Review: A Story of Friendship, Love and Uncertain Motives
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 21, 2011
In high school, Lacey was friends with Jim Micah, even while dating his best friend John Montgomery.  Jim and Lacey had feelings for each other, but nothing was acted on due to John and Lacey's relationship.  John has always been a charmer, and his personality overshadowed other people's to the point that they took risks they wouldn't have ordinarily taken.  To Lacey, John represented daring and Jim represented loyalty and security.  At the beginning of the story, John and Lacey have been broken up for a while and his influence on her is beginning to fade.  She sees some insincerity in his behavior and wonders why she didn't see it before.John and Jim are both in the Army.  They are both stationed overseas, and even though they are best friends, they don't necessarily see things the same way.  Due to his role, John has been "safely" ensconced at base, while Jim was out in the field testing pieces of equipment.It's during the testing of a new piece of surveillance equipment that Jim and his team are attacked and captured.  Their position is unknown, but the news eventually makes it back to the States where Lacey sees it in the paper.  She uses her connections at the Department of Defense to travel to the base closest to Jim's location.  However, she is wondering why she had to find out in the paper as opposed to John contacting her.Once there, she meets up with John, who helps her find out more information and attempt to mount a rescue.  To a certain extent, I think he thought it was sweet of her to show up to find Jim.  He seems to think he can pick up their relationship right where they left off, and portrays as such to others on base.  I think he tries to use her arrival to his advantage, and draw her back into his sphere of influence.Throughout the story, the reader catches glimpses of Lacey's true feelings.  She seems easily persuaded/overwhelmed by John and his personality, even though she has feelings for Jim.  The reader also is privy to the depth of Jim's feelings, much more so than Lacey's, I felt.  The unknown is John's feelings.  I realize that an author can't give every character's motives, but to a certain extent, I felt as though John was a plot device, instead of a developed character.This is a prequel to Flee the Night, and the ending definitely leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next in these people's lives.This was a very quick read.  I would have liked more details on some items.  It also seemed as though some things were too convenient.  For example, the fact that Lacey could show up overseas, on a military base, presumably in a war zone and get information easily seemed a little far-fetched, no matter if she had really good ties to the Department of Defense.  It was situations such as those that required a suspension of belief.I enjoyed the story and will probably look up the next book.I received this book for free from the publisher through NetGalley.  I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.