Review: In His Sights by Tina Beckett

2.5 out of 5 scoopers

In His Sights by Tina Beckett
Carina Press (August 27, 2012)
ebook: $5.99 (79,000 words)
ISBN: 9781426894275

Favorite Lines: “This couldn’t be happening. Cole couldn’t be standing in her living room, asking to lay his hands on her stomach. When he touched her, it was almost a religious experience. His fingers explored inch by inch, and before long, their mouths followed suit. When she pulled him toward the bedroom, there were no more words at all for a long time.” (p. 216, e-galley)

During a hostile situation at the American embassy in Angola, Special Forces officer Cole Scalini is ordered to take out a suicide bomber and rescue a hostage. Simple enough for a sniper with his training, until he realizes that the woman in danger is neither a random nor a typical victim. She’s pregnant.

Callie Nascimento is carrying her sister’s baby as a surrogate when she discovers her sister was killed under suspicious circumstances. Now Callie’s become a target. Her only hope for survival is a rebel of another kind, a handsome loner of a military man who’s risking his life to save her.

As Cole strives to keep Callie safe, fighting the terrain and terrorist attacks, his respect for her grows. She’s strong, capable and sexy as hell. But before he can explore if their attraction is something deeper, he has to get her safely back on U.S. soil. Because the enemy is much closer to home than they realize.

In His Sights is Tina Beckett’s action packed romantic suspense which follows a woman’s struggle for survival in Angola. She has a lot of help from a Special Forces officer and gradually falls in love. There are political shenanigans, torture sessions and love making, but something was missing. I didn’t feel the chemistry between the hero and heroine which developed over an eight or nine day period. I wanted to like In His Sights but when you don’t like the characters it makes it awfully hard.

The heroine (Callie) is a psychologist, a profession the hero disdains. The hero (Cole) is a military man and the heroine has daddy issues which cause her to prejudge all military men. All of those childhood issues fill both of the main characters and while it doesn’t prevent them from being sexually attracted to one another it stifles the growth of any possible relationship. It’s hard to believe in chemistry and a future together when both characters totally dislike such a major aspect of the other. In addition, I didn’t like either character.

Cole is a big baby. He is an alpha kick ass warrior who is still obsessed with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD. Yep, you heard me. An ADHD diagnosis ruined his life and still affects his thinking. As an adult Cole still has issues remaining immobile, but he manages them. It feels like Cole whines all the time. All thoughts leed back to his childhood diagnosis and his dislike of psychologists.

Callie deserved to die. I hate to say that about a pregnant woman, but she makes stupid mistakes. Let’s leave money for the super poor people cause that’s not a dead giveaway to an American presence. No don’t kill the bad guy, let’s talk to him cause words are better than a bullet. I don’t know how such an intelligent woman could keep making deadly mistakes. She–like Cole– flips to childhood memories. For her it was a super strict ex-military stepfather who ruled with an iron fist. Callie compares Cole to him often.

There were characters that I liked though. I liked the villains. There’s an obvious known villain we meet early in the story and the man behind the scenes.The man on the scene leaving tortured bodies behind him is Jose Coelho. He is bad and I love the scary villains. You know the type that if he catches up with you you’re going to wish you were dead? That’s Jose. The other guy? Well, Beckett does an excellent job muddying the waters to prevent me from knowing who the mystery villain is just when I think I know. I ended up being right, but I didn’t know that until the big reveal.

While I didn’t love In His Sights, if the next book in the series is about an American victim of Jose’s introduced in this book, I’ll read it.

If I had liked the main characters even a little bit I would have been happy with In His Sights. It moved forward at a steady pace, the suspense kept the characters looking over their shoulders and the secondary characters were intriguing. However, if I’m reading a romance I need to be able to root for them and their love, something I couldn’t do with Callie and Cole. My hope is that the next book, if this is a series, will have characters I find appealing which will make me invest in the story.

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