REVIEW: Hard Line by Pamela Clare

In Hard Line by Pamela Clare, a satellite has been hacked that contains sensitive information, causing it to crash in Antarctica. Cobra International Security team is sent in by the U.S. government to retrieve the satellite pieces before other countries can get to it. Thor is leading the mission, having experience operating missions in dangerously cold weather when he was part of a Danish special-ops team.

Dr. Samantha Parker is doing research in Antarctica with her best friend, Patty. When Patty winds up dead, everyone initially suspects it’s from natural causes. Samantha is then tapped to help the Cobra team obtain the satellite pieces while dealing with her grief. When it’s revealed Patty was murdered, the Cobra team is tasked with getting to the bottom of the murder since no one can fly in to investigate it. The team quickly realizes that Patty’s death and the satellite crash are related. As the investigation heats up, so do the sparks between Samantha and Thor. With unexpected Russian visitors and a traitor amongst the station’s inhabitants, Thor and his team will have to get to the bottom of the mystery before the killer turns their sights on Samantha.

You don’t see too many books set in places like Antarctica; I enjoyed the unique setting and seeing the struggles the station’s inhabitants had to deal with. The suspense was well written, and the characters were interesting. My only complaint about the characters would be with Samantha; at times she seemed to lack confidence and hid behind her work. I would have liked to have seen her be a little more confident and put herself out there a little more.

This is the fifth book in the series, but it can absolutely be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the previous four books, and I had no issues following along with the Cobra team members or anything else that was going on in the story.

Well-written with interesting characters and a unique setting, Hard Line is a book fans of romantic suspense will enjoy. I’m interested in seeing what will happen next in the series.
 

Book Info:

Publication: August 25, 2020 | Pamela Clare | Cobra Elite #5

Dr. Samantha Park’s life is shaken when her best friend and research partner dies barely two months into their eight-month stretch at the South Pole. She hasn’t begun to face her loss when men from Cobra International Security arrive to recover sensitive military components from a crashed satellite—and ask her to come with them. As a scientist, she has always been suspicious of the military, and flying across Antarctica in austral winter is more like suicide than a rescue mission. But when she hears what’s at stake, she agrees to help and is forced to put her trust in Thor Isaksen, the tall, broad-shouldered Dane who leads the Cobra team.

Thor served as an elite soldier in Afghanistan and spent two years as part of a Danish spec-ops unit patrolling sea ice in the Arctic. He’s used to the cold and constant darkness. That’s why he’s been tapped to lead this mission. Under orders to do whatever he must to keep a dangerous weapon from falling into enemy hands, he’s prepared for every scenario—except one. Samantha, with her blue eyes and brilliant mind, takes him by surprise. She’s confident in her abilities as a scientist and yet so unsure of herself as a woman. Stuck at the station with his team until the weather clears, he can’t ignore the growing attraction he feels for her even if she’s the last thing he should be doing on the job.

As temperatures drop to one hundred below, the heat between Thor and Samantha flares out of control. But a killer is lurking on station, someone with an agenda that threatens not only the lives of every person there, but also global peace. It will take all of Thor’s skill and strength to stop the murderous traitor—and keep himself and the woman he loves alive.