Format: Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Publisher: Zebra
Source: Publisher
Genre: Thrillers / Suspense
A former government agent is drawn back into the world of covert ops for a very unconventional mission in a thrilling, new, an action-packed novel from the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels.
For Melanie Drake, school guidance counselor in a small Virginia town, the day’s challenges typically involve a playground scuffle or a student skipping school—worlds away from her former life in the Office of Special Investigations, where she devoted herself heart and soul to covert operations, the riskier the better.
Since leaving, Melanie has cherished her peaceful, calm existence, with her two beloved retired service dogs for company. Then a call comes from her former supervisor, Rich Patterson. He needs her back for a highly specialized assignment. An international group of billionaires is known to meet regularly for decadent dinners, and they always hire high-class escorts for the occasion. Only the most elegant, well-educated, and sophisticated women will do. Infiltrating those meetings could yield information vital to national security.
Melanie’s willing to go undercover to glean every scrap of intel that she can. But these men aren’t just wealthy and powerful, they’re also exceptionally ruthless. One slip, and they won’t hesitate to eliminate Melanie, by any means necessary . . .
For Melanie Drake, school guidance counselor in a small Virginia town, the day’s challenges typically involve a playground scuffle or a student skipping school—worlds away from her former life in the Office of Special Investigations, where she devoted herself heart and soul to covert operations, the riskier the better.
Since leaving, Melanie has cherished her peaceful, calm existence, with her two beloved retired service dogs for company. Then a call comes from her former supervisor, Rich Patterson. He needs her back for a highly specialized assignment. An international group of billionaires is known to meet regularly for decadent dinners, and they always hire high-class escorts for the occasion. Only the most elegant, well-educated, and sophisticated women will do. Infiltrating those meetings could yield information vital to national security.
Melanie’s willing to go undercover to glean every scrap of intel that she can. But these men aren’t just wealthy and powerful, they’re also exceptionally ruthless. One slip, and they won’t hesitate to eliminate Melanie, by any means necessary . . .
The Wild Side, by Fern Michaels, centers on Melanie Drake, a former agent with the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), who has traded high-stakes espionage for a quiet life as a school guidance counselor in a small Virginia town. Her days are now filled with resolving playground disputes and guiding students, starkly contrasting her adrenaline-fueled past. Melanie cherishes this peaceful existence, which she shares with her two beloved retired service dogs. However, her tranquility is disrupted when her former supervisor, Rich Patterson, recruits her for a covert mission.
The task: infiltrate an elite circle of billionaires who hire high-class escorts for lavish dinners, posing as one to uncover a dangerous network threatening national security. As Melanie navigates this glittering yet perilous underworld, she must reconcile her past as a skilled operative with the new identity she’s built, all while facing high stakes and personal risks. The story blends espionage, luxury, and a fish-out-of-water scenario that pits a small-town counselor against powerful, ruthless men.
The story also explores Melanie’s backstory, from a childhood marked by a car accident that sparked her love for learning to her rise through the ranks of the OSI. However, the execution of this promising concept bored me until Melanie is forced into one final mission where she finds her sister-in-law in harm's way and is forced to show what she learned over the previous 15 years. Melanie Drake is portrayed as intelligent, resourceful, and resilient, traits that make her a potentially captivating heroine.
Still, the overall story lacks any sort of excitement, minus two encounters with a serial killer/rapist, and a likely romantic entanglement that isn't drawn upon until the final chapter. The novel spends too much time on Melanie’s childhood and early career, which many readers found overly detailed and slow. The transitions between Melanie’s past and present and her various roles (child, spy, counselor, escort) are not always seamless, leading to a fragmented narrative.
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