Review by mblmn_mortician -- Cynthia and Dan

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mblmn_mortician
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Review by mblmn_mortician -- Cynthia and Dan

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[Following is a volunteer review of "Cynthia and Dan" by Dorothy May Mercer.]
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3 out of 4 stars
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In Cynthia and Dan: Cyber War by Dorothy May Mercer, Cynthia Patterson is an ambitious, strong-willed, and professional woman. She heads an all-female team of security operatives who support her in protecting Senator Mike McBride. Though she poses undercover as his receptionist, she provides the utmost caution in keeping information, data, and personnel safe and secure. Cynthia is an investigator who also often assists her brother, Glenn, the owner of Fairfax Private Investigators. When a drone lands on the White House lawn, it is written off as a simple toy in the wrong place at the wrong time. But how did the Secret Service miss it? Why didn’t the news outlets cling to this news? What could this mean for future drone encounters? As intelligent investigators who prioritize national security as the utmost importance, Cynthia and Glenn seek to find out more.

During the traffic jams, confusion, and panic during the drone invasion, Cynthia finds herself swept off her feet by a handsome man who seems to know more than he should—both professionally and personally. Sky Eastman attracts Cynthia in more ways than his appearance. He is seemingly thoughtful, respectful, romantic, and knowledgeable. It helps that he shows genuine care in Cynthia, something she’s not used to experiencing with her current beau, Dan. In the midst of being swept off her feet, Dan is stood up for a rare dinner date. Cynthia finds herself in the arms of a man she can’t explain her emotions towards. A passionate day during a crisis leads her to reevaluate her current relationships. Why hasn’t Dan shown motivation to any “next steps” in their relationship? She finds it easy to drop Dan in the boring rut she has found herself in with him. But how does Sky know so much about her? Nobody has access to her private phone number, but he has it! He knows where she lives, and he maneuvers her life in ways she couldn’t have expected. Then, with the prospect of impossible circumstances happening, she needs to act fast.

Personal life aside, Cynthia is helping Glenn create a team to start a Cyber War on Terrorism. Glenn hires two intelligent, tech savvy coders to take down ISIS and other terrorists through their never-ending web of posts, videos, tweets, and all-around constant recruitment and propaganda. In seeking out these sites, slyly taking them down, the team stumbles upon something much larger than YouTube videos. Glenn needs the help of one of the tech’s superiors—a drone expert. To resolve the uncovered plot, they combine their resources: Glenn’s privately contracted technical investigation capabilities and the Major’s military contacts and strategies.

In Cynthia and Dan: Cyber War I enjoyed the powerful woman-led team in a not-so-female oriented field. Mercer does a great job of keeping the reader engaged, setting the scene, detailing the characters, and seems to think of everything. Though the book covers a short amount of time, her descriptions of each transition bode well in keeping the reader on track. This book was an easy read. I even enjoyed the cheesy phrases such as “Whoopee!” and “my boy”. When it comes to detailing superior technology, drones, military strategy, and coding, Mercer does a great job of helping the layman reader understand.

The best characters in the book are Senator Mike McBride and his wife Juliette. They are extremely supportive, pivotal individuals, even as supporting characters.

I did not enjoy the romantic relationship and boundary dynamics of Cynthia’s love interests. Each man offered numerous red flags in the way they behaved—and Cynthia didn’t seem to respond responsibly to any of them. The only accountability I felt Cynthia had was to her career—everything else was poorly managed. I also did not enjoy the control the men held over Cynthia, and how she allowed herself to justify irrational behavior by these men. Each man could be considered obsessive, stalking, and dangerous in several parts of the book. Maybe my perceived view of her irresponsibility pays off for her character.

Overall, I would rank this book at a 3 out of 4 stars. It is well described, well researched, and an interesting story. It fell short of 4 stars because I thought this book was too simple in some regards. I also did not feel a strong female who serves as lead for a team of intelligent women should be represented as unstable and oblivious to obvious red flags in romantic relationships. Cynthia’s character being written as half respected, professional, and bright and half romantically reckless doesn’t offer a fully rounded character, no matter the desired balance.

Readers who would enjoy this book are those interested in military strategy, intelligence, and national security. Drama lovers who enjoy a quick read and who appreciate a strong female lead and a team of female colleagues will enjoy Mercer’s book.

Readers who may not be interested in this book include those indifferent or uninterested in military tactics, national and political security, as well as coding and other technology. Those uninterested or triggered by detailed family planning and contraceptive information, unstable or unhealthy romantic relationships including manipulation, stalking, and overbearing men, as well as themes of terrorism will likely not enjoy this book.

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Cynthia and Dan
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