Member Reviews
Enthralling. I thoroughly enjoyed The Devil’s Triangle. I absolutely could not put it down and was like a rabid dog when anyone interrupted me. I didn’t want to wait a moment for the next word!
Fascinating. I don’t know how, but Ms. Coulter has made a fantastic story completely believable. I didn’t even know how to share the synopsis of The Devil’s Triangle with anyone as I was reading – they wouldn’t have believed what I was reading or why – but, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to anyone.
Scary. The Devil’s Triangle is so completely believable it’s terrifying. Sure, there’s the whole FBI Suspense thing going on, but adding to that the sociopathic twins and the search for the Ark. It’s truly terrifying.
Its always great to see FBI agents Caine and Drummond in action. In this book they get involved after being contacted by a thief named the Fox. They go to Italy to start this case which is one of their most difficult. It's a fun thriller that takes you from Italy to the Bermuda Triangle. It's great characters with a suspenseful story which keeps you involved to the end. I gave an unbiased review to this book provided by
Catherine Coulter’s latest Brit in the FBI adventure has Mike and Nicholas rocketing around Venice and the Caribbean in search of lost Ark. In case that sounds a little too Indiana Jones-ish, they are really not in search of the Ark, they are searching for the bad guys who are searching for the Ark.
I could call this an atmosphere-rich romp, but that would be a bad joke on a central plot theme, but regardless, it will definitely entertain!.
I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
Note: this review contains spoilers!
I have been reading Catherine Coulter books for years and have always looked forward to the new releases. Unfortunately, The Devil's Triangle did not live up to my expectations. The writing during the first part of the book was disjointed and divided with way too many commas making it hard to read. The characters were the usual ones you would expect to find in one of Coulter's books: a mix of characters we've met from previous books and new ones. Technology is way ahead of what is in the real world and I sincerely hope they bad guys can't do everything they did in the book.
I can forgive choppy writing and stereotypical thugs, but changing the laws of nature is going too far. I'll even give controlling the weather and being able to hid the island, although both seem more in tune with science fiction than straight fiction. What I can't forgive is anyone walking away from the room once the lava broke through. Yes, I know people can get close to lava, but that is only if they are up wind so the toxic fumes are blowing away from them. Since they were in an enclosed space, if the heat did burn them, then the toxic fumes would have killed them. I don't buy it.
So please, Catherine Coulter, keep writing suspense books they way you have in the past, but leave the science fiction and fantasy to other writers.
Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are back in action. Mike and Nicholas are called to help the notorious thief known as The Fox. She has stolen a priceless artifact and now her clients want to kill her, but this is only a fraction of the bigger problems at hand. Mike and Nicholas race across countries and oceans to stop the possible end of the world with their high tech FBI team. This was one big action packed story that never stopped from page one. The settings were exciting along with interwoven history that tied the plot together. Characters were intricately detailed that kept the story moving at a fast pace. There was snippets of emotion between Nick and Mike if expanded I felt could've added more dimension to the story. Overall exciting read, definitely an action adventure. I voluntarily reviewed this ARC for NetGalley
I just couldn't get through this. I'm a massive JT Ellison fan and I loved her Taylor Jackson and Samantha Owens books but this one just seems a bit too far fetched for my tastes. I haven't done a good read review as I don't think I'll finish it.
What a great and intriguing book. You travel the world and the plot and action is both plausible and scary to imagine happening BUT it just might. Enjoy!
Farfetched but with lots of action make The Devil's Triangle by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison an entertaining and never boring read. I didn’t really care if the plot could happen in the real world the authors made it believable for this story. FBI agents Nicholas Drummond, Michaela Caine and team are hot on the trail of some intelligent but psychotic, wealthy twins who are out to rule the world and destroy their enemies in the process. This journey ventures into suspense, thriller and science fiction territory, making it a difficult book to classify.
Not having read any of the other book in the series, I can honestly say it can be a stand-alone. There are a lot of characters that where hard to keep up with so perhaps having read the previous books would have helped. That is only speculation on my part, there just may be an abundance of supporting evil or noble characters in this book. Still I found the main characters, Nicholas and Michaela to be developed with revealing aspects sprinkled throughout the story. Finally, reading about scary characters who actions could not possibly happen is a lot more fun than reading the news with the villains of today. At least in The Devil's Triangle by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison you know the good guys will win.
