Going Dark

July 3, 2017
McCarty’s exciting contemporary series launch will not disappoint fans of her historical Highlands romances, as she finds plenty of ways to bring in Scottish elements and even the occasional kilt. Annie Henderson, a naive marine ecologist with a shiny new Ph.D., visits Scotland’s Western Isles to board an experimental oil drill ship and stage a sit-in to protest oil drilling. She was recruited to join the cause by her new boyfriend, Frenchman Julien Bernard, but starts having second thoughts when she meets his unlikable mentor, Jean Paul La Roche. Dan Warren, who captains the boat that will take them out to sea, immediately suspects that the “protestors” are actually saboteurs planning to damage the ship, but he doesn’t want to get involved because he’s got serious reasons for laying low: Dan, aka Dean Baylor, is one of the few surviving members of the top-secret SEAL Team Nine, which was attacked while deep in Russia. As he gets involved with Annie and helps to save her from her dangerous companions, he also tries to figure out who targeted his team and why, setting up future series entries featuring other surviving SEALs. Fast-paced chase scenes and adrenaline bring Annie and Dean together, and they take full advantage of time spent hiding in picturesque beach towns and grubby shacks. Agent: Annelise Robey, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Opening the Lost Platoon series, McCarty, who has previously written historical romances, tells the story of Dean Baylor, a SEAL presumed dead but who actually survived an explosion in Russia during a black ops mission, and Annie Henderson, an environmental scientist. This unlikely duo meets in Scotland, where Dean is working as a charter captain and Annie is part of a protest group that charters his boat to protest offshore drilling along the Western Isles. When she discovers that her fellow protesters have stowed explosives aboard, Dean helps her get away from them, but they soon find themselves pursued by someone else. They are wildly attracted to each other, have wonderful sex, and fall in love in the midst of all this, despite his not being able to tell her his real name and history and her suspicions of all things military. The background politics, ensuing conversations between two smart and well-drawn characters, and the mystery of SEAL Team 9who survived and why they were ambushedelevate McCarty's above many military romances. Readers will find it hard to wait for the next in the series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)