Prepared for Rage

Starred review from December 10, 2007
The action of Edgar-winner Stabenow’s stellar second venture into thriller territory, in contrast to 2006’s Blindfold Game
, which was set largely in the frozen waters off Alaska, centers on the warm seas of the Florida coast near the Kennedy Space Center, where the latest space shuttle launch is to take place. Stabenow harnesses the strands of her story with consummate skill: the passion that propels a rogue terrorist on a crusade to strike a blow that will shatter American pride; the efforts of U.S. intelligence to thwart a bewildering array of foes; the rising careers of Capt. Cal T. Schuyler, “the golden boy of the U.S. Coast Guard,” and astronaut Kenai Munro, whose life ambition is realized when she’s named to the shuttle crew. Stabenow proves equally adept at portraying the workings of a cutter, the complexities of a shuttle mission or the machinations of a terrorist. The result is entertainment and suspense of a high order.

January 1, 2008
Stabenow, author of the Kate Shugak and Liam Campbell series, turns in a tightly written stand-alone thriller. NASAs latest space shuttle will be launched with a VIP on board, a member of the Middle Eastern family that owns a media company whose satellite is being placed in orbit. Security is tight, but is it tight enough to protect the passengernot to mention the crewfrom an attack by a single-minded terrorist who will stop at nothing to get what he wants?The race-against-time format is a surefire winner, and Stabenow handles it very well, crafting full-bodied characters (the heroes and villains are real people, not cartoon characters) and a plot that is suspenseful and unsettlingly plausible. Devotees of the Shugak series, who find the novels primary appeal to be their vividly evoked Alaska setting, may not be as taken with this very different book, but antiterrorist thriller fans will be well pleased.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)