Review: Monarch

Monarch by Michelle D. Argyle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Please note: Read in July, 2011 from a copy provided by Rhemalda in exchange for an honest review. Updating my formatting and adding this disclosure.

My Synopsis: Nick doesn’t live a typical life, and this is driven home immediately at the beginning of the book, which opens with him watching the blood of an assassin, whom he has just killed, stain the floor of his kitchen. Nick works for the CIA in the DEA division; he has been in Brazil for two years now trying to take down a major drug cartel; but things become nasty when the drug lord, Ferreria, learns about Nick. How will Nick escape his fate? He is a widower – his wife died of a drug overdose 10 years ago – and his two daughters are grown. He doesn’t want to put them in danger, and he needs somewhere to hide where neither Ferreria’s men nor the CIA can find him. Then he remembers Lilian.

My Thoughts: This is a fast-moving thriller, with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader glued to the page. The characters are all well-developed and multi-faceted, with complex interactions; how the author kept all the strings from tangling together I don’t know, but she succeeds beautifully in maintaining all the separate aspects of the story; thrills, chills, betrayal, romance – it’s all there and all wonderfully done. In addition, there are many passages that talk about monarch butterflies, the danger they are in due to loss of habitat, and giving the reader more information in general about this fascinating creatures. Sometimes when book has a “message” like this, it seems forced or over-bearing, but the author in this case fit it into the context of the story and made it smooth and interesting.

My Recommendations: I highly recommend this book for fans of thrillers, suspense and spy novels, and romantic suspense. Don’t miss out on a chance to buy and read it! My thanks to Rhemalda Publishing for providing a copy for me to read and review.




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