I do not think that there can ever be enough books about anything and I say that knowing that some of them are going to be about Pilates.The more knowledge the better seems like a solid rule of thumb, even though I have watched enough science fiction films to accept that humanity’s unchecked pursuit of learning will end with robots taking over the world.-Sarah Vowell

Monday, July 9, 2018

Dead Girl Running by Christina Dodd


It's January at Yearning Sands Resort on the Washington state's Pacific coast and the owners, Annie and Leo Di Luca are going away to a family gathering/vacation leaving their new assistant manager, Kellan Adams in charge. Kellan isn't who she says she is. She's really Kellan's cousin Cecilia who was in an abusive relationship. One day Kellen arrived to rescue Cecilia. The two looked enough alike to be twins. When Kellen went into Cecilia's bungalow to get her things her husband sees her and takes an ax and kills her and blows up the building while Cecilia watches killing both Kellen and himself.  At some point she loses a year of her life after being shot in the head and then she joins the Army and becomes injured and is honorably discharged and takes the job at the Yearning Sands Resort hiring a few of her Army friends who need jobs.

The staff include: Mitch, one of her Army buddies who is good with electronics and is one of the drivers; Sheri Jean, guest manager whom the guest adore but the staff fear; Mara Philippi, the spa manager, likes to work out with Kellen and says she wants to enter the American Ninja Competition; Xander, masseuse, very Zen and into mediation; Mr. Gilfrin, head of security who is leaving her in charge of security so he can go away and observe the security department from afar for something fishy that may be going on; Adrian, Army buddy works with the cars; Temo; mechanic, handyman, now head of maintenance; Birdie, recent widow, lead mechanic;  and Chad Griffin, drunk pilot and womanizer. There's also the guests: Carson Lennex, an older actor who owns a penthouse there and acts mysteriously; Shivering Sherlocks, a group of women who have come to do a mystery weekend; Nils Brooks, says he is a writer; Justin and Julia Florence, newlyweds.

When a decayed body turns up on the beach and is identified as Pricilla Carter, the former assistant manager who everyone believed just packed up and left in the middle of a tour.  Pricilla had found some relics that some smugglers had left on the beach to be picked up and hid them at the hotel.  She had asked for money in exchange for the relics back.

This is when Nils Brooks takes Kellen aside and tells her he is with the MFAA or the Monuments Men who rescue relics for the government.  In this case, they are trying to keep them from being sold to fund terrorists.  There is one he is really after who killed the only other person who it was in the organization, his boss. This person is the illusive Librarian. Suspected of being a woman, but could be a man they cut off the hands of their victims. The Librarian has many smuggling operations running around the U.S., including the one there at Yearning Sands, but Nils isn't interested in stopping the smuggling. He wants to capture the Librarian whom he believes works or is a guest at the resort.

With all the trouble Annie and Leo send their great-nephew Max to help Kellen with security but also for other reasons.  Kellen doesn't know what to make of Nils's story. He seems to check out, but it all seems far-fetched.  Maybe he is the Librarian?  The only one she knows she can trust is Max and that's because he wasn't here for any of it. While Nils is trying to make moves on her, there's something that draws her to Max.  This fast-paced, adrenaline-fueled book will keep you hopping. While you probably will have guessed most of it, there are still some surprises that Dodd still manages to pull off that you don't expect.  This is a great book and I highly recommend it.

Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Girl-Running-Cape-Charade-ebook/dp/B075QVYMHX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531139020&sr=8-1&keywords=dead+girl+running

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