia's mysterious stalker who wants to destroy her life. There's the journalists after a piece of the pie, trying to steal Olivia's story. There's....

Holy f***! Just stick to one story, please!

All these endless subplots just completely cannibalise each other and I ended up not caring about any of them. Olivia isn't a journalist - she's a superhero brilliant at anything she puts her mind to, and it never rings true. A person with her job title would never be as involved in events of national security to the degree that she is here. I simply couldn't buy into it. I did like the character of Vitaly Yushkov. I would have preferred him to be the central protagonist. The pacing certainly cannot be faulted....but it didn't count for much because I simply just didn't care about the plot(s) or the characters. My focus was being pulled in far too many directions. The stalker subplot in particular was just completely unnecessary, with the offensive bonus of it turning out to be a vengeful lesbian whose advances were rejected. At one point, Olivia and Vitaly ditch a motorcycle and steal a car, only to zip past all the other vehicles, and remove their helmets at their destination. The President is described as being at an event with his wife and daughters, and just a couple of pages later, he's there with a daughter and son.

This was published by major traditional publisher Hachette, and it's clear that it didn't make a splash at all. The follow-up Prey mentioned in the afterword didn't show up for another four years and was released by an independent Australian publisher. I can't say I'm surprised and I have no intention of reading it!

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this thriller in a couple of sittings. The pace of my reading increased exponentially towards the end of the novel. That's when the action is most frenetic. I found the beginning littered with too many characters, and I was scratching my head at times. But that's nit-picking.
Devour is an enjoyable romp that makes you suspend belief in a big way. However, the author's ability to absorb the reader in the story's audacious plot line together with terrific action scenes were the highlights for me. The novel is slightly marred by a few cliches and tropes (e.g. a Russian character with a great English vocabulary but he somehow can't remember the English words for "yes" and "no", the amazing fluke find of a piece of paper with a vital computer password, evil stalker), nevertheless this was a fun an entertaining read. The author has also done plenty of research getting technical details right, some of which I checked!
Well done, L.A. Larkin.

[Hannah Polley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something about books and TV shows set in the Antarctic that always turn me off for some reason. The first few pages of this book really gripped me but as soon as Olivia was sent to the Antarctic, I started to lose interest. However, it was quite a good mystery and I did enjoy the book. Thankfully, the action switches back to England fairly quickly.

This book focuses around a terrorist plot for a scientist to release a biological weapon that would destroy the American and UK military. It is an unrealistic plot and a lot of the action is unrealistic as well but it is still quite interesting.

There was also a subplot of a stalker which looks like it would be explored in the next book.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Alex Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This first appears like many science, adventure based thrillers – ancient ‘thing’ buried under ice, conspiracy about who wants to dig it out and who wants it, murder and mystery etc. I suppose it should get points for being a bit different but it just wasn’t good enough to get them.

The story follows Olivia Wolfe, a hot shot British reporter, who after a traumatic mission in Afghanistan, is sent on a ‘easier’ mission to Antarctica with the British Antarctic Survey team as they are about to drill into a lake buried under the ice for over a million years. However, Olivia’s there as a recent death at the camp suggests murder, and someone has told her to find out who is behind the death and acts of sabotage.

Reading this book, it feels like the third or fourth in a series. I had to check a few times that it was the first. The author does say at the back of the book this is the first in a series with Olivia Wolfe. But the way it is written, with stories going on that seem halfway through, I felt I was missing something. Also, there seemed to be way too many plotlines going on. First there is the story of Olivia in Afghanistan uncovering an ISIS terror plot, then there is the Antarctic story with murder and acts of sabotage and a race with the Russian science team to reach the under the ice lake. Then when the bacteria from the lake is stolen its who has done it. Add on who might be a mole for the Russians, Olivia’s brother has been released from prison after she gave evidence against him, an ongoing terror plot in the UK and someone is stalking her. Some of these are completely unrelated to each other. Others are connected in totally coincidental ways (the Russian engineer working for the British Survey team just so happens to link to the Afghan plot and ISIS plot because ‘he knows a guy’?). Her stalker, is unveiled yet is a character that hasn’t been mentioned for the whole book yet seems like we’re supposed to know who they are. The bacteria that is the McGuffin for the whole book, is very vague until past halfway, yet from the get go we’re told its super dangerous. You can’t just say it, without telling why.

Olivia Wolfe is also a bit irritating. She’s good. At everything. And super cool. Rides motorbikes, lives in a flat share with a dominatrix, has pierced tongue and nipples (yes it says), breaks stories on corruption, learns to fight with an ex-Scotland Yard detective. She acts a bit like a moral bedrock who’s never wrong. Just that she lacks any punch and isn’t funny to break the story that takes itself a bit too seriously.

Also, British stereotypes are overused. Anyone other than Olivia that is working class, is a dirty chav, from the tabloid reporter, the café owners, her brother and his girlfriend. This I didn’t like.
Bits bothered me. Yushkov, the Russian working for the British, defected from the army for something he doesn’t tell anyone until past halfway. I thought after Olivia saw him going into another male scientist tent, he might be gay, with Russian anti-gay rhetoric would have been good reason to defect. But no. He’s her love interest for this book, and a super special forces/SVR type as well.

