Aground on St. Thomas by Rebecca M. Hale

Aground on St. Thomas by Rebecca M. Hale ISBN-13: 978-0425252512 Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: December 2, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
The tropical paradise of St. Thomas is shut down as the FBI seizes control of the island to apprehend government officials on bribery charges. Tourists and locals are stranded until FBI agent Gabe “Friday” Stein can find the missing governor and two senators who have eluded capture.

Innocent of any crime, Senator Julia Sanchez can only escape wrongful arrest with the help of eccentric Senator Bobo. As they try to blend in with increasingly hostile locals and make their trek across the island to safety, Senator Sanchez is only just beginning to realize the extent of the corruption behind the island’s idyllic façade


My Review:
Aground on St. Thomas is a suspense novel set in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This is the third book in the series. You don't need to read the previous novels to understand this one, but there appears to be an underlying story that continues through the series. The plot and outcome of the previous novel was also "spoiled" in this one.

The idea behind the story and the action was intriguing. However, there wasn't much mystery to it for the reader since we get POV thoughts and motives from all the major (and some minor) players in this political game. The characters were varied and each had motives of their own, so it was never certain exactly how things would turn out--who would survive physically and politically.

While the pacing was generally good, there was a slow point a few chapters in where each main character stopped to think about his background and what lead up to the action in the previous chapters. It's too bad this wasn't staggered throughout the story instead of done all at once, but the pacing did pick back up nicely after that.

There was no sex or bad language, and the minimal violence was more implied than described. I'd recommend this interesting novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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