Gray Horizon: A Dr. Whyte Adventure: 5/5 stars
Gray Horizon, the third book in the Dr. Whyte Adventure trilogy, follows an emergency room doctor (who happens to be married to a CIA agent) on a dangerous trip around Europe, as her husband tries to keep the hatches battened down in the nation's capital.
When I read Gray Horizon, I hadn’t read the first two novels in the series. But Samet gives us just enough tastes of what happened before—which also seem like rollicking tales of international intrigue—to make me wonder about the details of her earlier adventures. While Gray Horizon is perfectly good as a standalone, I did wonder how much subtext I was missing.
Missing subtext or no, though, this book was hard to put down. In fact, I didn't put it down once Dr. Lillian Whyte landed in Iceland—perhaps four chapters in. That’s when the adventure really kicks into high gear.
Samet’s characters are interesting and complex. I especially liked Ivan; apparently he had a large antagonistic role in book one. There’s no doubt that he is incredibly complicated, yet he’s easy to root for.
Both the main plot, with Dr. Lillian Whyte and Ivan in Europe, and the secondary plot, with the CIA husband trying to keep a lid on everything in Washington, DC—are engaging on all fronts. Each of the two stories paints a vastly different picture, but Samet does a great balancing act to keep them both intriguing.
C.B. Samet has a strong voice in this book, perfect for a thriller. She’s an EVVY award winner for her fantasy books, and the bold, confident prose and propulsive plot make it easy to see why she’s won the award. The plot is as engaging as anything Dan Brown has written in the last ten years. Samet’s book is a joy to read.
Buy Gray Horizon in ebook or paperback or read for free on Kindle Unlimited.