A Very Unconventional Christmas (Division One #3) By Stephanie Osborn
It's Christmas in NYC, but for Alpha Line it's anything but a Silent Night: The Agency has a mole, leaking classified information to toy manufacturers and film producers alike, and the Agents are in danger of losing their anonymity. To complicate matters, the Prime Minister of Lambda Andromedae III, complete with entourage, has arrived to negotiate a new trade agreement with Earth. Worse, the more paranoid Division One field agents look at Omega's recent history with the Agency and suspect they have identified the mole!
Simultaneously, the discovery of a grim countdown in the most incongruous place possible -- the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center -- augers the threat of horrific events on Christmas Eve itself.
Meanwhile, Omega is struggling to adjust to her very first Christmas in the Agency, made more difficult by the exposure of parts of her past long hidden from her conscious mind.
Will Omega be able to refute the accusations, or be punished for crimes she did not commit? Will the internal conspiracy expose the Agency? Or will efforts to thwart it see Echo -- and Fox -- caught up in the accusations as well? What is the meaning of the countdown to Christmas Eve, and will any of Alpha Line survive it? A Very Unconventional Christmas (Division One #3)
Getting more in depth with these interesting characters and the plots of dark forces trying to destroy the Agency. Loving this series Science Fiction, Mystery, Science I received a copy of this book from the author, with no exchange of consideration.
Papa Pat Rambles has slightly expanded material related to this review: http://habakkuk21.blogspot.com/2017/0...
The Division One Alpha Line is approaching Christmas, and there are some unusual circumstances.
One of the NON-unusual circumstances is the well-executed and witty cover, a comment I am inserting at this particular point because if i don't I'll forget it, and this whole word processing thing is just a fad. Why copy and paste to a better location, when it interrupts the flow of ideas? Or something. At any rate, the cover design is by one Darrell Osborn; I believe he and the author are known to take personal liberties with each other as a medium of exchange.
I hope you see what I did there, because that IS one of the unusual circumstances. Partly because Agents Echo and Omega are the top dogs in a pack of alphas, and perhaps for other reasons, there are nasty rumors floating around about the nature of their relationship. Since they both have history which prevents clear perception of relationship possibilities, they have not hurled themselves into each other's arms, and the filthy-minded simply refuse to believe that things are as they appear. She's gorgeous, they think, so he MUST be sleeping with her. And since he is sleeping with her, that MUST be the only reason she has the job.
Well, sorry to tell you nasty, nasty little creeps, but their relationship is held in check by the author.
So there.
In addition to the lies, rumors, and innuendo, Echo and Omega discover there has been a major security breach. Their first clue? Getting ambushed by children. Seems that the hottest toy this Christmas is a thinly-veiled Division One replica, with look-alike agent action figures, blasters, and so forth. And a movie is in production.
Oh, my! Who could be behind such a dastardly plan to expose the most secret of all secret agencies?
Yeah, well, the answer IS bad guys, but I'm afraid I just can't get more specific than that.
Spoilers, ya know.
Nicely Tuckerized in the story are several figures who are Known Associates, and no damage is done to the reputation of any. Although: there is one scene in which the determination of one character to do a thorough job causes him to get repeatedly brain-bleached.
For the record, it takes place at a science fiction convention, which is the 'CON' hidden in the title. I've never attended one of those, but I have been to a large number of professional cons, and being brain-bleached is NOT, by far, the worst thing a behind-the-scenes person may expect. Science Fiction, Mystery, Science This was fun, especially enjoyed the tuckerizations and the con. Science Fiction, Mystery, Science I've been reading this series and enjoy the adventures these characters find themselves in. Science Fiction, Mystery, Science
