Shadow (Linear Tactical, #6)

by Janie Crouch

[thebookdisciple]

Shadow is a blend of undercover ops, espionage, and treason. Heath once worked for a black ops arm of the US government-or so he thought. Turns out, it wasn't aboveboard at all and now he has a chip in his head. While the Linear Tactical guys are helping him figure out what to do, he takes an undercover mission for the FBI at a nearby college. His mission? Find out who is leaking biomedical tech info before its too late.

Lyn Norris is a PhD candidate in linguistics. She is a bookworm with a heart condition and I think readers, my self among them, will relate to her. She is a bit overweight, a lot self conscious, and frustrated with her over protective family (ok, I can't relate to that last one). Lyn's family think she is studying hospitality management; I'm not sure why she lied because how much danger could a linguist get into? But, she does keep her major hidden. She and Heath, aka Shadow, meet by chance and they enjoy each other's company. She figures out he isn't 'just' a janitor pretty quick. She is in danger though-someone broke into her office and her home and she can't figure out why. I liked the mystery aspect of Heath searching for the leak. Running parallel to this is the mystery of who is targeting Lyn and why-mistaken identity? Wrong office? Frame job? There were lots of questions throughout the story that keep you reading and I appreciate that!

Shadow has a brother's friend kind of vibe as well since Heath work's with Lyn's brother Gavin. However, Heath didn't know "Lyn" was Jackie, Gavin's sister. And Lyn didn't know Heath worked for Linear Tactical. So, Heath didn't know he was falling for his friend and coworkers sister (the sister said brother is SUPER protective of BTW).

Janie Crouch does a great job blending her characters together across series without making the reader feel lost. You don't have to have read the previous Linear Tactical books to enjoy Shadow, even though some of the characters are mentioned. You don't have to know that Noah is part of Crouch's Bree and Tanner thriller series to enjoy his cameo. But, for die hard fans of Crouch like myself, these gifts are gold!