This book is the 3rd in Anne Stuart's Fire series. I gave the first book (Consumed by Fire) 4 stars. The second book Driven by Fire was not my favorite and I gave it 1 star. Wildfire is a decent read but there are some improbable things that happen that bring down the rating IMO. The heroine, Sophie, is a spy who falls in love with and marries her target, an international arms dealer. When he finds out of her betrayal, her husband, Archer, shoots her in the back and she is paralyzed as a result.
The "hero," Malcolm is also undercover and plans to kill Archer after he gets all of the intelligence off him possible. He also plans to do away with Sophie once he has what he wants. He did not reckon on falling in love with her.
Sophie is determined to get her own back and right the wrongs she did by falling for Archer. She is stuck in a wheelchair because of her spinal injury, but little does Archer know that she has regained mobility in her legs. That right there was a little too improbable for the story. Malcolm is also too much of an anti-hero for me. At times his behavior toward Sophie borders on cruelty. Anne Stuart is known for her jerky heroes and while Malcolm fit that bill, I was not totally convinced of the love story. This story gets a 3.5/5 from me.

I have tried reading several books by Anne Stuart and to me they are just not the same as her earlier published works. Something is missing.

I adored Stuart's Ice series. When I found out about the Fire series, I couldn't believe my luck. It's every bit as enjoyable. I don't think this book is the strongest out of the two series so far, but it is still great and I highly recommend.

What happens when an agent falls for the man she is sent to investigate? And then it turns out he really IS the bad guy that your agency said he was. In this case it means that Sophie is kind of on her own to save herself since all of her friends from the agency aren't sure she can be trusted anymore. So when Malcolm is sent to kill Archer this time, he may or may not let Sophie live since she may be just as bad as Archer who is now her husband. This was a very good novel of romantic suspense filled with enough twists and turns to keep the action going. Technically this book is part of a series but I can and did read it on its own without a problem.

Sophie's first mistake was falling in love and marrying the man she was targeting. That was 3 years ago. Two years ago, he hired someone to kill her. The bullet close to the spine left her paralyzed .. at least that is what her husband thinks.

She's spent a lot of time learning to first move her legs, then walk. Considering she's been a prisoner in a wheelchair in her room, that's been quite remarkable, especially as there are cameras and recorders in her bedroom. Her husband is a psychopath and he takes much pleasure in her pain. But the time has come when she's planning to leave ... even if she has to kill him to do it.

Malcolm Gunnison is undercover... working for the same covert organization as Sophie once did. His orders are to get information from Sophie's arms-dealer husband. It is his decision on what to do with Sophie.

But Malcolm is unprepared for his attraction to Sophie, especially as he doesn't know if he can trust her. And Sophie knows this is a dangerous man ... but can she trust him to help her leave her husband?

As Romantic Suspense goes, this is a winner. There's tons of action and excitement. There's also a lot of explicit sexual moments, as well as language. This is definitely not a book for youngsters. Sophie and Malcolm make a good pair .. they're both very strong characters who fight their attraction with everything they have.

This is the third in a series, however, it does well as a stand-alone. Each book in the series have different characters, so no cliff hangers to deal with.

Many thanks to the author / Montlake Romance / Netgalley for the digital copy of WILDFIRE. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Her power-hungry husband takes pleasure in her pain, but she’s done playing the victim.

Three years ago, ex-operative Sophie Jordan made the mistake of falling in love—and marrying—her target. Now she’s paying for it tenfold. Her husband might be one of the sexiest men alive, but he’s also a psychopath. She’s been a virtual prisoner, and the time has come for retribution—and escape.

Undercover agent Malcolm Gunnison has his orders: get intel from Sophie’s arms-dealer husband, then kill him. He plans to get rid of her, too, if she gets in his way, but he’s unprepared when she gets under his skin instead. Whose side is she on? And what is she hiding behind those mesmerizing eyes?

Sophie vowed to never fall for another man again, but this sexy undercover agent is different. With danger mounting, can Malcolm and Sophie trust each other—and their growing passion—enough to get out of this operation alive?



* * * * *



I really enjoyed checking back in on the folks from the Organization. I am still in lust with Reme. Somehow I managed to miss the second book but each book is complete in itself so I wasn't lost or felt like I was missing something vital.



