{Review} The Blue Poppy by Robert W. Welkos

ISBN #: 978-1470153830

Page Count: 402

Copyright: May 23, 2012

Publisher: CreateSpace

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

A treasure trove of Tibetan religious artifacts, known only as the Blue Poppy, has disappeared. Only one man may know its whereabouts. He is former FBI agent Robert Frazier, convicted of espionage and now imprisoned at a high-security federal penitentiary in Colorado known as "Supermax." His one hope for freedom may lie with Dr. Colleen Gale, the psychiatrist hired to help win him a new trial on appeal. But her access to the prisoner also makes her a target, and as the prisoner's story unfolds, she finds herself not only drawn to Frazier, but entangled in the inner circles of the rare art world, and of greed and obsession that reaches all the way to the White House Cabinet.

When a prison break designed to abduct Frazier goes array, he and Colleen find themselves running for their lives - hunted by an international art smuggler and assassin known as the Ghost, and by federal marshals who have seen six of their own slaughtered during the mayhem.

Kathy's Review:

This book reminds me of one of the bestsellers written by Tom Clancy, James Patterson, Michael Baldacci, etc. Robert Frazier is in prison and Colleen Gale is trying to uncover whether or not he was set up. She stumbles into a cover-up that goes all the way to the top and becomes a target. Tons of action help keep up the fast pace of this plot.

Although this was a 400-page book, once I got into it, I flew through it in a couple of days, reading 100 pages in a sitting. It's well-written, with moments of intense drama and high emotion. The characters are easy to get to know. I believed Robert's claim that he was set up because of the way his character was written to seem like a nice guy. Colleen, who is the main character in the story, has an interesting backstory that we get to see in bits and pieces.

My only complaints with the book are that I don't quite get the leap of Colleen and Robert falling in love. The dots don't seem to connect there. And finally, the book summary itself divulges a huge spoiler: the prison break, which doesn't happen until almost page 300. The summary on the back of the book focuses even more on the prison break, making me think that it was a misprint until I got to that point in the book. I think this gives too much away to the reader and does an injustice to the climax of the story.

Otherwise, this is a thriller that would be a great accompaniment on a vacation, on a plane ride or any time you can lose yourself in a story for a few hours. Looking forward to this author's next work!


*A physical copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.