Review of E M P Honeymoon
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Review of E M P Honeymoon
Book Review: "E M P Honeymoon: Kelly and Tom" by Dorothy May Mercer.
I was eager to read this book because it felt like an adventure and a change in the genres I’ve been reading. This book lived up to my expectations of fast action and an imagined mystery to be solved. The writing is clear and simple, with a well-defined plot and strong characters.
The story generally moves back and forth between four main actions, the main couple on their tropical honeymoon, an angry dictator, the team assigned to carry out a destructive military project, and the US government sorting out the pieces. All four groups are well developed, and the action moves smoothly between these groups.
The story starts with immediate action as one half of the honeymoon couple loses her mainland tour, discovers a dark secret of some sort, and gives a panicked call to her brother back home in the US. There is plenty of foreshadowing to know the general plan of the dictator, and it is learned piece by piece. I ended up feeling a little empathy for the military team, who are, in fact, terrorists, but who have little to no choice in the matter. The suspense builds as the honeymooners and their team (the US government) try to figure out what is being built, who is building it, and what the plan is. All the actions of all the characters are believable, if at times just a little too coincidental. The honeymooning wife is lucky to have a big brother in a powerful position, who can call in a favor from the CIA and then send down a pair of bodyguards, paid by the US government, to his little sister on her honeymoon because she thinks she saw something. Still, if you can put the low probability to the side, the characters and their actions are believable.
The story was fast-moving. The beginning and the end of the book met my expectations, and the change of pace in the middle wasn’t terrible.
I did not find any grammatical errors or mistakes. The writing has been edited exceptionally well. There were no gratuitous sex scenes, just some allusions (it is a honeymoon setting). There was no graphic violence. There was some profanity, but that can be expected from adult characters who are set up in a tense situation. There was nothing to dislike in the book.
I would give the book five out of five stars, most of it for brilliant story-telling. I would recommend this book to a wide audience. I would allow any middle-schooler or young adult to read these scenes. I would not offer it to an upper elementary reader, as I don’t think most would have the geographical, political, or scientific understanding. I would read another book by this author with no hesitation.
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E M P Honeymoon
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