An internationally-renowned thief and an FBI agent team up to steal back one of China's most precious treasures. Nicholas Fox was a high-end art thief who never got caught. That is, until he was tracked down by FBI Special Agent Kate O'Hare. Now the government has teamed them up to tackle the thefts and other crimes the FBI can't get involved with...at least not publicly. Their latest target is former White House Chief of Staff Carter Grove, a powerful and well-connected art collector who also runs a security firm with extensive ties to the government. When China asks the Smithsonian Museum to return a well-known sculpture taken from China 200 years ago, U.S. officials are stunned to learn what they have is a fake. After investigating, they suspect Grove may have the original. But how do they get it back?
Click here to see the rest of this review...
Grove lives in an amazing estate in Florida and as it turns out, he's also quite eager to show everything off as a way of bragging. So Fox and O'Hare pose as producers working on an HGTV series that features unbelievable wealth and glamor. Grove agrees to let the crew shoot his house and give the cameras a tour. And as he does, Fox discovers Grove's secret trophy room and steals the statue. But he also discovers a wealth of other stolen art and he vows to get it back.
Even though the duo have recovered the statue, their problems aren't over. The Chinese Ambassador has already retrieved the fake statue from the Smithsonian and will soon be flying back to China, where it's certain the substitution will be discovered. Fox and O'Hare sneak onto his large plane and substitute the fake one for the real statue. But before they can escape, they're spotted by Chinese security forces and Fox barely escapes. As for O'Hare, she is captured, but manages to convince everyone she had been abducted by Fox.
When they both return to the U.S., Fox vows to steal the remainder of Grove's stolen treasures and return them to their rightful owners. They track his stolen art to his secluded home in Kentucky and they start a fire in order to draw the police to the home where they'll discover the treasure trove. But Grove realizes the plan and decides to use one of his company's attack drones to kill his unexpected guests and destroy the evidence of the thefts. But O'Hare is able to redirect the missile fired by the drone to a nearby patch of ground. Which happens to be the location of the secret control room where Grove was hiding and he is killed instantly. Fox and O'Hare consider they've done their job and now it's time for some vacation. But where will they spend it and will they spend it together? That's a tale for the next book.
Best part of story, including ending:
The chemistry between Fox and O'Hare is great and while the story itself was more than a bit unbelievable, the back-and-forth flirting between the dup helped make up for the problems with the plot.
Best scene in story:
The long sequence in which Fox and O'Hare infiltrate the Chinese ambassador's plane and switch the statues is sharply written and really quite clever. It's a a believable way to make the switch and it fits with the skill sets of both characters.
Opinion about the main character:
Kate O'Hare and Nicholas Fox make a great team and the chemistry between them is well worth reading the book. In particular, O'Hare's character is sexy and strong and a bit scary at times.
