The Child Riddler by Angela Greenman is an action packed techno thriller pitting a highly trained assassin against the world’s terrorists.
The Wildcat suppresses what little emotion she allows herself with a potent dose of chemicals when she’s in the field. Any terrorist that ends up in her sights is a dead man walking, between her physical skills and the impressive arsenal provided by GTA, her super secret government organization.
When Zoe, the Wildcat, isn’t breaking heads she’s breaking the heart of her long suffering girlfriend Isabel, her haven from the world’s cruelty. It’s Isabel who insists Zoe can handle the toughest assignment she’s ever been handed, to kidnap and interrogate a nine year old girl who holds the secret to the world’s most powerful weapon.
Writing
This action packed novel spans the globe and a gamut of emotions from a woman who has been trained practically from birth to be a killer. The author gives Zoe a really cool arsenal of weapons for high end hunts, from nanobots with gps and deadly poisons to night vision contact lenses, and chemical cocktails for every occasion. When she’s not in the field there are the fraught office politics of a large, highly organized secret government organization. There is a lot of nuts and bolts exchanges and intrigue involving spy work.
Despite the high level of abilities shown by all the characters, especially Zoe, there is always a sense of danger coming from many directions. Some of the continual threat is from other characters close to her. Considering the high level of espionage there aren’t a lot of main characters, and they range from super sweet to truly evil. There was never any shortage of bad guys for Zoe to take on.
It would have been easy to make Zoe too powerful with the training and the gadgetry and the organizational backing, but she is given just enough emotional and professional issues to make her a character you can get behind.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
I was impressed with the high level of creativity in the assassin tools given to Zoe and the other operatives to work with. The tech is believable and super deadly, even the McGuffin that keeps all the players busy hunting and killing each other for control.
The intrigue parts of the story created some nice periods of slow down that let me catch my breath from the action. Zoe’s trepidation about bonding with the little girl who has to be too quickly debriefed after a traumatic experience was believable. People who aren’t used to dealing with children, especially dangerous killers, could be expected to not have good kid skills. It was fun to watch her learning curve.
Heads Up
There is lots and lots of violence, both done to other characters and descriptions of horrible events that occur in the real world. Descriptions of torture.
The Conclusion
Zoe is The Wildcat, a top level assassin for the GTA, a super secret anti-terrorist organization. Isabel, who wants to settle down with Zoe talks her through her toughest assignment, kidnapping and interrogating a traumatized nine year old girl. There are more dangers in Zoe’s world than just her usual assignments, and they’re threatening to upset her personal and professional life and maybe the whole world.
There is action throughout and a deep dive into the violence and politics of terrorism. Zoe’s organization isn’t as secure as she had thought, and evil can come from any direction in her world.
Excerpt from The Child Riddler by Angela Greenman
“We hunt twenty-four hours a day. I’m the Wildcat, remember? When that phone rings, my heart starts pumping adrenaline instead of blood, my claws come out, and I leap to answer it. It’s time we got honest about children. It’s going to be enough of a struggle to be there for each other. I don’t see how in hell we can handle the responsibility. You told your staff not to contact you and they did anyway. That’s our life.”
Isabel pulled Zoe’s hands off her and clutched them in hers. “You’re not like your uncle. You made yourself who you are and you’re a badass with a caring heart. You’re an amazing person, and there’s nothing you can’t do. You’ll learn to be a parent – and you’ll be a wonderful one.”
Isabel laughed at Zoe’s dismayed expression and let her go. “Don’t panic. We’re not going to be alone in this. We have support options. We’ve got my sister, Emma – she’ll be there for us. You know how she always wanted children. She’ll embrace ours as hers. We’re lucky she’s a nurse! And she’s only an hour away in Santa Fe. I also checked into headquarters’ daycare center and it’s a good one. We can get a live-in nanny. It’s going to be okay. You’ll be able to convince Easton to make it happen. And I’m confident once we’re living together, it’ll all work out.”
Zoe’s stomach knotted. Isabel’s biological clock had overdosed on speed and she’d turned into a locomotive going full-steam ahead on children.
Putting brakes on a racing train caused a lot of friction.
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 978-1-64247-365-0
Publisher: Bella Books
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