Surfer Girl by Lynn Blackmar is an action book, basically within the spy
genre, with an interesting angle: the main character is not a male spy but
rather a fit, smart college girl with a board-surfing skill. Her talent brings
her to the attention of CIA recruiters for an outfit (called the Misfits)
specializing in the round up of the enemy's James Bond-ish toys--in this case,
a hovercraft. The agents press Arena
into service, and a large part of the book is about her training. Though at the beginning the setup seems a bit
implausible--I doubt CIA operatives are in fact recruited this way--all seems
to fall into place as the plot puts Arena under increasing pressure. The software games used as training are ingenious,
a missing roommate turns up again, and so forth.
I am charmed by the
author's description of how she was pursued by her characters after literally
dreaming up the story. I must also say
I'm not the target audience for this novel, as my reading taste runs to Thackeray, Dickens, and
Austen. However, I read Lynn's short
book with pleasure. I think it has a lot
going for it. In terms of meeting the
expectation set up by its author--"a good afternoon read by the
pool"--it earns four stars from this reviewer for accomplishing what it
sets out to do.
I like the way the plot marches forward, driven by action
verbs. The description, while sparse, is
adroit. The characters are not so
distinctively drawn as they might be--a bit more idiosyncrasy might be in
order. But they are likeable, and their dialogue, which dominates the book,
sounds authentic. I'm interested to
see how they emerge in the next book in the series. I might add the book is well edited, that
this eagle-eyed English professor detected very little to fuss over.
Overall, Surfer Girl is a fast-paced, enjoyable read, a good choice
for fans of action novels.
Anne Carlisle, author of the Home Schooling trilogy
