Publication Date: March 9, 2014
Synopsis
I’ll be honest with you—I'm no hero. Sure, the media tries to brand every Navy SEAL as some kind of Batman dressed in cammies. There’s even a line in one of our cadences: “Superman is the man of steel, he ain’t no match for Navy SEAL.” You've seen the movies—we’re indestructible, invincible. But that night, the one you read about in the papers … all I really wanted to do was get laid.
One harmless fuck with a Curaçao whore, no strings attached. I picked her out of a lineup—wild, dark hair, long legs and a crooked smile. After she sucked me off, I relaxed back onto the creaky, cum-stained cot, thankful for the blissful moments she gave me when I actually forgot for a second the faces of my buddies who died because I made the wrong call, the tears of the children I couldn't save, and the eyes of the enemies I slaughtered during their last seconds of life.
But before I left, her hazel eyes peered into my soul. She whispered in a distinct Californian accent, “My name is Annie Hamilton. I'm an American citizen. I was kidnapped from a cruise ship five years ago. You're my last hope. Please save me.”
One desperate plea. This wasn’t a Hollywood blockbuster or a New York Times best-selling thriller. I knew that this time there was no room for excuses, no margin for errors. I had one chance to put the cape on and be her hero.
Review
Invincible tackles the undercover world of human trafficking, and while there's a romance woven into the story, the author's strength is in the action, thriller scenes. Through descriptive imagery, Albertson paints an all-too-real picture of the heroine's life in captivity. Readers won't be able to keep themselves from feeling sick by the depravity under which she lived.
The hero, and his SEAL team buddies, are heroes - regardless of what the blurb says. They all go beyond the call of duty to save Annie off the records, with great risk to themselves and their careers. The mystery surrounding her disappearance, and more accurately, why she was never found darkens the story and adds depth.
There were some pieces that seemed off, with no hints that they were coming. Without giving away too much, I'll just say that the boy comes out of nowhere and was never mentioned -even in a side reference- earlier in the book. It just made the boy questionable at first. Though he was sweet as we got to know him.
And remember I said the author's skill was in those action scenes, she seemed to struggle with dialogue. There were discussions between the two main characters that felt awkward, as if they were info dumping to serve a purpose and not building on their relationship and having a normal conversation. The evolution of their relationship was unusual as he struggled with his feelings - instead of a slow understanding and deepening, he repeatedly returned to his original concerns and then boom! he was ready to commit.
Despite the few idiosyncrasies, I enjoyed their story. It was a beautiful love story between two good people - there's not enough books with these types of true heroes.
Rating
3 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries
This book was given to us by the author. Many thanks.
About the Author
Alana Albertson is the former President of both Romance Writers of Americas’s Young Adult and Chick Lit chapters and the founder of Academe Advantage, a college admissions & test preparation company. Alana Albertson holds a Masters of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Stanford University. A recovering professional ballroom dancer, Alana currently writes contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, two young sons, and four dogs. When she’s not spending her time needlepointing, dancing, or saving dogs from high kill shelters through Pugs N Roses, the rescue she founded, she can be found watching episodes of House Hunters, Homeland, or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.
Mr. X