The idea of this deadly bacteria is a bit different from super flu that’s usually the norm, but the way it reached its conclusion just seemed boring and stretched out. It took me longer to read than it really should have. I think it seemed longer and a slog with the five different plots going on all at once, and the main overall plot conspiracy doesn’t really kick in until the last third.

I’d say it was a very average read. There are many books like this, some worse, some about the same and some much better. The author has two other books in this similar genre out plus ones planned to continue from this one. I would need a bit of a push to decide to read these or continue with Olivia Wolfe’s story, with many others filling in this type of story better than it was here.

[Julie Garner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminiscent of the master of biological warfare in Michael Crichton and high adrenaline adventurist Matthew Reilly, Larkin's main character Wolfe finds herself in these worlds. Sent to the Antarctic to help out her boss, she is thrown into a world of unknown quantities and becomes suspect herself. Not knowing which way to turn, or who to trust, she is determined to find the truth behind the layers. This takes her around the world and puts her on the run and in constant danger in order to stop the devastating end that is predicted.
This book is well written and kept me interested all the way through. What 'devours'? Who is trying to sabotage the expedition? Who is the bad guy? Which bad guy is it? So many questions...some answers and the opening for the next book.
Please note: I was given an uncorrected proof copy.

[Greg Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devour is a well researched, tightly plotted thriller that avoids the cliches of the genre and manages to come up with an unusual hybrid plot. Devour kicks off in Antarctica, with Russian and British scientists competing to drill through thick ice into an underground lake. The organism they find there sparks a global crisis with lots of intrigue, shooting, chasing, running and a bit of romance. Things do get rather improbable at times, but that's par for the course in this genre, and Larkin does have a talent for detail. Well worth a read.

[Moraig · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read and certainly frightening in light of current events in Antartica. How wonderful it is to find a strong and brave female protagonist in Olivia Wolfe.I'm not usually a fan of thrillers but after hearing LA Larkin speak, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book, and I wasn't disappointed (once I wrested the novel from my husband's hands). Fast paced, believable characters and a ripping tale, I'm heading back for more of Olivia Wolfe.

[Ann Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping page turner. Unputdownable! I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written thriller by LA Larkin.

[Mike Taverner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow! Our hero saves FLOTUS (the President's daughter). What an unlikely and ridiculous story line - but, putting that aside, it was OK

[MaryG2E · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ★s
This fast-paced thriller gripped me and kept me reading way past my bedtime. Events kept unfolding quickly and I felt compelled to read on, not wanting to leave the story on a cliff-hanger.

Chapter 1 takes the reader to Antarctica where a scientific project overseen by British scientists and engineers is underway. Kevin Knox, one of the key personnel, is found some distance from the camp, frozen to death.

Olivia Wolfe is an investigative journalist who travels the world seeking stories of injustice for her London-based newspaper. Olivia’s story opens in Kabul with her witnessing the murder of a young Afghani woman by vicious ISIL drug runners.

After she beat a hasty retreat to home, Olivia's editor dispatches her to the Antarctic base to look into the death of Knox, at the request of the expedition leader Professor Heatherton. The project has been dogged by a number of serious failures in the specialised equipment and Heatherton suspects sabotage. A Russian project in Antarctica along the same lines as the British one has failed, and there is a feeling that the Russians are involved somehow. Suspicion falls on the British team’s senior engineer, Vitaly Yushkov. Although he is a British citizen, some team members believe he may be a spy for the Russians, something that he emphatically denies.

The project is an interesting one – the objective is to drill 3kms down through the Antarctic ice cap to sample water from a subglacial lake that formed millions of years ago. The scientists hope that there may be evidence of early life living deep in Lake Ellsworth, and they have gone to great lengths to sample the lake water with maximum care and safety. This aspect of the novel, based on a real British expedition, appealed to the science nerd in me and I was fascinated to know what the team might find, if successful. Most science fiction nerds are familiar with the notion of alien microbes from space, but this project looks at “alien” life buried deep in our Earth.

Thus the author has set up a narrative that combines scientific experiments with espionage and terrorism, all of which proceed at a cracking pace. There are many twists and turns in the main story lines, but Larkin adds another layer of intrigue which heightens the tension even further. Olivia Wolfe has a sinister stalker…or perhaps two stalkers?

I admire the skill of Larkin in creating a complex, multi-stranded plot. I did not get confused by the various goings-on, which reflects the quality of the writing. Larkin’s writing style is excellent with well-crafted sentences that kept me engaged in the action. This book is a real page-turner. I look forward to reading the second instalment of Olivia Wolfe’s life in Prey.

