LOCKED IN PURSUIT.....AN ODDLY MATCHED TEAM HUNT DOWN NAZI SPIES IN WAR TORN LONDON (*****)

Locked In Pursuit by Ashley Weaver (2024)

      While this thriller is fourth in a series, it's the first one of them I've read. First off, it works just fine as a stand-alone and author Ashely Weaver deftly brings a new reader up to speed about the characters and how the aftermath of their last harrowing adventure has affected them.

       And most importantly, it succeeds in what authors of series novels hope to achieve with readers who've encountered a later book in the ongoing saga...........to make you want to immediately go back and start reading the other books from the beginning.

       In that regard, mission accomplished. Upon finishing 'Locked In Pursuit', I can't wait to get my hands on the first three books and can't wait for the next one.....(which 'Locked In Pursuit' leaves you panting for....)
The book had me right away, dealing with one of the most fascinating historical periods - wartime London, bedeviled by the nightly onslaught of Nazi bombing raids. Fighting nefarious espionage on the homefront is an odd pairing of spy-busters.......stiff upper lip Major Ramsey of Military Intelligence and his unlikely recruit from a family of criminals, professional safecracker-thief Electra McDonnell.

       When Ellie suspects there's more than meets the eye to a series of strange burglaries all over town, she and the Major waste no time tracing the crimes back to a Lisbon spy ring.. And before long, everyone involved is hunting down a stolen secret that could aid the Nazi war machine.......a secret that Ellie and the Major need to desperately keep from falling into the wrong hands.

 
        Not only does danger lurk everywhere, there's another elephant-in-the-room. - the unspoken but unmistakable romantic tension between Ellie and her boss, especially touched off by their last near fatal mission.

     Loved everything about this book as the pages flew by. Suspenseful espionage the romance struggling to make itself known, the evocation of England at war and Ellie's resourceful, fearless courage in dealing with spies, London criminals, and anyone who makes the mistake of underestimating her.

 
      Now if you'll all please pardon me while I go find the first three books of Ellie's exploits.....and anxiously await the next one.  For "Locked In Pursuit", 5 stars (*****).
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