Thursday, July 17, 2008

Book Review: The Specialists: Down to the Wire and Author Interview Shannon Greenland

In today’s consolidated post, you can find out the winner of Book 1 in the Specialists series, enjoy an interview with author Shannon Greenland that focuses on Book 2: Down to the Wire, and read my mini-review of it.

And the winner of Model Spy is …
Writer’s Block Reviews! Congrats! Send me your address so I can pass it on to Shannon. Didn’t win this week? No worries, you are still entered to win the grand prize of all 4 books. Enter today’s contest for a signed copy of Down to the Wire to improve your chances of winning!

Interview with Shannon

Can you give us a quick summary of book 2, Down to the Wire?

Wirenut has an uncanny knack for breaking into the most elaborate security systems. When a wealthy entrepreneur hires the Specialists to recover a stolen neurotoxin, Wirenut is perfect for the job. But there's a catch. The computer-coded hints that will lead to the neurotoxin are hidden in a few precious museum artifacts. Enter GiGi and her computer-code genius ability. But when GiGi and Wirenut begin their mission, they find themselves up against life threatening obstacles....


The security systems Wirenut breaks into sound really complex. How did you go about writing those scenes? What kind of research did you do?

I did research on security and electronics. I mixed and matched and threw in my own imagination to make up the unique systems in the book.


Why did you choose to use fake foreign countries and languages instead of real ones?

For complete creative fun and freedom.


Is all of GiGi's coding made up too?

Same as my answer above. I researched, mixed and matched, and threw in my own imagination.


This time, Wirenut and GiGi pose as tourists. Do you have any exciting upcoming trips planned?

Let’s see... I’m going camping on the Gulf of Mexico in August. But my highlight for the year will be my Christmas trip to Hawaii!


Review of Down to the Wire

(see summary above – interview question 1) GiGi (also known as Kelly, our model spy) and Wirenut make a great team for this latest exciting mission to a gorgeous Mediterranean country. This time around, they face even more danger and the villain is even more cunning – which makes for an exciting, twisty read. Wirenut’s background is tragic but fascinating and has a surprising link to how the mission plays out. And although the main action of the story is resolved by book’s end, we are left with a whopper of a cliffhanger regarding the connection between GiGi and her romantic interest David.

A great addition to the series that could also conceivably be read as a standalone spy novel.


Now get commenting for a chance to win this week's signed book and be entered (or get an extra entry if you commented last week) for the grand prize drawing of all 4 books!

17 comments:

Rachael Stein said...

that's great that it can stand alone. i kinda hate it when i pick up a novel only to see it's like the fourth in a series and to understand it, i have to go out and buy and read the first three. kinda frustrating to me.

i really like spy books... :D

Anonymous said...

great contests, Lenore! Hope I win!

Anonymous said...

awesome contest!! desperately want to read this book...
Thanks for the contest, by the way

Grace L

Ruth King said...

I love it when a series book is good enough to stand on its own merits -- they are rare gems indeed. This series sounds great! Please enter me for Down to the Wire.

Anonymous said...

Hi, there. I enjoyed the review and interview! Thanks for the giveaway!

Kathleen Gilligan said...

A good spy novel is hard to find! I'll have to check this out :)

Oh and I've tagged you :)
http://kbookreviews.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/book-club-classics-classics-meme/

Bunny B said...

I would love to read this book!! Thank you for the chance!
bunnybox9 at gmail . com

Shannon Greenland said...

Hey, you guys need to tap dance on over to my blog and leave comments. It'll make me feel so loooved. http://shannongreenland.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

This book looks great! Please enter me!

-Cyndi
mistique44952@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I read this book and i love it. I had no idea when i read it that is was the second book in a series until i went to look for more books by Shannon Greenland. I cant wait to read the rest of the series.
:)

Anonymous said...

I bought the third book and then realized that the books where so good. so, after some searching i found the first book but for the life of me i can't find the second book. I hope i can win this copy!

-Brenna
bella_nrmn@yahoo.com

Melsy626 said...

Thanks for the awesome contest!!!! I agree with many of the other posters about loving that a book that is part of a series can also stand alone, I think that is fantastic!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

You are really posting some great giveaways!Thanks so much! Tracy
bookroomreviews@hotmail.com

Dominique said...

cool interview! :D
sounds like a great series--please count me into your contest! :)

Liviania said...

I like that they can be read as standalones too - you can get into the series at any point.

ChristyJan said...

Please enter me in your contest Lenore.

Cari said...

I've read the first in this series (Model Spy), and I'm excited to read the next!
Thanks for the chance at the books, Lenore!
Cari
neohippy10@hotmail.com