Here's the latest Joe Bob Briggs review. Until they send me some more books it will also be the last for a while. Not that anybody but me cares. :-)

************************************

AN INNOCENT AMONG THEM by Jack Allen; Reviewed by Steve Chaput
Burping Frog Publishing. ISBN: 0-9703053-1-1

This is the second novel featuring Allen’s Josh McGowan, as main protagonist. McGowan is an operative for U.S. Naval Intelligence and a former Navy officer. McGowan is not your average NI field agent, but rather a killer sent into situations where his skills come in handy.

In this book McGowan is close to being let go, since Congress has decided to cut the budget of his particular section of NI. In order to justify his paycheck, Josh is sent to protect the spoiled daughter of an American ambassador in Paris. When an attempted assassination attempt goes wrong, McGowan (wounded while saving his ill-tempered charge) finds himself back in D.C. where he is given the seemingly simple assignment of investigating a new employee. Naturally, things are never simple in these types of stories, and McGowan soon finds himself traveling from the U.S. to Europe and finally Egypt in pursuit of a deadly terrorist.

Apparently, from hints given in the book, a number of the characters central to this novel were introduced in Allen’s first novel, CHANGE OF HEART. Fortunately, he fills us in enough so that a reader new to the series is not completely lost. Allen does a good job of bringing depth to most of the characters, both those on the side of good and their opposites. Sadly, the one character we can never really get a handle on (or learn to empathize with) is Jennifer, the girlfriend of the new agent, Josh is investigating. Since she turns out to be the trigger for many of the events which take place it hurts the novel to some extent. Frankly, there are more than a few times when we wish that Allen would let one of the bad guys put an end to her.

McGowan finds himself teamed with an Israeli Mossad agent, Caroline Haffenberg. She and Josh have crossed paths before, gaining a mutual admiration for the other’s skills. When she is introduced we find that she is much more interesting than Jennifer and an obvious love interest for McGowan.

Allen’s choice of title is interesting, since as different characters are introduced it is easy to see that many of them (including Josh, to some degree) all fit the characterization. Whether through naiveté, or through some code of honor, they are indeed caught in a situation where innocence can be deadly. Three stars.