Review: (X + Danger + Alpha Y= !)  A Formula Book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2012
(X + Danger + Alpha Y= !)First of all, let me say I'm a Monette Michaels fan.  I love her other SSI book, and her sci-fi novel "Prime Obsession" is A+.  However, "Cold Day In Hell" is a straight formula suspense novel.It's a re-hash of the Cindy Gerrard Novel "With No Remorse".  (X+ Dgr + AY= !), or take one super model (X), add Danger, plus an Alpha Man, and you get a combustible `danger danger let's fight the bad guys novel'.  But if you expect this going in, you'll won't be disappointed.SYNOPSIS WITH SPOILERS:Super model is lured to South America for the last photo shoot of her career.  A local para-military leader informs her, she's his and is not leaving the country.  Bad guy tells her he'll kill her little brothers back in Chicago, if she doesn't cooperate.  She phones her friend at SSI for help.  They send an agent "Risto" to pretend to be her husband and get her out in one piece.Risto shows up, busts heads, he and Calista practically burn up the pages with sexual chemistry.  He gets her out of the country then disappears.  Two months later, he still hasn't called.  Calista has taken an analyst job with SSI and has cost the paramilitary leader millions by tracking down his dirty money for the US.  But the bad guy goes after Calista again, so she turns to Risto for protection.Risto and his friends stake out his hometown and literally repel an army of mercs bent on killing Risto for revenge, and kidnaping the super model.  Calista is a sharpshooter and serves as a sniper in the gun battle.  The bad guys lose, good guys win, and everyone lives happily ever after.PROBLEMS:Calista feels the need to remind everyone in sight that she raised her "TWIN brothers" over and over.In some places, the dialog seems forced.  For instance, Quote by Calista: "Once I find that laundry list, I'll use my knowledge and skills to uncover some of Cruz's other accounts."  Or when she reveals that she went to college on a full scholarship, Calista delivers the information like a shotgun instead in the course of the story or natural conversations.The Alpha hero Risto goes overboard on jealousy.  A smidge of it is cute in a story, but his is so overt that is borders on possessive abuse.  Come on, growling at everyone who looks at his `super model world famous' girlfriend makes him look like a Chihuahua at a party.IMO, the love scenes were a tad too plentiful.OK.  You can't have a running gun battle that encompasses a whole town and not tick off the locals.  There's going to be damage, and even absentee home owners are gonna have something to say about it when they return.  Was there any particular reason that they didn't wait for the bad guys to bring the gun battle to the island where they could pick them off before they landed?GOOD STUFF:The novel was fun.  I like the occasional `suspend reality and go with it' novels.  Who doesn't like a heroine who can shoot dozens of men, and be an asset in catching bad guys with a computer?The chemistry between hero and heroine was ballistic.  It's fun when you see two characters who meet and practically self combust with heat.I loved that the town people got into defending Risto's girl and that they have a hands on approach to civil defense.IMO: the first novel was better, but even though this one was really formulaic, I say go for it and buy it.  Plus be sure to read the other SSI book.