Compact with the Devil

February 14, 2011
Maines's second thriller romp to feature sexy spy Nikki Lanier falls short of the standard set by its popular predecessor, Bulletproof Mascara. Having just bungled the rescue of the wife of an abusive Colombian drug lord, the Carrie Mae Foundation operative from the L.A. branch aims to do better on her next job—protecting Brit rock sensation Christopher "Kit" Masters on his Hotel Hell tour through Europe. Kit, the son of Carrie Mae agent Camille Masters, has become the target of terrorist Antonio Mergado Cano, a former Basque separatist who recently escaped from prison. Years earlier in Spain, Cano killed Camille's husband and Kit's Irish father, Declan O'Dierdan, who was chasing Cano. A near lethal breakdown of stage apparatus, a near fatal bus accident, and Cano's relentless pursuit keep the action rolling, though the pacing suffers whenever Nikki moons about her missing CIA boyfriend, Z'ev Coralles.

January 15, 2011

Maines (Bulletproof Mascara, 2010) strikes a familiar chord in this flimsy tale about an undercover cosmetic-company spy and the rock star she's trying to protect.

Nikki Lanier is a redheaded whirlwind: She's beautiful, quick-witted, a deadly martial artist who slips effortlessly into a size two without holding in her stomach. Nikki isn't simply perfect, though, she's part of Carrie Mae, a Mary Kay–like cosmetics company with a top-secret spy division that dispatches its secret and highly trained operatives across the world in the cause of justice for oppressed women. This time, fresh off a break-up with her CIA boyfriend, Nikki, speaker of six languages and possessing an Olympics firearms capability, steps right into the Paris leg of Kit Masters rock tour. The evil Cano, who killed Kit's father many years ago, is also targeting Kit, the son of another Carrie Mae agent. Kit's mom, Camille, a Brit with a grudge, would do anything to get Nikki off her son's case, but Nikki sticks with Kit. She saves his life several times (unfortunately for the bad guys she only shoots dead center, even on the run), while racing against time to figure out who on his team could be in league with Cano. Set against the backdrop of Paris, the writer has a way with a quick line, but the plot wanders in silly circles, and most of the action seems jammed into the story just to show how incredibly efficient, smart and awesome the heroine is in comparison to everyone else. The writing, though pleasant enough, is littered with conversations in which the characters snort, sparkle, blush, laugh, smirk, whine and fall prey to many annoying adverbs along the way. By the end, Nikki has, with the help of a cartoonish group of Carrie Mae buddies, almost single-handedly resolved the issue without breaking a nail.

What's missing in this Saturday morning cartoon of a book is a story that makes sense and a big, funny dog named Scooby to give the readers some reason to care if the good guys win.

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