3 Wine Glass #Review of Tailspin by Sandra Brown

 

Title:  Tailspin
Author: Sandra Brown
Format: Paperback/eBook, 368 pages
Expected publication: August 7th 2018 by Grand Central Publishing
ASIN:   B077Y6K5BT 
Links: Goodreads | Amazon| B&N
Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Kimberly
Rating: 3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Rye Mallett, a fearless "freight dog" pilot charged with flying cargo to far-flung locations, is often rough-spoken, usually unshaven, and he never gets the regulation eight hours of shut-eye before a flight; but he does have a rock-solid reputation: he will fly in the foulest weather, day or night, and deliver the goods safely to their destination. So, when Rye is asked to fly into a completely fogbound Northern Georgia town and deliver a mysterious black box to a Dr. Lambert, he doesn't ask why--he just ups his price.

As Rye's plane nears the isolated landing strip, more trouble than inclement weather awaits him. He is greeted first by a sabotage attempt that causes him to crash land, and then by Dr. Brynn O'Neal, who claims she was sent for the box in Dr. Lambert's stead. Despite Rye's "no-involvement" policy when it comes other people's problems, he finds himself irresistibly drawn to the intrigue surrounding his cargo...and to the mysterious and attractive Brynn O'Neal.

Soon Rye and Brynn are in a treacherous 48-hour race to deliver the box before time runs out. With the hours slipping by and everyone from law enforcement officials to hired thugs hot on their heels, the two must protect their valuable cargo from those who would kill for it--that is, if they can trust each other.

Kimberly's Thoughts:
Tailspin is a suspense ride from start to finish, the story takes place over a 48hr period, most of it in just 24hrs. Rye is a retired Air Force pilot dealing with guilt over a crash he felt he could have prevented from happening. He now is a “freight dog” flying for a cargo company and when the weather turns extremely foul, he's the only one willing to fly a black box to a doctor in Georgia.
Brynn is the doctor that shows up to pickup the mystery cargo but a plane crash and unconscious air traffic controller, there is a lot to explain to the cops. Especially when Rye and Brynn go on the run as life and death hang in the balance.

He was in this damn thing whether he wanted to be or not.

A standalone that keeps the pace up, Rye was a calm, cool, character that anchored the story. His background is hinted at and through his thoughts, actions, and feelings, the reader gets a pretty good idea of what emotional turmoil is affecting him. When he finally tells the story to Brynn, he almost works through the guilt at the same time and it felt like a quick resolve for an issue that had previously drove his character actions.

I wish we could have gotten more of Brynn's background, she didn't feel like a completely flushed out character. In order to keep some mystery to the story, Brynn's thoughts and reason for actions is kept veiled. When we reach around the half-way point, her reasons are revealed and we get to know her a little better. The side tangent with her father helped humanize her and was a great little emotional additive to a heavy action plot.

She gave him a murderous look, which only caused him to grin.

As this takes place over two days, the romance doesn't really have time to fully develop. Brynn and Rye are pretty much together from the beginning to end but the on the run aspect really does dominate this. I thought the first half was a bit hard to get into, as I mentioned, to keep the mystery up, the author leaves some motivations and explanations veiled. This caused me to be confused by some of Brynn's actions, not buy into why Rye would keep it a secret what caused him to crash, and how all the character pieces fit into the puzzle. The second half was easier to get into the flow, with some key information revealed, characters began to make more sense. There were multiple povs, the senator and his wife, the two goons, the two police detectives, and Violet, Brynn's patient. For the most part, I liked this, it gave a better rounded out look into the story and helped place all the moving pieces.

He sighed. “You're gonna make me come after you, aren't you?”
“If you want me, it's required.”

The ending was somewhat messy with betrayals and finger pointing whirling around to and from everyone; there was a truly unnecessary double cross that clogged up the end and only was surprising because there wasn't any character ground work for it. I wish things could have slowed down for the romance between Rye and Brynn, their love wasn't truly felt but the plot and action dictated the pace. If looking for lighter on romance depth but an on the run with some emotional depth occasionally popping up, Brown's writing is always worth a read.