BOOK REVIEW- THE GAIL FORCE

 
Jake Travis, while trying to expose a corrupt Miami art gallery, goes undercover for the FBI. The gallery's owner, Phillip Agatha, is more enchanted with murder than he is with art. Aboard Agatha's luxury yacht, the Gail Force, Jake is taken by Agatha's hospitality and falls for his alluring assistant, Christina. Unknowingly, Jake plays into Agatha's hands and initiates actions that will cause a young woman to die.

As Jake battles to save the woman, unearth a rogue FBI agent, and bring Agatha to justice, his greatest challenge is to stay loyal to his girlfriend, Kathleen, and to withstand the Gail Force.  AMAZON  4 STARS

I liked this story with some reservations!  The story is told from the viewpoint of the main character, Jake Travis.  Now there was one interesting character. This is my first introduction to this person and I enjoyed that.  The way he talked and thought was original and so many times funny.  I liked his habit of looking at a person and mentally giving them a nickname.  One example was of "a broad shouldered man with a Texas size field of greasy hair" and he thought of him as "Vitalis".  I thought they were pretty funny and usually pretty fitting as well.   It was pretty easy to get a visual picture of the man when the words about the Texas size field of greasy hair and Vitalis was linked together.  Wasn't it?  That said there were times when there felt like way too much information.  For me it bogged down with all  talking, talking, talking.  Usually between Philip Agatha and Jake, I zoned out a few times when for me it got boring.  In between that though there was plenty of scheming and action. It got to the time that you weren't sure who to trust, but I guess that was the point and it really raised the danger level.  The only people I thought it was safe to trust was Jake's girlfriend Kathleen, and his friends, Morgan and Garrett.  Kathleen sure does understand her man, that comes through clearly.   Everyone else was up for grabs as far as I knew.  And the story kept it that way for quite a while. 
 The story started out in a way that while interesting, threw me for a few minutes.  It took me a little while to figure out what was going on.  That made me pay closer attention.   I had to figure out how Karl and Riley Anderson figured in the story.  It didn't take long to see that they are the ones that started the whole thing slash adventure.  I really liked Riley a lot she was a spunky, salty gal.  She quickly got the nickname of Pixie in Jake's mind when he met her.  I was sure about liking her right off the bat but Jake?  Him, I wasn't so sure about at first.
 Philip Agatha a.k.a The Fat Man was the main villain, and he was a pretty interesting one at that. He is by no means the only evil guy in the piece though.  As we begin to question people's motives and whose side are they on, one name comes up.  Christina.  Who is she and where do her loyalties really lie?  Is she good, bad or in the middle?   Will the temptation of Christina sway Jake away from Kathleen?  All are questions that you will find the answers to when you read the book. 
I agree with the opinion that, as part of a series , this book is easy to read as a stand alone.   I just wish that it had been a bit shorter and a bit less wordy at times.  It's not a good sign that I thought that the book was larger than it was.   I was thinking 450 pages when the truth is, it was 341.  Like I said, that is not a good sign.  

I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.