Not quite what I was expecting... but I enjoyed the surprise. ( )

Chasing Eden (The Eden Thrillers) Volume 1 by Sharon Linnea was an unexceptional read for me. Hoping for a thriller with an archeological theme, I was disappointed by the flat writing, uninteresting heroine and liberal progressive viewpoints. Especially, I felt the author threw a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories into a hat and plucked them out randomly to construct her plot.

What I did enjoy was the backdrop of the Iraq war and the detail of the soldiers' lives in the war zone. Ms. Linnea has a slight tendency to overuse military acronyms for the general reader, but perhaps this is true to life in the service. Also, the weaving of tidbits about Saddam Hussein was skilfully done.

About 70% of the way through, I was starting to lose interest in the story. The continual layering on of villains began to confuse me. I wasn't keenly interested in the much sought-after prize of the Garden of Eden. In fact, the whole concept of Eden felt a bit contrived.

The heroine's super-human ability to withstand continual abuse and still deliver quips and feel the stirrings of desire while her life was threatened were laughable.

All the components of a good thriller were there, but it just didn't gel for me in Chasing Eden.

Nov. 11, 2011 - edited typo ( )