Coast Guard Recon
In theory, it was supposed to work. Injured and not ready to return to their special ops groups, Nick and his team were given extra time to recover. The Coast Guard had invested millions in their training and didn’t want to lose it. But after a bar brawl involving top-tier operators, the brass insisted they stay busy. Nick’s boss, the admiral, warned that if they weren’t engaged soon, they’d implode—physically and mentally.
Diverted
Nick Taggert was injured on his last assignment for the Coast Guard. Now, too hurt to return to his former position and not wounded enough to be benched, he’s assigned as the new Coast Guard team leader in…Panama. They’re there as part of a drug interdiction unit, but really, they’re Team RECON. Recon as in reconstructed. Each of the four men is like him; a Humpty Dumpty. Except they were trying to put themselves back together so they could do what they loved best, kicking ass, and taking names.
Dr. Carolina Alvarez had moved on from research and was working for Doctors Without Borders. A chance meeting with her old boss set her on a dangerous mission to deliver much-needed medicine to South America. Her failure would mean the sure extinction of a tribe clinging to their ancient ways.
Nick should have realized from the instant Carolina walked back into his life things would not go according to plan. But harbored resentment still clouded his vision. Now they were on the trail of the missing vaccine, and the assignment just turned deadly.
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Reviews
PJ Ausdenmore
I couldn’t put it down…
A word of advice: do not begin this book unless you have plenty of reading time at your disposal. I started reading it in bed last night, continued until I fell asleep at 2:00 AM (still holding my Kindle), and dove right back in as soon as I awoke this morning. It’s compelling, action-packed, edge-of-the-seat romantic suspense that grabbed my attention from the get-go and refused to be set aside. I loved it!
Lori Matthews has become one of my favorite authors writing romantic suspense. Her stories are tightly crafted, with fully-developed characters who engage my emotions. She brings them to life on the pages and then places them in impeccably-detailed settings that put me in the heart of the action. I didn’t just read about Carolina’s, Nick’s, and the Coast Guard team’s journey through Panama and Ecuador, I felt like I was walking through the jungles with them, dodging gunfire, deactivating bombs, and balancing undeniable attraction with necessary caution, all while fighting for my life. It’s an interactive experience Matthews brings with each book she writes. She fully immerses me in each of her stories, leaving me eager for more of the same each time I reach the final page.
Diverted is the first book in what I hope will be a new series. I’m already invested in the entire Coast Guard Special Ops team!
Reading in Morgan Hill
Military thriller
In the first book of a new series by Lori Matthews, we’re schooled on exactly what the Coast Guard does! They have an elite maritime counterterrorism unit and our hero, Nick Taggert, was one. Unfortunately he’s been injured and is now ‘sitting on the beach’ in Panama with other wounded soldiers from various branches of the military, doing deskwork that is killing their souls.
Carolina Alvarez, the doctor who did surgery on Nick in Yemen, and saved his life, is also who he blames for his lack of ability to get back into ‘real’ action. She has been contacted by a former employer to help a native tribe in Central America that is dying due to a genetically modified mosquito. She wants to say no, but when her former employer is critically injured, she finds she can’t say no to helping.
Drug lords, the possibility of saving an indigenous tribe from extinction, Coast Guard duties we didn’t even know existed, Doctors without Borders, injured warriors from all branches of the military working together, pharmaceutical companies with no ethical compass, and corrupt politicians. This book has it all.
I’ve been a fan of Ms. Matthews since her first books. Her writing style is very readable and you can tell she has done her homework on all facets of the information she writes about. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series!!
Jenn H.
Another great book from Lori Matthews!
I’m always waiting for Lori’s next book to come out but I was a little hesitant since this is a new series (I love the Callahan series!). But she nailed it with this one. This one might have the most suspense and twists of any one she’s written yet and I couldn’t put it down. I’m excited for the next one in the series to come out soon!
AngDia
Diverted
This is the first book of Lori’s that I have read and let me tell you, it is suspenseful. You must keep reading because you cannot put it down. I would categorize this as more suspense than romance even though romance is present. Of course, we know who the bad guys are but how was the RECON team going to get around them to get to their goal and the why’s of what was happening. Therein lies the reason why this is such a good story. I loved this story if you cannot tell already with all of my gushing. I also really liked that they are a little older (not 20 something) which makes how they see and handle things a little different. Three little things that I wanted more of: (1) why didn’t Nick tell Carolina of his anger regarding his back, (2) I wanted more development of their romance, and (3) the ending was too abrupt, I needed more but I am sometimes greedy like that. Other than that, this is a fantastic suspense/thriller and I definitely want to see the rest of the RECON team get their own stories. Who knew Coast Guards were such badasses.
Michelle
Drug Lords, A Doctor and a RECON Military Team in a Desperate Battle
This was my first book by Lori Matthews and will definitely not be my last. This book is awesome!! It grabs you from the first and keeps you on a wild ride all the way to the end. Dr. Carolina Alvarez was formerly a researcher who broke away and began work with Doctors Without Borders. While home on a vacation she accidently runs into her former employer and research partner who begs her to take a life saving drug to a tribe that he and his father have always had a close relationship with deep in South America. The tribe has become sick and needs the vaccine in order to stay alive. Javier is literally almost killed right in front of her and this send Carolina on a dangerous mission to Panama to try to save the tribe. Meanwhile in Panama, Nick Taggert and his crew of Coast Guard RECON team members are working on healing from various injuries before they can go back in the field full time and are working on tracking down drug shipments before they make it to the US. (Who knew the Coast Guard did so much??) Nick winds up arresting Carolina when she arrives with the drug for smuggling and realizes that she is the doctor that “saved” him and is responsible for his injury that has put him in this position in the jungles on Panama. Soon they begin working together with the RECON team to try to get the drug to the tribe deep in the jungle. With drug dealers, war lords and government officials trying to kill them and stop the delivery of the drug at all costs it is a whirlwind dangerous adventure until the end.
Kristen Lewendon
I was swept up in the drama
I don’t quite know what to call this book, because it’s more than simply romantic suspense. It layers in elements of political intrigue and action/adventure to make a story that’s as addictive as it is terrifying in its possibilities. I was swept up in the drama from the moment the book opened, and it carried me along until the very end. I was desperate to know what would happen next and I felt like I couldn’t read it fast enough in order to find out. I liked Nick and Carolina and, really, the whole Team RECON. I’m already a fan and I can’t wait to read more.