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Former CIA analyst Francine Mathews has created one of the toughest female secret agents we've seen in a long time.* Using her firsthand expertise of international espionage, Mathews offers another brilliantly realized suspense novel so intense, so authentic, it lethally blurs the line between fact and fiction. In Blown, Caroline Carmichael returns in a white-hot tale of terror on the streets of Washington, where one woman must gamble her life to save her country. As thousands of runners line up for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., no one suspects that in a matter of hours the event will become a race between life and death. CIA analyst Caroline Carmichael is about to tender her resignation, when the first reports of a terrorist attack pour in-and she instantly recognizes the hand of an enemy she's battled for the 30 April Organization. The neo-Nazi group is alive and well and operating in the United States, assassinating top officials and abducting a vulnerable child from the front ranks of a state funeral. When Caroline's husband, Eric, is arrested in Germany as a 30 April operative, Caroline has no choice but to take to the streets-and target the evil herself. Eric has worked as a legend for years-a false identity so perfect, the CIA believes he's dead-and gone deep undercover within the terrorist group Caroline is determined to destroy. Now his cover's been blown, and Eric's intimate knowledge of 30 April's plans makes him a target for both the killers he's betrayed, and the American government he's sworn to protect. Torn between a desire to save her husband and her duty to save her country, Caroline is drawn back into a treacherous labyrinth where trusting others is as good as suicide. For the enemy this time wears a familiar that of an American patriot, waving his flag alongside his gun. To stem disaster, Caroline has only one to betray everyone in which she believes-or everyone she loves. For an agent without cover-an agent who's blown-is worse than she's as good as dead. *USA Today From the Hardcover edition.
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First published January 1, 2005
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About the author
Francine Mathews
27 books312 followersFrancine Mathews was born in Binghamton, NY in 1963, the last of six girls. Her father was a retired general in the Air Force, her mother a beautiful woman who loved to dance. The family spent their summers on Cape Cod, where two of the Barron girls now live with their families; Francine's passion for Nantucket and the New England shoreline dates from her earliest memories. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, a two hundred year-old Catholic school for girls that shares a wall with Georgetown University. Her father died of a heart attack during her freshman year.
In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say.
Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counter terrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava.
Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.
She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art.
In 1981, she started college at Princeton – one of the most formative experiences of her life. There she fenced for the club varsity team and learned to write news stories for The Daily Princetonian – a hobby that led to two part-time jobs as a journalist for The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News. Francine majored in European History, studying Napoleonic France, and won an Arthur W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship in the Humanities in her senior year. But the course she remembers most vividly from her time at Princeton is "The Literature of Fact," taught by John McPhee, the Pulitzer Prize winning author and staff writer for The New Yorker. John influenced Francine's writing more than even she knows and certainly more than she is able to say.
Francine spent three years at Stanford pursuing a doctorate in history; she failed to write her dissertation (on the Brazilian Bar Association under authoritarianism; can you blame her?) and left with a Masters. She applied to the CIA, spent a year temping in Northern Virginia while the FBI asked inconvenient questions of everyone she had ever known, passed a polygraph test on her twenty-sixth birthday, and was immediately thrown into the Career Trainee program: Boot Camp for the Agency's Best and Brightest. Four years as an intelligence analyst at the CIA were profoundly fulfilling, the highlights being Francine's work on the Counter terrorism Center's investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and sleeping on a horsehair mattress in a Spectre-era casino in the middle of Bratislava.
Another peak moment was her chance to debrief ex-President George Bush in Houston in 1993. But what she remembers most about the place are the extraordinary intelligence and dedication of most of the staff – many of them women – many of whom cannot be named.
She wrote her first book in 1992 and left the Agency a year later. Fifteen books have followed, along with sundry children, dogs, and houses. When she's not writing, she likes to ski, garden, needlepoint, and buy art.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
December 26, 2018
I agree with other reviews saying there were superfluous minor characters. The real reason behind this though is they were brought in too late. It was the two factors of more than one minor character (that were not fifth business) and the timing of them being exclusively in the last half or third of the book that combined complicated the ending to this series more than it needed to be. Otherwise the main characters were up to par along with their plot lines. The only cliche part was the ending before the epilogue. I can enjoy a hero archetype just like the next guy but it felt misplaced as a pinnacle for this series. Like I said though otherwise a page turner classic suspense :-)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 4, 2019
++Caroline Carmichael a CIA agent working in counterterrorism has just learned that she has been living with a lie given her by the chief of her unit Scottie Sorensen and is cleaning out her desk after submitting her resignation. While she is doing that hundreds of people running in the Marine Corps Marathon have been poisoned with ricin in the water given them at one station. ER's overflow, people panic and medical people know no remedies. CC is attracted to a mercurial FBI agent, but still loves her husband who disappeared in Germany. 30 April is the root of the terrorism and greed for power is the root of the chicanery in the intelligence community.++
April 21, 2023
The sequel to The Cutout. Many of the same characteristics in Mathew’s writing as with The Cutout, but I don’t think this book is as good. Nevertheless, I enjoyed seeing the tale come to its conclusion.