Sophie is one of the strongest people that I have ever seen. I know that I would have gone insane dealing with her husband but she just spends her time preparing to escape from him. Mal is burnt out and not too sure just what he thinks about Sophie. She could be either a help or a hindrance to his mission.



I do think that my readers who enjoy romantic suspense will enjoy WILDFIRE. The plot is fast paced, the characters are interesting and the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. You can read this book as a stand alone but I would recommend picking up the entire series.



*** I received this book at no charge from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed within are my own.

This is the third book in this series and is a branch off of this author's Ice series. I admit I haven't read the first two in this one but I loved the Ice series. This author does a great job in the romantic suspense genre.

In this one, new operative Sophie is sent on a mission, and instead of killing her target she falls in love with him & marrying him. Now this is some seriously bad decision making on her part cuz her hubby is a psycho. Fortunately for her another operative, Malcolm is sent to fix her mistakes.

Malcolm (of course) falls for Sophie and they end up working together to get her away from her husband. Was this story believable? No. Was it fun? Definitely.

Overall I enjoyed it. It wasn't my favorite from this author but I still thought it was pretty good.

*Review copy provided by publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

This was a good addition to Stuart's Fire Series. Sophie made a good, but flawed main character. She had showed a severe lack of judgement as a young Committee agent when she fell for a target and married him, but she has paid dearly. Malcolm Gunnison has been sent by the Committee to get info from, and then kill Sophie's husband. Not surprisingly, these two have zero trust for one another. As they develop and attraction for one another, the danger ratchets up due to Sophie's nasty husband.

Great characters and an interesting plot line in this one! I love romantic suspense, and Stuart writes some of the best!

Sophie fell for the wrong guy and now must try to get free. Another agent comes to take on her husband and falls for the wife too. First book I've read by this author in a while and was a page turner for me. Will be looking up the other series.

Ebook from Netgalley and publisher with thanks. Opinions are entirely my own.

I couldn't suspend logic for this one. The best part about it was the steamy sex (if that's your thing) but the plot itself was a no for me and I did not finish. I realize I came to this as a standalone and that might have been the problem. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the first book I have read by Anne Stuart and I found it fast paced and fairly exciting but
unfortunately, the storyline is rather predictable so much so that I knew what was about to happen before it did throughout.

Her power-hungry husband takes pleasure in her pain, but she’s done playing the victim.

Three years ago, ex-operative Sophie Jordan made the mistake of falling in love—and marrying—her target. Now she’s paying for it tenfold. Her husband might be one of the sexiest men alive, but he’s also a psychopath. She’s been a virtual prisoner, and the time has come for retribution—and escape.

Undercover agent Malcolm Gunnison has his orders: get intel from Sophie’s arms-dealer husband, then kill him. He plans to get rid of her, too, if she gets in his way, but he’s unprepared when she gets under his skin instead. Whose side is she on? And what is she hiding behind those mesmerizing eyes?

Sophie vowed to never fall for another man again, but this sexy undercover agent is different. With danger mounting, can Malcolm and Sophie trust each other—and their growing passion—enough to get out of this operation alive?

My biggest complaint about this book is all the internal dialogue. That being said...if you're stuck on a remote island by yourself, who are you going to talk too? I'd be having an insane amount of internal dialogue too and I'm doing it right now. What can you say about Malcolm? When I think about him, I see Michael from Nikita. I don't know if Anne Stuart was writing this guy with him in mind but seriously that's who enters my mind and doesn't step out. I imagine "The Commitee" is a lot like Section One and the players are so similar that it was mind-boggling. That's kind of why I rated this differently that I probably should have. Could I have knocked off a star for it being not as intense as the other series - Sure. However, I really saw the parallels I stated above and it took me back and was kind of nostalgic. That's why I really loved it. I loved that Malcolm was a total tool and that he wasn't the nicest person. There was some good heat in this book but nothing OTT and out of the ordinary. I couldn't wrap my mind around how Sophie could even fall for her "husband" because he was a psychotic weirdo to the ninth degree. He's definitely what mama always warned you about. Overall, I think if you love Anne Stuart's work, you're going to read this no matter what other people say and I enjoyed it. Of course, I'm in the minority I'm finding after talking with some blogging friends but they're also 10 years younger than me and not old enough to remember Le Femme Nikita and draw similarities.

I was given a copy of this ARC from the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review. All of the above comments are my express opinions and no one else's.

i hadn't realized that the author had continued her books about the Committee. I own several of the Ice books and they are some of my favorites. I was disappointed in this book though. I liked Sophie but I could never understand how she was a member of the Committee. Given all we've learned about them over all the books it just didn't seem probable. The hero was typical Stuart but there wasn't much conflict in this book, he was mostly just waiting around. I missed the action and high stakes and the plot twist of Archer still being alive was known as soon as he fell off the stairs. I still enjoyed Anne Stuarts work but I don't think I'll be purchasing any of the Fire books.

This book was so captivating. It kept me glued to my seat from start to finish.
I love Anne Stuarts' books.
This is the third book in the Fire series.
This book was a stand alone title, no need to read the previous books in this series.
I can't say I found any angst in this book but it was full of action, hot steamy sex, and wondering if she is gonna make it out alive.
Sophie betrayed The Company ( a secret team of government type operatives) when she fell in love with her mark. Sent to assassinate Archer, a psychotic killer, she falls in love with him instead. When Archer gets wind of Sophie's former motives he decides to act first. Instead of her dying she instead gets paralyzed from the waist down and now Archer has a toy to play with and torture.
For years she has been secretly strengthening her legs preparing for her escape and it's almost time. First kill Archer, then get off torture island. Those are her plans until another operative shows up and upsets all her plans.

This title was given to me by Netgalley for an honest review.

3.5 Anti-Hero Stars!

Sophie is a prisoner on her husband's private island. She’s an ex-operative for the Committee, and made the mistake of falling in love with her target Archer and marrying him. Archer eventually found out about her ties to “The Committee”, and had her shot, but, the shot didn't kill her, only paralyzed her. Now Sophie is confined to a wheelchair, angry, and want’s revenge all the while being subjected to Archer’s physical abuse, emotional abuse, and mind games.

The Committee has now sent another agent, Malcolm (Mal), to finish the job that Sophie failed. Mal and Sophie become reluctant allies against Archer while both fight the instant connection between the them. While Mal plays his own mind games with both Archer and Sophie, much to his dismay, he cannot deny the mutual attraction and protective instincts he has towards Sophie.

Mal was most definitely an anti-hero but he lacked the edginess, and coldness we normally see in an Anne Stuart hero. Don’t get me wrong, yes, he was ruthless just not as ruthless I’ve come to expect from AS (anti) hero. All-in-all this was a decent read, but, I didn’t love it as much as loved many of her other books.

I remember years ago being one of the first people to see the movie “Silence of the Lambs.” As I stood in line at the West 57th Street movie theater in Manhattan, I realized I didn’t know anything about the movie I was about to see. But I couldn’t resist a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. To say I was a little terrified while watching the film would be a major understatement. The truth is, for most of the movie, I sat in that dark theatre with my hands over my eyes silently humming to myself in an effort to drown out every horrible, word and sound uttered by Hannibal Lecter, sounds I knew would haunt my dreams

Reading Wildfire, was much like watching “Silence of the Lambs.” While these two stories are NOTHING alike, they do have one point in common, both prominently feature sociopaths. Anne Stuart knows how to turn up the volume on suspense by creating one crazy psycho who does unspeakable things, and as I’ve indicated, I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to things like that. Because reading requires you to keep your eyes open, I was unable to avoid the sections in Wildfire where the sociopath displays his horrors.

The heroine, Sophie Jordan, is an undercover agent for The Committee, her mission is to find and destroy a drug, that if used, would wipe out whole populations. Financing the drug is billionaire and vicious, psychopathic crazy man Archer MacDonald - her target. But Sophie’s mission doesn’t go as planned when she falls in love and betrays The Committee by marrying Archer. Unfortunately, Archer soon discovers she’s an undercover agent and orders her killed. Sophie is shot in the spine and instead of dying becomes paralyzed and for three years is a prisoner on Archer’s island compound subject to his sadistic whims.

The Committee finally preps another operative - enter tough guy hero, Malcom Gunnison. His mission is to get the drug, kill Archer and if necessary kill Sophie too. After all, she betrayed The Committee by falling in love with Archer.

With the introduction of Malcom comes the internal/external conflict of trust. It’s clear no one trusts Archer, but can Malcom and Sophie trust each other?

There is no doubt that Anne Stuart can write and can tell a story, but there were some things that just didn’t work for me. In the end, here’s my analysis of Wildfire:

PROS:
The antagonist was well crafted. His every move showed he was pond scum through and through.

For those readers who like their suspense taught like a violin string, they’ll love this one. It’s high tension throughout.

If you’re a romance reader who enjoys hot sex scenes, this one gets a 10 out of 10.

Who doesn’t love an ending that is sigh worthy. Check, this one hits the mark.

CONS:

There was too much inner voice and dense paragraphs used to move the story along. That was a disappointment, because toward the end, where dialogue was used, it was strong. There was wit, humor and urgency in the dialogue and I’d wished I would have seen more of that in the beginning of the book.

The hero and heroine went back and forth with their inner voices on how they felt. Why they shouldn’t feel a certain way. What they did or didn’t deserve. It flips and flops all over the place and was sometimes tedious taking me out of the story.

I believe, if you’re a romance reader you need to be able to suspend belief, after all, that’s half the fun of reading romance. However, in this book, there were sections that were a bit too unbelievable.

In the end, this wasn’t a book for me. But I believe if you enjoy romantic suspense, you like your romances steamy, and your heroines tough, then this is a book for you.

Reviewed by Maria for The Romance Dish

I remember years ago being one of the first people to see the movie “Silence of the Lambs.” As I stood in line at the West 57th Street movie theater in Manhattan, I realized I didn’t know anything about the movie I was about to see. But I couldn’t resist a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster. To say I was a little terrified while watching the film would be a major understatement. The truth is, for most of the movie, I sat in that dark theatre with my hands over my eyes silently humming to myself in an effort to drown out every horrible, word and sound uttered by Hannibal Lecter, sounds I knew would haunt my dreams

Reading Wildfire, was much like watching “Silence of the Lambs.” While these two stories are NOTHING alike, they do have one point in common, both prominently feature sociopaths. Anne Stuart knows how to turn up the volume on suspense by creating one crazy psycho who does unspeakable things, and as I’ve indicated, I’m a bit squeamish when it comes to things like that. Because reading requires you to keep your eyes open, I was unable to avoid the sections in Wildfire where the sociopath displays his horrors.

The heroine, Sophie Jordan, is an undercover agent for The Committee, her mission is to find and destroy a drug, that if used, would wipe out whole populations. Financing the drug is billionaire and vicious, psychopathic crazy man Archer MacDonald - her target. But Sophie’s mission doesn’t go as planned when she falls in love and betrays The Committee by marrying Archer. Unfortunately, Archer soon discovers she’s an undercover agent and orders her killed. Sophie is shot in the spine and instead of dying becomes paralyzed and for three years is a prisoner on Archer’s island compound subject to his sadistic whims.

The Committee finally preps another operative - enter tough guy hero, Malcom Gunnison. His mission is to get the drug, kill Archer and if necessary kill Sophie too. After all, she betrayed The Committee by falling in love with Archer.

With the introduction of Malcom comes the internal/external conflict of trust. It’s clear no one trusts Archer, but can Malcom and Sophie trust each other?

There is no doubt that Anne Stuart can write and can tell a story, but there were some things that just didn’t work for me. In the end, here’s my analysis of Wildfire:

PROS:
The antagonist was well crafted. His every move showed he was pond scum through and through.

For those readers who like their suspense taught like a violin string, they’ll love this one. It’s high tension throughout.

If you’re a romance reader who enjoys hot sex scenes, this one gets a 10 out of 10.

Who doesn’t love an ending that is sigh worthy. Check, this one hits the mark.

CONS:

There was too much inner voice and dense paragraphs used to move the story along. That was a disappointment, because toward the end, where dialogue was used, it was strong. There was wit, humor and urgency in the dialogue and I’d wished I would have seen more of that in the beginning of the book.