An ARC of the book was given to me by the publisher through Net Galley.
The latest edition to the Brit in the FBI series is an intriguing story full of twists. The new Covert Eyes team is sent on their first mission and Nicholas and Michaela don’t have much time to catch their breath. In this book some of the lines between bad guy/good guy are blurred and some bad guys are more than most people can imagine. The premise of the story stays with the reader long after finishing the book. The characters are well developed, the mystery is thrilling, and the suspense rates at “edge of your seat.” I received an ARC from the publisher and this is my honest review.
As a survivor of Hurricane Sandy recovery I know first how much money is to be gained by the aftermath of super storms. The idea of someone controlling the weather to gain power or money does not seem unrealistic to me. In this thriller from best selling authors Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison FBI agents Mike and Nicolas team up with a thief to rescue her kidnapped husband and save the world from evil twins who are determined to find the Ark of The Covenant and dominate the world.
Okay, maybe that does sound far fetched when I summarize it like that, but between the fast pace, and the likeable characters I kept turning the pages. I will definitely look for more from these authors.
This is a fun book, obviously the work of an accomplished writer. Excellent set up and premise, whoever controls the weather, controls the world. An ancient secret about the Ark of the Covenant can offer this power, but it is complicated. The current holder of the power has conflicting motives, history, and responsibility for great power. He has lost his beloved wife under mysterious circumstances and has retreated to his stronghold.
His grandchildren, gorgeous, educated, rich and utterly unscrupulous are in a battle to seize this power to not only gain, but to distract from every having to deal with the consequences of their actions. These two are pretty 2 dimensional.
There is an ambivalent bad guy, a Scottish woman with a Japanese name. She seems impossibly skilled at what she does and walks on both sides of the moral questions in the book. She is crossed and double crossed, manages to connect with the good guys an help right a wrong she set in motion by simply doing a job. She shows some soft spots, which humanizes her.
The good guys are far more fun, resourceful and interesting. As usual, they manage to survive threat after threat and land on their feet. They do end up saving the world and that is pretty satisfying. They are engaging and honorable.
The most interesting character is the one we know least about, the disappeared archeologist. But fun to wonder.
This book combines all the best features in a thriller. The plot is very inventive and imaginative, but realistic. The events of history play a role in the present. Both heroes and villains are larger than life. The suspense continues unabated as the action travels from the Gobi Desert to Italy to England and to a hidden island in the area called the Bermuda Triangle. The style of writing allows a new character to be introduced and fleshed out without detracting at all from the action and suspense. A great wrinkle is the combining of the top FBI team of Nick and Michaela with the top thief, Kitsune, and her husband, Grant. This unlikely combination works to stop a plot to control the entire world through a combination of advanced technology and biblical power. Just a very great Book.
The fabulous writing duo, Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison up the stakes in The Devil's Triangle as Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine lead their first Covert Eyes mission. Everyone's favorite master thief, Kitsune, aka the Fox, is back and she's asking Nicholas and Mike for help.
It seems like a straightforward mission: fly to Italy to rescue the Fox's husband and bring her back in handcuffs. When the crew lands bullets fly and the team finds themselves tracking the most dangerous suspects yet. With every novel written in this series Coulter and Ellison push the envelope more and more. The plots stretch broader and become more complex while running the risk of becoming outlandish, but The Devil's Triangle doesn't completely fall off track. I expected the story to focus on the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle, but that was more on the periphery of a much bigger plot. Five generations of the Koath family have been obsessed with finding Ark of the Covenant. They believe it's their destiny to protect it or use its sacred power to gain eternity. It was quite a stretch for two epic concepts to be melded into this gargantuan plot, but somehow Coulter and Ellison pulled it off. There is quite a bit of info dump throughout the novel, which is one aspect that tempts me to skip through the story, but sets it apart from a regular mystery. The reader is privy to bits of information that's later repeated when the agents figure it out. We're aware of the culprit so there isn't usually an element of surprise as far as 'whodunit'. The surprise element comes from seeing what kind of trouble Nicholas and Michaela stumble upon in the course of their investigation.