July 21, 2023
Fast paced. Lots of women holding high government offices and yes a bit contrived, it still was a story that had enough twists and turns to keep me turning the pages.
April 4, 2020
Lots of jumping around to tell an individual's story, which is hard for me because of my memory loss. But I enjoyed what I got out of it. Will look for more from this author
April 4, 2013
Caroline Carmichael is a CIA agent wounded in the line of duty trying to protect the Vice-President who was kidnapped and eventually tortured to death. As she is about to give in her resignation, a terrorist poisons a water station at the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. Hundreds die for there is no antidote to the poison used, one of whom is Dana Enfield, the wife of the Speaker of the House. Dana gave them a clue on her death bed for she remembered something that she thought in hindsight was a little suspicious and gave them a description of a man who gave her the tainted water.
Caroline is an expert on the terrorist organization 30 April and so she feels the need to look deeper into this situation even though she is black-listed by many because people think that her husband who supposedly died three years previously was seen near the murder/kidnapping site of the Vice-President. She works with a local newspaper reporter trying to get out information out for they feel that the government is attempting to cover up the whole incident. Someone must fall and they are trying to pin everything on Caroline's husband.
It is a thriller. There are many twists and turns and sometimes you don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and yet I thought that added to the suspense. Some people at the agency are good, some are just trying to protect their butts and live to the next administration.
It ends with a bang and you are cheering for Caroline who may actually find a happy ending.
Caroline is an expert on the terrorist organization 30 April and so she feels the need to look deeper into this situation even though she is black-listed by many because people think that her husband who supposedly died three years previously was seen near the murder/kidnapping site of the Vice-President. She works with a local newspaper reporter trying to get out information out for they feel that the government is attempting to cover up the whole incident. Someone must fall and they are trying to pin everything on Caroline's husband.
It is a thriller. There are many twists and turns and sometimes you don't know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are and yet I thought that added to the suspense. Some people at the agency are good, some are just trying to protect their butts and live to the next administration.
It ends with a bang and you are cheering for Caroline who may actually find a happy ending.
October 13, 2015
This fast moving novel is the sequel to CUTOUT, by Francine Mathews, which I also recently read and reviewed. Although BLOWN is an excellent stand alone story, you will certainly enjoy it much more by reading the two books in order. I love CIA analyst Caroline Carmichael and am envious of her ability to be so effective in her work as well as her good looks:) It is refreshing to read espionage fiction with strong female characters. Be warned - the author writes with knowledge and experience. Consequently, the events are sometimes brutal but always realistic and exciting. Francine, thank you so much for this exciting ride! Hope you write another thriller featuring Caroline. XOXO
January 21, 2015
Please see "The Cutout" review for further info.
I did not care for this story, the writing, or the editing. While I enjoyed the characters in the previous book, the author continued to introduce characters well beyond the half way point of the book. It reminded me of a movie sequel where the first one is stand out and the second falls flat. I was very disappointed as I was very much looking forward to reading. I thought the premise was interesting and left room for a very well done story however it came up short with very little believability. And if possible, the editing was worse in this book than the first.
I did not care for this story, the writing, or the editing. While I enjoyed the characters in the previous book, the author continued to introduce characters well beyond the half way point of the book. It reminded me of a movie sequel where the first one is stand out and the second falls flat. I was very disappointed as I was very much looking forward to reading. I thought the premise was interesting and left room for a very well done story however it came up short with very little believability. And if possible, the editing was worse in this book than the first.
October 25, 2008
Francine Mathews' Caroline Carmichael was a likeable heroine who kept me looking forward to time to read this book. I loved this book.
The only problem for me is that I have not read the preceding Carolyn Carmichael book--and now that I know what happened I don't want to. I really wish I'd read them in order. Does that happen to anyone else?
The only problem for me is that I have not read the preceding Carolyn Carmichael book--and now that I know what happened I don't want to. I really wish I'd read them in order. Does that happen to anyone else?
May 31, 2016
This book is a continuation of The Cutout, which wasn't all that good. It's poorly executed. For instance, the author introduces new characters in the middle of the book, goes into some detail concerning their backstory, then kills them off. Give me Vince Flynn and Mitch Rapp anyday.
September 19, 2011
guess I should create a suspense or thriller or spy shelf. anyways, lots of spies blowing one another's cover. home grown terrorist on our land and all the powers that be are protecting their selves. spies are a manipulative bunch.
September 25, 2009
Thriller
January 6, 2013
I found this story a bit difficult to follow. A few too many characters, or twists or something. Not my favourite.
May 6, 2015
Well written combining fact and fiction. Fast moving and intense to the very end. Really liked this book.
August 15, 2013
Absurd.
February 14, 2015
Another great book by Francine Mathews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews