#Review - Fight To Survive by Alan McDermott #Thrillers

Series: Eva Driscoll (#3)
Format: E-Galley, 268 pages
Release Date: August 6, 2019
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thrillers

She’s working for her enemies. Or so they think…

Ex-CIA assassin Eva Driscoll has found a new life in Australia and believes she’s outrun the Executive Security Office, the most powerful and secretive organization on the planet. But the ESO has been watching her every move and when they approach her with a high-risk mission in North Korea, Eva is forced to co-operate with the organization she once vowed to destroy.

But releasing a high-ranking defector proves costly, and Driscoll is captured and imprisoned in a secret camp on the Chinese border. What she witnesses there will haunt her forever . . . so she decides to take matters into her own hands. But how long can she keep the ESO thinking she’s working in their interests rather than her own?

When her handlers become suspicious, Eva knows time is not on her side. Can she defeat the evil at the heart of the camp and get out alive—or will this final installment really be her last?

 

Fight to Survive is the third installment in author Alan McDermott's Eva Driscoll series. It has been 2 years since Eva Driscoll thought she had gotten out from under the constant surveillance of ESO (Executive Security Office) which basically controls the highest levels of government agencies around the world. Eva is living off the grid in Melbourne, Australia trying to avoiding attachments as she mourns the loss of her lover Carl.

But, when she steps into a domestic situation, ESO is quick to remind her that she hasn't gotten away from them and her safety has been all but an illusion. But, this time, they don't want to kill her, they want to employ her. They need her special skill set for a very high risk operation to extract a valued defector from North Korea. As if this was going to be anything but easy, Eva is quickly captured, tortured, and sent to a political prisoner camp where she witnesses some really horrible things before escaping.

Not only does she need to escape and fulfill her mission, what she discovers going on in the prison shocks her to her core and it becomes her personal mission to do something about it and bring justice to the victims. She collects Sonny Barnes, who is now living in New Zealand, as well as Farooq Naser, an exceptional encrypted software expert, in order to take down the prison that appears to be selling organs to rich Chinese and others who need a transplant quickly. Sonny, like Eva, is mourning the loss of his best friend Len who died on their last mission.

I will say this again, this is a series in which you need to suspend reality and all logic in order to enjoy the book. There are some emotional moments in this book. How can there not be after what Eva, Sonny, and Farooq experienced in the previous installment? Is it too soon for Eva to move on after she put her heart into loving Carl? I absolutely believe that you should read the books in order. Yes, the author does a good job of explaining what ESO is, and why they are so damn intent on taking Eva out, but to understand what has happened to drive Eva vs ESO is definitely necessary.

There are two things that really itched my crawl. Why in any Gods name would you travel to North Korea? What would drive a person to put their lives on the line in order to believe that you won't be spied on, bugged, and arrested if you step one foot over the line? The second part is the human organ trafficking that is a real thing folks. It is scary. You can blame countries like China and Pakistan, but there are rich people all over the world who are just as guilty for not wanting to wait on a donor list for a new organ. 

The ending is a bit on the curious side. Will there be a fourth installment? Do we, as readers, really need a fourth book in order to be satisfied? Or, do we want one final Eva vs ESO battle royal in which anything can happen?

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository