High Treason by DiAnn Mills

Monica, a CIA operative who has had experience in the Middle East, and Kord, an FBI agent good friends with a Saudi prince, team up to protect that Saudi prince while he is in America. Someone tries to assassinate the prince and Monica and Kord work hard to uncover the origin of the plot.

This is definitely a character driven novel. Monica had previously been betrayed by a fellow operative and she is still troubled by it. That is an obstacle to the budding romance between Kord and Monica. Monica and Kord do much soul searching and that sometimes bogs down the narrative and detracts from the possibility of a suspenseful plot.

The strength of this novel is Monica being involved in the team protecting a prince from a country where women have few rights. Monica knows what to do, such as not look the prince in the eye. She has lots of interaction with the prince's sisters so we get a good idea of what it is like to be a woman in Saudi Arabia. We also learn a bit about attempts at modernization in Saudi Arabia as well as leasing oil reserves. I wish Mills had explained that latter concept as I had to do some outside research to understand why some would oppose the prince's idea of such leasing.

I was a bit disappointed in this novel. The FBI seemed to be somewhat ineffective in actually protecting the prince. Monica was not a character that captured my interest. That she would fraternize with another operative seemed out of character. And Kord was paying attention to Monica too many times when he should have been watching out for the prince. I would have liked the plot much more if they had agreed to keep their emotions in check until their assignment was over.

I have read other novels by Mills that I thought were much better. If a budding romance getting in the way of effective work doesn't bother you, then you might enjoy this novel of romantic suspense.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author whose titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists. Her works have won two Christy Awards, been finalists for the RITA, Daphne du Maurier, Inspirational Reader's Choice, and Carol Award contests. She and her husband live in Houston, Texas. You can find out more at https://diannmills.com/.

Tyndale House Publishers, 416 pages.

I received a complimentary egally of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.