The Devil's Triangle, along with the previous novels in the series so far, is jammed packed with action. From car chases to cliff jumps -- it's all there and you don't want to miss out on an adrenaline packed novel! Even with the nearly non-stop action it still manages to be a well-rounded story. The Covert Eyes team has become my favorite group of people to hang out with. Though Nicholas and Mike have this wild romance blossoming behind the scenes, readers get a peek of their connection as they hunt down criminals together. Other regular agents from the series like Ben Houston, Adam Pearce and Louisa Barry seem to have stronger presences and roles in the story.
A Brit in the FBI is truly an ingenious series! It reminds me a bit of Sandra Brannan's Liv Bergen mystery series on an international scale with much more fast-paced action. The characters are sharp, witty, and just a little bit scary as they take on whatever big bad adversaries stand in the way of justice. To Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison: keep 'em coming ladies!
*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review*
Honestly, I didn't finish the book so feel I can't leave a full review. From about the 25% I did read, the plot was fantastical. First, we start with the ninja thief who appears and disappears, the crazy twins trying to take over the world, their stupid grandfather, and the experts sent in to solve the crisis. It was over the top unbelievable, which is okay if you make me believe it could happen. Unfortunately, the writing was so weak that didn't happen. For instance, the dialog with the team talking to the carabineiri was forced. When the team is followed, it finally dawns on these brilliant experts maybe someone knew they were coming. There were pages and pages of banal dialog about Lia's wound. It's a great theory but the author couldn't hold my interest.
Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.
Mystery, Suspense, Action-Adventure. James Bond meets Indiana Jones. I wasn't sure what or where this book was going, but I sure loved the ride. There are some 'suspend reality' moments and a lot of 'pseudo science', but, hey, it's fiction and a very good plot to boot. The tempo starts fast but lags in the middle. Hang in there because the ending is not to be missed.
Kitsune, the world's foremost thief, can steal anything from anywhere as she proved in The Final Cut. This time she has taken a job that could well end her life. When things go sideways at the hand off, Kitsune barely escapes with thugs hot on her trail. She returns home to find her house ransacked and her husband, Grant (a former Beefeater) kidnapped. Knowing she was in over her head she contacts Michaela, Mike, Caine and Nicholas Drummond for help.
With the international problems that the FBI had recently faced, they have authorized the formation of a new FBI section. Covert Eyes has the ability to operate outside the United States and, more or less, on the dark side of the law, when needed. Mike and Nicholas are the heads and with their hand picked team they head to Venice, Italy to see what Kitsune has gotten herself into when she claims that the sandstorm that has just buried Beijing was man made.
There are two main plot points and they are tied to a family, the Koath's, who, for generations, have been on a quest to find and recover the lost Ark of the Covenant. This family also can control the weather and have used that ability, curtsey of Da Vinci and Tesla to fund their quest. The current family consists of a grandfather, Jason, and his very nasty grandkids, twins Cassandra and Ajax, who have decided to take the Ark quest to the limit and don't really care who dies.
The Covert Eyes Team is attacked in the Piazza San Marco and barely escape. Why all this grief for a thief who delivered the goods? Mike and Nicholas are really in this thing now and the chase takes them to a former Templar stronghold and across the ocean to a mysterious cloaked island. With a killer hurricane bearing down on Washington D.C., they must find a way to stop it before Washington D.C. is destroyed.
Catherine Coulter & JT Ellison have formed a writing partnership that is out of this world! It's as if they can read each other's minds! You can't tell when they are changing writers or influence because the book flows perfectly. The characters are well written & realistic. The plot line is tight & riveting. The interactions between the characters are engaging. They convey respect & reliance on each other & their abilities. You get a total sense of the Grandfather & the lines he will/will not cross although I can not fathom his rationale for the loss of life in his disasters. The twins are the very face of evil. I've found that I love this series every bit as much as I love Catherine Coulter's FBI Thriller series. If you love intrigue, suspense & danger with a touch of romance, you really have to read this book! Even though "A Brit in the FBI" is a series, each book is written such that it can be read as a stand alone. There is a group of recurring characters but each incident begins & ends in the one book. I do love the occasional pop ins of characters from Ms. Coulter's FBI Thriller series but they are short lived & will not confuse the reader. I can't wait for the next in the series!
Thank you to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster for allowing me to receive, read & review this story. All thoughts are entirely my own & stated voluntarily.
