Hothouse Orchid (Holly Barker Series #5)

by Stuart Woods

Overview

Home gets hot for CIA Special Agent Holly Barker in this novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Stuart Woods’s thrilling series.

After Holly Barker lets an international terrorist slip through her fingers for a second time, the CIA thinks she might want a long vacation. So Holly returns to her hometown of Orchid Beach, Florida, where she had been police chief for many years. But a very unpleasant surprise awaits her. Many years earlier, while she was in the army, Holly and another female officer had brought charges against their commander for sexual harassment. Holly had managed to fight him off, but the other woman, a young lieutenant, had not. The officer in question was acquitted of all charges, and has also left the army—for a job as Orchid Beach’s new police chief. Now Holly must decide whether to return to the CIA—or seek her revenge...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451229519
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/27/2010
Series:	Holly Barker Series , #5
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	77,228
Product dimensions:	4.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stuart Woods is the author of more than eighty-five novels, including the #1 New York Times-bestselling Stone Barrington series. He is a native of Georgia and began his writing career in the advertising industry. Chiefs, his debut in 1981, won the Edgar Award. An avid sailor and pilot, Woods lives in Florida, Maine, and Connecticut.

Hometown:

Key West, Florida; Mt. Desert, Maine; New York, New York

Date of Birth:

January 9, 1938

Place of Birth:

Manchester, Georgia

Education:

B.A., University of Georgia, 1959

Website:

http://www.stuartwoods.com

Read an Excerpt

I

Holly Barker arrived at CIA headquarters, in Langley, Virginia, at her usual seven thirty a.m., parked the car in her reserved spot and took the elevator to her floor. She set her briefcase on the desk, hung her coat on the back of the door and sat down, ready to do the work she always did before her boss, Deputy Director for Operations, or DDO, Lance Cabot, arrived. To her surprise, the door between their adjoining offices opened, and he stood there, looking at her in his wry way.
2

Holly packed her Cayenne Turbo as lightly as she could and spoke to Daisy, her Doberman pinscher. “All right, Daisy, you can get in now.” Daisy, who had been sitting by the car, waiting for instructions, leapt lightly into the front passenger seat of the SUV.
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Hothouse Orchid"
by .
Copyright © 2010 Stuart Woods.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

Praise for Hothouse Orchid

“Woods glibly lets the reader stay well ahead of the legal posse tracking the killer while still keeping a card or two up his sleeve. Playful dialogue and romantic sexual escapades lighten the atmosphere.”—Publishers Weekly

More Praise for Stuart Woods

“Stuart Woods is a no-nonsense, slam-bang storyteller.”—Chicago Tribune

“A world-class mystery writer...I try to put Woods’s books down and I can’t.”—Houston Chronicle 

“Mr. Woods, like his characters, has an appealing way of making things nice and clear.”—The New York Times

“Woods certainly knows how to keep the pages turning.”—Booklist

“Since 1981, readers have not been able to get their fill of Stuart Woods’ New York Times bestselling novels of suspense.”—Orlando Sentinel

From the Publisher

When the CIA thinks you need a breather, you don't argue. Disappointed that she let terrorist Teddy Fay slip through her fingers for a second time, Special Agent Holly Barker returns quietly to home in Orchid Beach, Florida, where she once served as police chief. On her return, she receives the painful news that the police department is now headed by a rapist who once assaulted her but escaped conviction. Holly realizes that she is at a crossroads: Should she return to the CIA? Or should challenge this old nemesis?

Bestseller Woods piles on the coincidences in his modestly entertaining fifth thriller to feature CIA agent Holly Barker (after Iron Orchid). When Holly returns home to Orchid Beach, Fla., where she was once chief of police, she's reunited with both welcome and unwelcome figures from her past. Renegade ex-CIA agent Teddy Fay, sporting a new identity, has chosen to settle in nearby Vero Beach. Lauren Cade, a former military comrade, is now a sergeant with the Florida State Patrol. Holly is shocked to learn that James Bruno, her former commanding officer who was tried and acquitted of raping Lauren and who once tried to rape Holly herself, is Orchid Beach's new police chief. Holly's not so shocked to learn that a serial killer and rapist is at work in the area. Woods glibly lets the reader stay well ahead of the legal posse tracking the killer while still keeping a card or two up his sleeve. Playful dialogue and romantic sexual escapades lighten the atmosphere. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Who poses the greater danger to Holly Barker (Iron Orchid, 2005, etc.): the man who once tried to rape her, or a vigilante who shoots political figures who don't share his views? The answer is the only surprise on tap. Just as she's been forced to take time off from her job with the CIA, Holly Barker learns that Col. James Bruno, the one-time Army superior who was acquitted of all charges-the attempted rape of Holly and the actual rape of Lt. Lauren Cade-is back on the scene. In fact, he's Holly's successor as police chief of Orchid Beach, Fla. Not surprisingly, the town and environs have recently been home to a series of rapes by someone who's recently graduated to murder. The victims are unimportant, along with the circumstances or the details of each crime scene. What matters is that Holly herself, returning to the area, has been attacked once more, though once more she's had a narrow escape from actual rape. So her interest in nailing Bruno is both personal and stoked by very recent events. Also on hand, and feeling much the same way, are two familiar faces. Lauren Cade, who's taken a job with a special investigative unit working out of nearby Vero Beach, is just as angry at Bruno as ever, and just as determined to see justice done. And ex-CIA operative Teddy Fay (Mounting Fears, 2009, etc.), temporarily on leave from his self-appointed mission of assassinating political figures he thinks are too far to the right. What could possibly happen when Teddy goes up against Bruno-and what surprises could possibly await Holly and Lauren?The familiar characters' familiar moves are as stylized as Kabuki in this pedestrian procedural. But at least the ending doesn't simply hit the Reset buttonfor the next round.

Kirkus Reviews

CIA Special Agent Holly Baker has been ordered to take a vacation, so off she goes to her house in Orchid Beach, Florida, where she immediately becomes involved in a case of serial rape and murder. Carrington MacDuffie delivers a good performance—Holly's voice is appropriately light, and the masculine voices are excellent. However, the glib, mundane dialogue combined with narrative that is neither exciting nor dramatic is hard for even MacDuffie to overcome. There’s little in this book that grabs the listener, despite an interesting plot idea. Those who have read Woods's earlier books will be especially disappointed. S.S.R. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2009 - AudioFile