Dark Angel

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Fresh off the Pershing Bridge shoot out, Letty Davenport is back at her job for the Department of Homeland Security on a stake out where she meets Barbara Cartwright, a spook working for the Unspecified Agency assigned to the same project.  This fateful meeting works in Letty’s favor on her next assignment: going undercover to infiltrate a hacker conglomerate responsible for hacking into a Russian train network.  When the assignment turns into a protection detail, Letty calls for backup – Cartwright, and John Kaiser, her partner from the Pershing assignment. 

Dark Angel, the second installment of the Letty Davenport series by John Sanford, is an action-heavy thriller, packed with mystery and great character interactions.  Sanford stays true to the Letty Davenport we came to love in The Investigator – a young, socially awkward operative with unrivaled gun skills and a drive for justice.  Sanford brings back reader favorites of John Kaiser, Senator Colles, and Billy Greet; along with an interesting batch of supporting characters from the hacker conglomerate and the members of the women-only gun club to which Letty and Barbara belong.

I give Dark Angel 4 out of 5 stars.  I have been anxiously awaiting the continuation of Letty Davenport’s story.  This book was enjoyable, but I did find myself frustrated with the plot at times.  The novel began strong with the surveillance operation and the set up for the undercover role Letty will take on.  However, portions of the storyline felt forced such as the shootout at the automotive shop – Letty’s involvement did not necessarily further the story or character development.  This scene also had continuity challenges – a bullet hits Letty’s shoe, but she walks away unharmed and with no further reference to any damage or replacement made by the character.  I also found moments of the final gunfight to be unbelievable – Letty is within feet of a combatant who knows her location, has a weapon, and is a good shot; yet the combatant does not take the shot.  The characters also all walk away from that fight without wrapping up the hacker’s involvement well.  Sanford’s inclusion of recent foreign political situations does help to immerse the reader in the story’s timeline.

I recommend this novel to fans of Sanford’s other works.  I would also recommend this for fans of action and thriller reads.  This shoot-em-up thriller delivers the action his writing is known for.  While the story revolves around computer hacking, the story is not heavy in technical computer terms and is an easy read.  The background information from the first book in this series could be helpful to readers, but this novel can be read as a standalone book as well.  With violence and death depicted in the action sequences, Dark Angel would be well suited for audiences 13 and older.

What I’m reading

• Current print book: Five Winters, Kitty Johnson
• Current audio book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin
• Book I’m most looking forward to: China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan