ISBN: 0373513496
Publisher: Silhouette Bombshell
Release Date: Mar 2005
List Price: $4.50

Reviewed by Dawn Temple

E

mpty your bladder and take the phone off the hook before you begin reading Sandra K. Moore's debut novel, The Orchid Hunter, a March 2005 Bombshell release. Once you start, you won't want to put it down.

Dr. Jessie Robards is a mercenary, a woman who lives her life in the grays between right and wrong, legal and illegal. She travels the jungles of the world, harvesting rare orchids and smuggling them into the United States. Not exactly legal, but not exactly wrong, either.

This edge-of-your-seat adventure begins with Jessie hanging from a tree in the jungle, waiting to outwit her nemesis. The action kicks into high gear from that point on as she learns her Uncle Scooter, the man who raised her, is critically ill. When her billionaire boss calls her in on special assignment, Jessie is tempted, for the first time ever, to turn down a lucrative job in favor of concentrating on her personal life.

Until her boss ups the ante. Her assignment is to scour the Brazilian jungle to find the elusive Death Orchid, the plant rumored to be the missing ingredient in a new pharmaceutical that just might save Scooter's life.

Say no more. Jessie's all in.

But this hunt is like no other. It's a race against time, against life and death. She either succeeds in two weeks or Scooter will die.

In order to keep our intrepid heroine on her toes, Ms. Moore challenges Jessie with a second Orchid Hunter in pursuit of the Death Orchid for a rival pharmaceutical, a second, mystery pursuer, an illegal gold mine run by maniacs whose unscrupulous procedures are poisoning the indigenous people and inciting a war, and a sexy, Tantra-practicing entomologist determined to save the world.

Just as Jessie gets her hands on the Death Orchid, her world of grays turns black. The bad guys get really bad and the good guys become so questionable that Jessie no longer knows who she can trust and who's just using her to do their dirty work.

In the end, Jessie must leave behind her world of grays where the end justifies the means and step into the light, taking a stand for right, even though that stand will cost the life of a man she loves.

The Orchid Hunter is an energetic thrill ride of an adventure that no reader should miss. Ms. Moore's evocative writing will transport you to Jessie's world. Her first-person account of the jungle's humidity will make you wilt, the stench of compost will twitch your nose, you'll feel the discomfort of mud and yuck in your shorts, and the serenity of a people unspoiled by the modern world will renew your faith in the human spirit.

Dawn Temple writes heartwarming tales of family and community for Silhouette Special Edition.