Series books from the middle outward

Thriller | Rachel Butler

Is anyone in real life named Rachel Butler, or do you think it's a pseudonym?

Anyway, she wrote a book called The Assassin and then this book, Deep Cover. You can get tantalising glimpses of The Assassin in this book, but hey, I haven't read it, so no comments on Book 1.

We come in when Selena McCaffery has shot her 'Uncle' William Davis the drug lord aka Henry Daniels the police chief, while escaping death at the hands of his equally evil henchman, Damon Long, and rescuing the love of her life, cop Tony Ceola.

Presumably, the first book had a happy ending, with Long going to jail, and Davis to the hospital, in a coma. But, see, she's probably in the USA as an illegal alien, being part Puerto Rican and part Jamaican, and being smuggled in by Evil Uncle. So the FBI threatens her with deportation unless she agrees to take over the drug empire and help them bring it down. Which Tony does not like, bringing a crimp into lovey-dovey paradise. Of course, you find this out much later, like in Chapter 3 or something, because the book starts with a bang. Selena walks out of a shooting range to find she's the target of someone with a good position and at least 72 bullets.

I somehow find it difficult to believe that a girl who grew up in several dysfunctional homes in each of which she was unloved, trained as a thief and assassin, would grow into an ethically strong woman rather than a mass of untreatable neuroses, but then, how would you sell a series of books with a nutcase/evil heroine?

In the interests of avoiding spoilers, all I will say is that there are satisfying twists and turns, and a happy ending. Of course, there is a third book in the series, and I read chapter 1, which again, begins with a bang, this time a bigger one (=bomb).

And, closing with a question. If Selena finds out what her parents named her, which is her 'real' name, then? Selena, which she chose, or the [spoiler killed] other one?

An easy read for a lazy Sunday. Not as funny as the stuff by Janet Evanovich, but more believable.