The hero and heroine went back and forth with their inner voices on how they felt. Why they shouldn’t feel a certain way. What they did or didn’t deserve. It flips and flops all over the place and was sometimes tedious taking me out of the story.

I believe, if you’re a romance reader you need to be able to suspend belief, after all, that’s half the fun of reading romance. However, in this book, there were sections that were a bit too unbelievable.

In the end, this wasn’t a book for me. But I believe if you enjoy romantic suspense, you like your romances steamy, and your heroines tough, then this is a book for you.

This review appears on www.theromancedish.com

Any long-time romance reader probably has a favourite type of hero. Protective alphas, arrogant arseholes, smooth spies and men of action… and then there are Anne Stuart heroes, who, as anyone familiar with her work will know, are a mixture of all the above with the aresholery often dialled up to the max. But you know what? They’re my blind spot. They’re so full of testosterone, over-the-top masculine and fiercely protective of their women (albeit not quite at caveman levels) that they’re almost caricatures… but I still don’t care – I love ‘em.

The big saving grace is probably that your Anne Stuart alpha-hole hero isn’t a Neanderthal. He’s highly-intelligent, well-educated, frighteningly competent, seriously hot – and ultimately redeemable. Yes, any sane woman would probably run a mile in the opposite direction if she met one, but fortunately, this is highly stylised fiction, and Ms. Stuart always manages to redeem these ruthless men admirably. But I can accept that her particular brand of gamma hero is an acquired taste, and if those types of characters aren’t for you, then I’m not likely to persuade you otherwise.

But for those of us who do drink this particular brand of Kool-Aid, Malcolm Gunnison, the hero of Wildfire – the third in the author’s current Fire series – is another in a long line of those guilty-pleasure heroes we love to hate. Mal is sent by the Committee – a covert, international organization that paid no attention to legal or moral implications in its quest to make the world a safer place – to the Caribbean island of Isla Mordita to meet with Archer MacDonald, international arms and drug dealer, and the man behind the development of a new biological agent, RU48 (also known as Pixiedust!) which is unlike any chemical weapon previously developed. Mal’s cover as an ex-Committee agent now acting as the middle-man for a potential buyer works perfectly to convince Archer that he’s dealing with a man every bit as dangerous as himself.

Mal’s job is to find out everything he can about the weapon, kill Archer and get out – and it’s up to him whether he gets the man’s wife out with him or leaves her there. A former CIA and State Department agent, Sophie Jordan was in the early stages of her Committee training when she was made part of a team sent to undertake surveillance on Archer and made the mistake of falling in love with and marrying him – only to discover, too late, that the man was a ruthless psychopath. When Archer discovered she had been a Committee agent, he ordered her murder. Sophie narrowly escaped death, but the bullet damaged her spine and for the past two years, she has been confined to a wheelchair, a literal prisoner on the island subject to the not so tender mercies of her husband, who takes delight in playing psychological games, and abusing her both emotionally and physically. But a year ago, she began to regain the use of her legs, and without anyone knowing, has been building her strength and training for the day when she will kill Archer and get the hell outta Dodge.

When Archer insists she join him in welcoming their latest guest to the island, Sophie is not at all prepared for the reaction Malcolm Gunnison elicits in her. Since her accident, she has maintained the fiction of being desperately in love with her husband, who no longer has any use for her and enjoys taunting her about her lack of sexual appeal. He has brought several attractive men to the island and paraded them in front of her trying to provoke a reaction, but she has remained completely unmoved – until now. Even so, it’s clear that Gunnison is just as much of a ruthless, murderous bastard as her husband, and she has no intention of allowing herself to be diverted from her purpose.

