Running Scared

I imagine living on a sailboat and sailing the ocean blue is a life full of danger, wonder and adventure. There is certainly a lot of all three in this excellent woman in trouble thriller. Two women in trouble actually, who are wrongly pursued, abused and falsely accused by a couple ex-CIA agents who are trying to track down their dirty, lowdown rotten, bigamist husband. The dirty rat is blackmailing the president's daughter and has set of a plot that will lead to her death. The young women, a Brazilian ex-hooker and a South African ex-Olympic swimmer, have to smuggle themselves into the United States, then cross the county in a race against time with those CIA guys on their trail every step of the way. Running Scared stole away a Saturday, but you know what, I didn't miss that old day a bit. Why would I want to go to a movie when I can sail through a lightning storm, battle a helicopter, rescue a president's daughter? You should read this book, I just know you'll love it as much as I did. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

I'd read "Desperation Moon" by Ken Douglas awhile back and I liked it very much, so I bought "Running Scared" and I have to tell you I was up all night with a tub of Starbucks Coffee Almond Fudge, gorging myself as my fingers burned through the pages of this delicious thriller. It's a good thing I had that ice cream to cool them down. South African Olympic swimming medalist Joey Sapphire is sailing around the world with her new husband, Mick. He is a snake in the grass if ever there was one. She is a little naive. They are stopped for awhile in Trinidad and Mick is supposed to be in America, visiting his parents over Christmas and Joey is alone, taking care of the boat. She goes to a Christmas party, has a little too much to drink and wakes on a strange boat next to a dead man, who just happens to be the son of the American Ambassador. Joey is in trouble deep. She's afraid to call the cops, because they hang people for murder in Trinidad. So she weighs the body down and deep sixes it. However, she soon realizes she's not as safe as she'd thought, because there is a killer on the lose who probably knows or can figure out what she has done. To make matters worse, a couple days later a young Brazilian hottie named Nina shows up, claiming to be Mrs. Mick Sapphire, a title Joey thought she had the exclusive rites to. But before she can confront Mick about this other wife, she's arrested on trumped up drug charges and her only friend appears to be that other woman her husband married, who also happens to be pregnant. And that's just the beginning of this thriller that has two women running from the Caribbean to California with a deadly stop off in Arizona that will absolutely get your pulse racing like it's never raced before. If you're in the mood for a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, then this book is for you.

Joey Sapphire is sailing around the world with her husband Mick. Currently they are in Trinidad and their boat "Satisfaction" is in a marina. Mick is supposed to be home visiting his parents over the Christmas holidays. Joey has stayed with the boat. She wakes up one morning in bed with a man on a boat that is not her own. She has no memory of how she got there. The man is dead. After a few harrowing moments she comes to the realization that she has to get rid of the body, because if she goes to the authorities they might think she killed him and they hang murderers in Trinidad. Nina Brava has just turned twenty-one. She and her partner and best friend Joana run an internet café in Fortaleza, Brazil. She and Joana started life out as teenage prostitutes, but have managed to get out of the business and they have a bright future ahead of them. When Mike and Joey stopped by on their way to Trinidad, they stayed awhile and Mick, who is just about the biggest rat that ever graced the pages of a book, had an affair with Nina. He told her his marriage was over and Nina thought it was love. When Mick and Joey left she was devastated. Now Mick is back. He tells her he's divorced and he and Nina marry. Only Mick lied. He is really on the lam because he got some dirty pictures of the daughter of the President of the United States and tried to blackmail her, only she went to her mother, the first lady, who doesn't take anything from anybody. She sets a couple professional ex-CIA killer assassin types on Mick's trail. When one of the killers catches up to him in Brazil, he flees, leaving Nina behind to deal with the assassin. Nina gets away and goes to Trinidad, looking for her new hubby, only to find out he is still married to Joey. So now you have the rat's two young wives fleeing for their lives from the first lady's hired killers. And to make matters worse, Mick has decided that he has to kill the president's daughter. Joey and Nina have to somehow get over their differences and stop him. Then cannot go to the police, because the killer's have framed them for drug smuggling. So there you have it, the beginning of a non-stop, far-fetched, furious, fast-paced and fun book. I just simply loved it. I marveled at how the girls snuck into America and how they dealt with all the obstacles thrown in front of them. This is a very exciting book and I highly recommend it.

Former Olympic swimmer and around the world sailor Joey Saphaire wakes on a sailboat in Trinidad, where she doesn't belong, next to a man who isn't her husband. It's dark out, she can't remember how she got there or who the man is. He's cold. Cold and dead. She realizes she'd been drugged and chains the body to an anchor and dumps it overboard, as they hang murders in Trinidad. Unknown to Joey, she's being watched by ex-CIA man Paul Snelling, because her husband Mick, who is away, has taken some not so nice photos of the president's daughter and is blackmailing him. Mick has figured out that some pretty tough guys are hot on his tail, so he goes into hiding in Brazil, where he and Joey had been before sailing on up to Trinidad. There he marries Nina, a young woman he'd been having an affair with, but when the baddies show up, he splits, leaving Nina to deal with them alone. Nina flies to Trinidad to find her new husband and finds his old wife instead, the one he's still married to. So now the two Mrs. Saphires have a problem. With Mick gone, they are lined up in Snelling's crosshairs and he sets about making their lives miserable. The women have to get out of the country and they are on the run, but while they're running they learn what Mick has been up to and they believe he's going to kill the president's daughter. So now they have to elude Snelling and his evil henchman, the secret service and Mick as they race the clock to try and save the girl's life. RUNNING SCARED had my pulse running like it was out of control. There is just no let up in the frantic pace, no place where you can put the book down and take a breather. This is the kind of story you want to read when you start a vacation, because it'll take your mind right off your work, your worries and everything else. What a book. Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

When Joey Sapphire, who lives on a sailboat in the Caribbean, wakes up next to a dead man, she knows she's in trouble. She's in Trinidad, a country that hangs murderers, she's afraid, so she drags the body up on deck, weighs it down and drops it overboard. She has no memory of going to bed with the dead man, doesn't know who he is. She must have been drugged. She wishes her husband Mick had never gone home to America to spend Christmas with his parents. When Nina Brava, a young woman who owns part of an internet café in a Brazilian seaside town, learns that the American who got her pregnant has come back, she is happy beyond belief. But when her lover is attacked and flees, leaving her alone with the attacker, she is devastated. What kind of man runs out on his woman in those kind of circumstances. Unknown to Nina, her runaway lover is none other that Joey's husband Mick. Mick is blackmailing Suzi Walcott, the daughter of the President of the United States and is on the run from the ex-CIA men the American First Lady has put on his trail. Now with him gone, Nina and Joey are the only link they have to the blackmailer and the goods he has on Suzi. The two young woman are nothing more than victims of a double-dealing, slimy, two-timing crud, but the CIA toughs don't know this and they are out for blood, leaving two innocent young women running scared. When I find a author I like, I tend to read five or six books by him or her before moving on to something else. I just finished five in a row by Elizabeth Lowell, ending with her very Good RUNNING SCARED, so when I saw this book with the same title, I was intrigued. I bought it at the same time I did Ms. Lowell's, read hers, then Mr. Douglas's. Now I'm going to go onto a couple more by Mr. Douglas. He writes with attention, flair and a fast-paced style that I like and I think you'll like it too.