In his debut novel, British investigative reporter Eddy introduces us to a wonderful character, Grace Flint. She is a London undercover policewoman whose true identity is revealed during a sting operation, nearly causing her death. Months later, Grace's life has fallen apart. Her husband has left her, and she no longer feels psychologically capable of continuing her job. She receives a clue about the man responsible for her attack and decides on revenge. What Grace doesn't realize is that by pursuing him, she will uncover the first part of a gigantic global conspiracy, which will shatter all of her beliefs and make her wonder whom she can truly trust. While Grace is an interesting character, the novel sags whenever she is not the main focus. Huge parts of the novel are told in flashback, making it difficult to follow at times. With several key plot points left unresolved, one hopes that a better sequel is on the way. For larger fiction collections.DJeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Grace Flint is one tough cop. Working undercover for the Major Crimes Unit of New Scotland Yard, Flint was beaten nearly to death in a botched sting operation. Back on the force after more than a year of recuperation, she is determined to find the man who ordered her death. The trail leads her to a huge, well-connected, international scheme to launder money for spies and other miscreants who can't just drop in at the nearest American Express office. Because the scheme has protection at the highest levels of several governments, Flint is on her own, not knowing whom she can trust. Her insatiable pursuit of the truth leads her on a wild, violent chase from Miami, through France and the Netherlands, and on to a chilling climax on the divided island of Cyprus. Flint is cold, absolutely resolute, and refreshingly original--a fine heroine in an accomplished first novel. Eddy, an investigative reporter for London's Sunday Times, wisely leaves the door open for succeeding volumes in what one hopes will become the Grace Flint series. --George Needham

London investigative reporter Eddy, author of six nonfiction books (The Cocaine Wars; Hunting Marco Polo), tries his hand at fiction in this gripping, complex and highly plausible thriller. The novel crashes open like a cluster bomb with the protagonist, Grace Flint, a promising young English undercover cop, being brutally assaulted in a sensitive sting operation gone wrong. The sadist responsible for leaving her in a bloody heap, shady financier Frank Harling, vanishes without a trace, and Flint is left to heal, simmer and pick up the pieces. She stumbles across Harling's trail while on assignment with a joint British/American task force headed by a take-no-prisoners FBI agent named Cutter, who hunts international money launderers and has borrowed Flint from British intelligence to investigate a Caribbean bank. When a Learjet is bombed out of the sky, taking the banker and Cutter's number-two man with it, Flint figures Harling is behind the attack and launches her own investigation. Then she's plunged into a terrifying (and believable) conspiracy of rogue British and American spies who have been using the banker to shake down his criminal clients. As Flint pinpoints Harling, a sinister operative is dispatched to do her in. Brutal cloak-and-dagger games rage from the streets of Paris to the tense Turkish/Greek DMZ on Cyprus as rival intelligence agencies wage unsanctioned war against their own operatives. Flint is an engaging and thoroughly sympathetic heroine, wrestling her doubts and fears as she moves through an utterly amoral world. Eddy, who has written extensively for the London Times on political corruption, espionage and terrorism, keeps his story fast and seamless, expertly ratcheting up the tension in a breathlessly complex web of intrigue that keeps the reader guessing about loyalties and betrayals right up to the end. Mystery Guild featured selection; film rights to Columbia Pictures; foreign rights sold in the U.K., Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Italy and Israel. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved