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Erin Baker, a former CIA agent, has settled in Miami to teach. Her world is immediately turned upside down by the appearance of two pivotal people, her former lover Alec Donovan and her former CIA handler Bill Jensen. Donovan, fresh off a grueling failure on a case, is in town against orders to get some form of love and security from Erin. Jensen, on the other hand, is there to draw Erin back to the CIA with one last scheme. It's a doozy, too -- rescue her missing mentor Joe Roarke from Cuba, and meet her long-lost father at the same time. It's not much of a surprise when she takes the assignment, leaving Donovan behind in Miami. Erin's father Emilio Diaz left when she was five years old to help his fellow Cubans in their struggles resulting from Castro's oppressions and the US embargo. He is a senior member of DFL, Doctors for Life. His clinic is set deep in the Cuban countryside near a town called Casa de la Rosa. The CIA is suspicious of the camp, and sends Joe Roarke in to check things out. The CIA's worries are well justified; the camp is the base for significant nefarious activities. Unfortunately for Roarke, an old acquaintance, ex-military specialist Gregory Helton, is at the center of the intrigue. Helton recognizes Roarke and captures him. Enter Erin Baker. Bill Jensen sends her in to gather additional surveillance and save Roarke if she can. The author spends a great deal of time telling the reader about Erin's talents as an agent, portraying her as a go-getter who can survive anything and anyone with aplomb. Erin herself contemplates the many ways she can forcibly work her magic on the evil members of the camp, yet never does. More than three-quarters of the book pass before Erin finally gets to show her chops. By that time, her CIA contact in Cuba has been killed and Alec Donovan has worked a deal with Bill Jensen to go into Cuba and save her. I kept waiting for the story to grab me by the throat and throw me around. That never happened. The premise of the book is appealing, but I found myself more interested to know about Erin and Alec's backstory, apparently covered in Lewin's previous book featuring these characters, OUT OF REACH. The dips into their past were tantalizing, making me wish I had that book to hand to discover their relationship for myself. OUT OF TIME is solidly written, with moments of sheer beauty in the prose. But for a CIA thriller, it didn't reach the level of excitement and suspense I was looking for.
Reviewed by J. T. Ellison, January 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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