I know that I have stated in earlier reviews that I absolutely hate picking up and reading a book mid-series. Why is that? Because there is always tie ins to the other books in the series and I am left wondering “What did I miss in the earlier books?” While, The Devil’s Triangle did have those moments, I am happy to say that they were few and far between. The only time I even started to wonder that was with the scenes with Kitsune and the Covert Eye team. There was so much history there that I wished I had read the earlier books.
The Koath twins, Ajax and Cassandra, just oozed evil. I couldn’t believe at how evil they were. I mean, they thought nothing of discussing killing people and they thought nothing of using their connections to the local police and army to execute those killings. All the while keeping up very public personas that they were these good people who did great things for the world. I am glad that the author didn’t try to make them any less evil (well, Cassandra was given a kind of conscious that lasted for all of 3 pages). I also liked that you could see Cassandra and Ajax’s sanity unraveling as the book went on and as they continued to make major mistakes.
While I didn’t read the earlier books (see above statement), I did like Kitsune. I mean, she pulled off stealing the staff of Moses and then eluded the Koath twins and their goons until she allowed herself to get caught. She was very resourceful and I liked how she had the Covert Eye team recruited to help her with her mission (read the book to find out what it was).
The action was intense. From when Kitsune decided that she had to kill the goons outside the Koath twins house to the end, it didn’t let up. I felt like I couldn’t take a breath or I would miss something. And yes, for those of you who have weak stomachs or like things all sunshine and butterflies…..there is people killing people in this book. Most who need it….some who don’t.
I thought the plotline of the weather control machine with ties to DaVinci and Tesla was fantastic. I actually have no problem imagining that someday, there will be a machine like that (if there isn’t one already). Add in the plotline about the search for the Ark of the Covenant and intertwine it with the weather control machine and it made for a great read!!!
The end of the book was pretty good. A bit anticlimactic but good. I am wondering if there will be a book 5.
How many stars will I give The Devil’s Triangle: 4
Why: This was a great book with a couple of fantastic storylines woven into it. The way the author brought them all together was fantastic and I couldn’t read enough of it.
Will I reread: Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes
Age range: Adult
Why: Violence and language
**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**
The book opens with Kitsune "The Fox" stealing the "Staff of Moses." She overhears her employers arguing right before they try to kill her. When they don't succeed in that, they manage to somehow not only manage to discover her true identity, they are able to kidnap her super elite soldier husband. So she contacts Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine for help.
They bring the Covert Eyes team to Eruope and discover that Kitsune's clients, the Koaths - brother and sister, are planning to bring the world to its knees by controlling the weather. They are descended from Moses himself and are therefore able to use his staff to cause mass destruction.
I have generally enjoyed this series but this book felt like it was jumping the shark. Slightly outlandish storylines have become cartoonish in their leaps from logic. And the villains... ufda. They just are not well-developed. We get glimpses of some depth but mostly Ajax and Cassandra are fairly one dimensional.
I really do wish we could get a better glimpse at Kitsune as she seems like an amazing character who, despite her propensity toward thievery (she is called "the thief" something like a-billionty times in this book), is so far fairly likable.
Three stars
This book comes out March 14
The Devils Triangle is by two authors who brought together what they do best a thrill ride of action the story has very cheesy moments as well as cliche dialogue and absurd but interesting plot twist.
This book will keep reader locked and loaded from beginning to end of the book daring readers to finish it a night.
The endless characters of evil vs good comes to life with each page even if they are a little on the cheesy side. I enjoyed this book and recommend to those who love spy, James Bond type of books.
Advance Copy From Netgalley
A complex story with many different strands. It starts like a historical novel at the bed side of a dying Leonardo da Vinci supervising the page by page burning of a document detailing his design of a weather controlling machine the he feared could fall into wrong hands but he dies at the beginning of his task. It also relates to generations of a family who in believing themselves to be the guardians of the Ark of the Covenant are seeking to find it. While the grandfather has learnt how control the weather for financial gain, the last of the line are a pair of twins, beautiful but cold blooded egomaniacs who stop at nothing to get what they want.. So in the present is the team of FBI agents investigating what the twins are up to and seeking to prevent disaster, They are nice to know good people in stark contrast to the deadly twins and are out smarted and outgunned at every turn barely escaping with their lives before the twins meet the ends they deserve. .