Reviews for Stealth Stone Barrington Series, Book 51. [electronic resource] :

Publishers Weekly
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Bestseller Woods’s surprising 51st Stone Barrington novel (after Contraband) takes the New York lawyer to Station Two, an MI6 training facility in the Scottish Highlands, where he almost drowns after driving the Aston Martin he borrowed from his friend Dame Felicity Devonshire, the head of MI6, off a bridge into a river—and where he’s treated for minor injuries by Lt. Rose McGill, an attractive doctor with whom he soon becomes intimate. He also receives a dressing down from Station Two’s colonel, Roger Fife-Simpson, for wrecking the head of MI6’s sports car, but the colonel apologizes after investigators determine that a foreign operative who infiltrated the facility shot the car’s tires as it sped over the bridge. Stone later makes an enemy of the disgruntled Fife-Simpson, who feels higher-ups have thwarted his career ambitions. The rising tension doesn’t prevent Stone from spending a lot of time in bed with Rose (and Dame Felicity). Never mind a final confrontation straight out of a James Bond film. This venture into espionage territory makes a refreshing change from the criminal skullduggery Stone usually faces. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Oct.)


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Stone Barrington hardly has time to regret not bringing a female companion on his latest trip to his English country house. His bed is soon warmed sequentially (at least at first) by Dame Felicity Devonshire, director of MI6; Dr. Rose McGill, a new acquaintance whom he meets at an MI6 training camp in the Scottish Highlands; and U.S. Secretary of State Holly Barker, who's contemplating a presidential bid. At the training camp, Barrington has a run-in with Colonel Roger Fife-Simpson, who's soon promoted to brigadier and foisted off on Devonshire as her deputy. Her efforts to get rid of him lead to his early retirement and increasing enmity toward both her and Barrington, feelings that are ripe for exploitation by a rival power. Fortunately, Barrington, who's long served as a consultant to the CIA, accepts a formal role as a deputy director, instantly providing him with tools and information that prove life-saving as well as a position that will surely enhance future outings. Smooth, easy-reading escapism in the trademark Woods style.--Michele Leber Copyright 2010 Booklist


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

"Looks like you're in the spy business," Secretary of State Holly Barker tells Stone Barrington, for the papers he's just signed extend as well as formalize his work for the CIA.Since the recent adventures of the New York ex-cop/attorney/playboy/mega-consumer (Contraband, 2019, etc.) have involved more and more consulting work for the Agency, it's only natural that Director Lance Cabot would seek to cement their relationship by reaching out to Stone at Windward Hall, in the south of England, and offering him an appointment as Deputy Director for Special Operations, or maybe Senior Adviser to the Director. And the plain truth is that the change in Stone's status couldn't come at a better time. After accepting British Foreign Minister Sir Oswald Towne's spur-of-the-moment invitation to join the forces training at MI6's Station Two in the Scottish Highlands so he can get in shape and then drive Dame Felicity Devonshire's Aston Martin back to England, Stone's totaled the car and narrowly escaped death when a sniper shoots out one of its high-priced tires. This little episode hasn't really gone anywhere, but it has introduced Stone to Lt. Rose McGill, whose medical attentions after the incident he repays carnally, and Station Two commander Col. Roger Fife-Simpson, who's shortly promoted to Brigadier and made Felicity's second-in-command at MI6. The Brigadier, it turns out, has a long history of blackmail, and when Stone and Felicity discover what he's been up to and force him out of the Service, he vows revengeanother timely development, since the Russians who instantly swoop down on him and press him into turning against his old mates would like nothing better than for him to use his remaining, albeit frayed, insider credentials to arrange the assassinations of Felicity and Stone. Since the Brigadier is so well provisioned by his Russian handlers with everything from a new handgun to a new lover, it's nice that Stone is equally well supported by both MI6 and the CIA.Just in case you're worried: Three attempts on the hero's life leave not a hair out of place. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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