Review: Somewhat disappointing set up for a series I (was) dying to read!
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2014
UNDERCOVER (THE SSU BOOK 0.5 -- A PREQUEL) by Vanessa Kier is 40 pages long (minus front- and back-matter).  This novella covers a significant amount of time...years in the past, present, flashbacks, ...often with 10 or more years passing between scenes.  The story is meant to set up the SURGICAL STRIKE series.I'm a HUGE fan of military romantic suspense.  I wanted DESPERATELY to love this series.  I've already invested in some of the later books (and they're waiting in my TBR cue)...so when this prequel came available, I was quick to download it and anxious to read it.  Unfortunately, it just didn't WOW me like I'd hoped.  Yes, there's a lot at risk.  Yes, the themes of vengeance and honor war with one another.  Yes, we have a wicked-strong hero to root for and want to see him succeed.  And yes, the motivation for his actions (which could be unsympathetic) are well-motivated.I've thought carefully, given those key elements ARE present, about why, precisely, this novella *didn't* light a fire under me, forcing the rest of the SURGICAL STRIKE UNIT novels to the top of my TBR list.My reasons include:~No romantic interest for the hero (the prequel was the decades-long war between families, but our guy was definitely old enough, despite his circumstances, to have a woman he loved...but nope).~Action sequences and scenes often fell flat...didn't increase my heart rate, didn't make me anxious for the hero's survival~Because hero had no one to confide in (working alone does that to a guy), introspective scenes (so we'd have a clue why he did what he did) were void of dialogue and often ran on and on and on.As I've already purchased some (if not all) if the rest of the series, I'll give them a chance.  Again, i wanted to LOVE this series.  The blurbs are compelling and this type of book is among my FAVORITE of sub-genres.  Perhaps other readers will love this novella and easily give it 5 stars.