The Wild Side
A Gripping Novel of Suspense
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4.0 • 40 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
A former government agent is drawn back into the world of covert ops for a very unconventional mission in a thrilling, new, an action-packed novel from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels.
For Melanie Drake, school guidance counselor in a small Virginia town, the day’s challenges typically involve a playground scuffle or a student skipping school—worlds away from her former life in the Office of Special Investigations, where she devoted herself heart and soul to covert operations, the riskier the better.
Since leaving, Melanie has cherished her peaceful, calm existence, with her two beloved retired service dogs for company. Then a call comes from her former supervisor, Rich Patterson. He needs her back for a highly specialized assignment. An international group of billionaires is known to meet regularly for decadent dinners, and they always hire high-class escorts for the occasion. Only the most elegant, well-educated, and sophisticated women will do. Infiltrating those meetings could yield information vital to national security.
Melanie’s willing to go undercover to glean every scrap of intel that she can. But these men aren’t just wealthy and powerful, they’re also exceptionally ruthless. One slip, and they won’t hesitate to eliminate Melanie, by any means necessary . . .
Customer Reviews
Not that wild about it
I think I expected far more OSI intelligence action than the book delivered. The first part of the book weighs heavily on the factors that make Melanie Drake an over-achieving rule follower. When she does get into OSI she has a creepy (but luckily interrupted) encounter with a colleague who seems to have spiked her single glass of wine with evil intent but she is spared by the opportune arrival of a forest ranger. The rest of her 15-year intelligence career is glossed over without much detail until she embarks on an unusual second career as an elementary school guidance counsellor, with a side hustle that links her back to OSI. Presumably this is the ‘wild side’ referred to in the title: this straight-laced voluntarily celibate careerist now has to disguise herself in expense-account designer gear for evening events for OSI, observing dodgy characters and planting bugs when possible. Otherwise there is nothing ‘wild’ about Melanie Drake, not even the hint at a ‘soupçon’ of romance with an OSI friend late in life. Far too much mundane detail, far too little action and adventure made this a tame read. Could have done with a rigorous edit and fewer sidebar detours.