The Innocents Club

Rating:
Summary: What A Read!!
Review: CIA analyst Mariah Bolt looked forward to her vacation with her fifteen-year-old daughter Lindsay as an opportunity to heal their estranged relationship. However, just a couple of days before they are to fly to California, Deputy Director of Operations Jack Geist demands she assists the CIA with recruiting the Russian Belenko to work for the agency. Jack believes Belenko has the hots for Mariah, giving her an edge. In turn, Mariah believes Belenko is interested in her as the daughter of the late great author Ben Bolt.

Jack ensures that Mariah cannot not reject the assignment. She leaves two days earlier sans Lindsay to attend "The Last Days of the Romanov Dynasty" exhibit at Los Angeles' Arlen Hunter museum. There, she meets Renata Hunter Carr, the woman who stole her father from the then-seven year old Mariah and her mother. The assignment, the meeting, a professor's accusations about her father, and her former mentor's trip to Moscow set in motion a series of betrayals, murder, and kidnapping. It leaves Mariah questioning her values and what she thought was the truth about her heritage.

THE INNOCENTS CLUB is an exciting espionage thriller that builds its tension through real people involved in thirty-year-old deadly secrets. The story line is exhilarating due to the characters actual feelings so that when events occur, readers understand their motives, actions, and reactions. The story line never slows down and the suspense grows with each succeeding page until the story ends in an explosion of glory. Though the climax is a bit simplistic for such a complex tale, Taylor Smith combines the best of Grisham and Le Carre into a fabulous suspense thriller that is uniquely her own style.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thriller
Review: CIA analyst Mariah Bolt looked forward to her vacation with her fifteen-year-old daughter Lindsay as an opportunity to heal their estranged relationship. However, just a couple of days before they are to fly to California, Deputy Director of Operations Jack Geist demands she assists the CIA with recruiting the Russian Belenko to work for the agency. Jack believes Belenko has the hots for Mariah, giving her an edge. In turn, Mariah believes Belenko is interested in her as the daughter of the late great author Ben Bolt.

Jack ensures that Mariah cannot not reject the assignment. She leaves two days earlier sans Lindsay to attend "The Last Days of the Romanov Dynasty" exhibit at Los Angeles' Arlen Hunter museum. There, she meets Renata Hunter Carr, the woman who stole her father from the then-seven year old Mariah and her mother. The assignment, the meeting, a professor's accusations about her father, and her former mentor's trip to Moscow set in motion a series of betrayals, murder, and kidnapping. It leaves Mariah questioning her values and what she thought was the truth about her heritage.

THE INNOCENTS CLUB is an exciting espionage thriller that builds its tension through real people involved in thirty-year-old deadly secrets. The story line is exhilarating due to the characters actual feelings so that when events occur, readers understand their motives, actions, and reactions. The story line never slows down and the suspense grows with each succeeding page until the story ends in an explosion of glory. Though the climax is a bit simplistic for such a complex tale, Taylor Smith combines the best of Grisham and Le Carre into a fabulous suspense thriller that is uniquely her own style.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Taylor Smith, The Innocents Club
Review: I have enjoyed Taylor Smith's books. I think that her background allows her to bring a depth to espionage books that is sometimes lacking. In The Innocents Club, I felt like she did not develop her characters enough to explain certain actions. For example, in the end of Guilt by Silence, Mariah's daughter likes and enjoys Paul; however, in The Innocents Club she dislikes him with no real understanding of why. Even Paul's character changes more than the books explains. The ending reminded me of a soap opera that had five minutes to tie up all lose ends. We never see the main characters react to their changed status, but we are only told about it. Maybe she is trying to lead us to continue finding out in the next book, but what if she loses us instead?

Rating:
Summary: Taylor Smith, The Innocents Club
Review: I have enjoyed Taylor Smith's books. I think that her background allows her to bring a depth to espionage books that is sometimes lacking. In The Innocents Club, I felt like she did not develop her characters enough to explain certain actions. For example, in the end of Guilt by Silence, Mariah's daughter likes and enjoys Paul; however, in The Innocents Club she dislikes him with no real understanding of why. Even Paul's character changes more than the books explains. The ending reminded me of a soap opera that had five minutes to tie up all lose ends. We never see the main characters react to their changed status, but we are only told about it. Maybe she is trying to lead us to continue finding out in the next book, but what if she loses us instead?

Rating:
Summary: good story line
Review: i really enjoyed this book. the plot was well crafted, not so dumb as many thrillers these days. smith's books seem to be getting better. my one gripe (taylor smith, if you are reading this!) is: mariah should not get involved with a man old enough to be her father, just because she never had a real father. bring back paul chaney, and complexify the relationship a bit. a real relationship has good bits and bad bits, and mariah needs a little more depth.

Rating:
Summary: good story line
Review: i really enjoyed this book. the plot was well crafted, not so dumb as many thrillers these days. smith's books seem to be getting better. my one gripe (taylor smith, if you are reading this!) is: mariah should not get involved with a man old enough to be her father, just because she never had a real father. bring back paul chaney, and complexify the relationship a bit. a real relationship has good bits and bad bits, and mariah needs a little more depth.

Rating:
Summary: What A Read!!
Review: Taylor Smith brings back CIA analyst Mariah Bolt in this new book, and what a thrilling, invigorating, twisted tale it is. And in hardcover too. Congratulations Taylor Smith!