[gemsbooknook Geramie Kate Barker · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Their greatest fear was contaminating an ancient Antarctic lake, buried beneath the ice for millions of years. They little knew the catastrophe they were about to unleash.Welcome to the high-octane world of Olivia Wolfe.
As an investigative journalist, Wolfe lives her life in constant peril. Hunted by numerous enemies who are seldom what the first seem, she must unravel a complex web of lies to uncover an even more terrifying truth.
From the poppy palaces of Afghanistan and Antarctica’s forbidding wind-swept ice sheets, to a top-secret military base in the Nevada desert, Wolfe’s journey will ultimately lead her to a man who would obliterate civilisation. She must make an impossible choice: save a life – or prevent the death of millions.’
This was an interesting read.
While I ended up enjoying this book, I went into it expecting something totally different to what I ended up getting.
This book was slow at first and I become irritated when we jumped between locations at the beginning of the book. Once all of the action started taking place in the same area and the pacing picked up and the story became more intense and interesting.
Once I got over my initial disappointment over getting a different story then the one I had expected, I ended up really getting into the story. I found the situations and the questions being raised both entertaining and terrifying.
I understand that this s the first book in a series so there were elements of this book that were building the series but I found the inclusion of these storylines actually took away from the story being told. The stalker storyline being the main one. I found it frustrating and annoying that we kept circling back to a completely irrelevant storyline.
Overall this book ended up being a pretty enjoyable read.
Devour by L.A. Larkin is out now.

Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com

[Jon Dodsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received via a giveaway on release and just in time for holiday reading and I have to say it was a quick and enjoyable read, if not a book that lives long in the memory.
Our heroine journalist, Olivia Wolfe is well portrayed and certainly manages to get into an alarming amount of scrapes - and escapes from them in several ways, some plausible and some just a little bit too James Bond for my liking. There are several plot strands which all tie together quite loosely, and in many ways one of the disappointing things about the book was the fact that there were so many disparate strands the main "protaganist" - an ancient bacterial strain recovered from Lake Ellstown, a lake under 3km of antarctic ice - is actually downplayed behind the other strands, reducing the impact of this threat.
On a positive note however, the book is very well researched and the author certainly understands the subject matter well and writes with an authority that makes the extension of the real Ellstown mission into that that takes place in the book very plausible.
In summary, I would certainly read further books by the author and featuring this character and would recommend this book to any fans of Dan Brown or similar.

[BeesReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book by this author but only the second I have read. (First was Genesis Flaw). This is much better written than the other one. An investigative journalist for a British newspaper (who we first meet in Afghanistan where a young female source is murdered) is packed off to investigate a suspicious death in Antarctica based around the Lake Ellsworth project. (But fiction). They are attempting to drill through 3km of ice to get to the ancient lake beneath which is not frozen in order to see what life might be there. Samples go missing, suspicions abound, the Russians are running a similar operation at another lake site. One of the scientist/engineers in the British camp is a naturalized Brit who was granted asylum from the Russians. Afghanistan does tie in here. There's one dire (as 99.9% of them are) sex scene in the book that goes on for about 3 or 4 pages, I skipped the arching backs and low moans and 'searching with tongues' - bleurgh. Surprisingly, this scene was not entirely gratuitous (though they could have said in one sentence they had a shag instead of several pages of it) and does make a plot point later on.
Anyway, whodunnit was relatively surprising. It's a pacey thriller.

[FIONA Norris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another day in the Spanish sun, another holiday read... I chose this book by LA Larkin, because generally, I quite like thrillers which suggest that something nasty lurks under the ice and the cover of the paperback edition did nothing to disabuse me of this notion. However this book wasn't quite what I was expecting. The main plotline did deal with the result of finding something nasty under the ice, but there wasn't the creation of tension, the descriptive build-up that I had hoped for. The main thrust of the book seemed to be to introduce the lead character, investigative journalist Olivia Wolfe, and two subplots, which deal with aspects of her personal and professional life. One of these sub-plots ( a 'stalker') I found intensely irritating, and the resolution of it, such as it was, didn't help. The references to 'Doctor Who', and the completely unnecessary, and at 4 pages, tediously long, sex scene,suggests that this book might be aimed at (young?) men. I don't think I'll bother with another 'Olivia Wolfe' thriller, although I might try one of Larkin's earlier books, on some other sunshine holiday.

[Narelle Dimond · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second L.A. Larking book and it is fantastic. Well written and great plot. My only concern is that it takes awhile for the book to grip you as the plot is woven and built. I think many will put the book aside and not bother to finish it as it seems tough on the mind thinking through as the story is built. I know it is necessary to build a story but it takes quite a few chapters and remembering who is who.
All in all, I now regard Larkin as one of the best suspense thriller writers. I have read every Harlan Corbin and Lee Child books and think Larkin eclipsed both. The scary thing in both books is that everything is plausible.

[Ceri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading Devour because of the Antarctic setting. Disappointingly Antarctica doesn't feature in much of the story. I felt the story started well but half way through descended into typical trashy airport reading and I wasn't convinced by the main character Olivia Wilde. Ultimately I was disappointed by this book, but it has enough redeeming features ( the writing isn't terrible despite a few cheesy lines and the terrible four page sex scene ) for me to give it three stars.