The suspense plot is full of twists and turns, and there’s no question that Ms. Stuart really knows how to ramp up the tension; all in all I found Wildfire a hard book to put down. The characters are engaged in an intense and potentially deadly game of cat-and-mouse with Mal and Archer circling around each other, assessing and trying to get the upper hand, even as Mal and Sophie are doing much the same thing as they try to work out whether they can trust each other or not. The sexual chemistry between them is intense, the sex scenes are steamy and Mal and Sophie are undoubtedly in lust with each other, but the idea that a romantic relationship could have developed between them is harder to buy into. Sophie has been isolated for the past two years, suffered a serious trauma and has been subject to a sadistic, manipulative man. Yes, her training as an operative would have heightened her natural survival instincts and taught her self-reliance, but I couldn’t help thinking that given her circumstances, she might have fallen for anyone who had supported her and shown her that she wasn’t on her own anymore. I also found it difficult to believe that Sophie – who is frequently described as tough, intelligent and highly competent – could have been so gullible as to have dismissed everything she’d learned about Archer during her training and fallen so easily and completely for him. Much mention is made of the fact that she was inexperienced when she was sent on that fateful mission, but she worked for the security services for a number of years before being recruited by the Committee, and that level of naïveté just doesn’t ring true. On the positive side, though, I admired her sheer guts and determination in the face of such overwhelming odds. She’s under no illusions now, and her hatred of Archer is so visceral that the reader can actually feel it.

And Mal … well, he’s a pretty stereotypical Stuart hero – dangerous, frighteningly competent and utterly ruthless when called for – but that’s a potent and sexy combination that never seems to get old, and I’m not complaining.

While this is the third in a series, it’s not absolutely necessary to have read the previous two books before starting this one; I think they can probably be read in any order. Even taking into account the drawbacks I’ve mentioned, Wildfire is still a fast-paced, edgy page-turner that kept me engrossed from start to finish. I’m sure fans of Ms. Stuart and her unique, dark brand of romantic suspense will enjoy it.

Grade: B-

3.5 helms
Please follow me on my blog :) Review originally posted on Vellum Voyages (www.vellumvoyages.com)

Does anyone want to READ an action movie?! I felt like I was dropped into some sort of James Bond/Mission Impossible style action-packed suspense, with a whole LOT of sexual tension! Fast paced reading most of the time and WOW Anne Stuart writes her villains very well. Archer is such a f#cktard!

Ex-Committee operative Sophie Jordan MacDonald botches up her first mission of killing Archer MacDonald - an unscrupulous, arms and drugs self-made multi-millionaire, by falling in love and marrying him! Archer learns of Sophie's involvement with the Committee and ruthlessly plans for her assassination. The assassin manages to paralyze Sophie by hitting her spine instead of killing her and she is unofficially made a prisoner on Archer's private island and is prey to his sadistic games. Sophie secretly focuses on regaining the use of her legs and plans to complete her mission and get off the island for good. Archer is involved in cutting his latest deal for a new dangerous biochemical weapon with Malcolm (Mal) Gunnison, an undercover agent for the Committee hired to finish Sophie's job. Sophie is considered inconsequential and the Committee leaves it up to Mal to decide Sophie's fate. Archer invites Mal over to enjoy his private island, women and other luxuries while the deal is being negotiated and the attraction between Sophie and Mal is instant, intense and animalistic and complicates the mission further as Mal and Sophie further discover Archer's twisted soul.

Few things readers should be aware of:
1) Mal & Sophie's relationship all happens while Sophie is married - so essentially it is cheating if we are looking at technicalities.
2) This is an angry relationship for most of the book as we are dealing with two strong characters, one who is an anti-hero. They are both calling the shots in their own way as the have their own personal agendas.

This read well most of the time but the plot did drag at times and the characters internal thoughts were noticeably repetitive, hence where the stars were lost. Overall a good action packed read with some surprises to keep you turning the pages!

*Thank-you Anne Stuart, Netgalley & Montlake Romance for the ARC.

The Committee is a nebulous organization which exists to fight the wrongs and evils of the world, but whose methods are ruthless, and sometimes leave collateral damage. Sophie Jordan was in training to become an agent when she was sent on her first assignment. Her team's mission was to kill Archer MacDonald, who is a wealthy arms dealer, among other crimes. Unfortunately, the inexperienced Sophie fell in love with him, and she ended up marrying him. Not long after, Archer learned of Sophie's involvement with the Committee, and contracted to have her killed. The assassin only managed to injure Sophie's spine, causing paralysis. Archer, being a sadistic monster underneath his surface charm, takes great joy in having Sophie helpless and under his thumb. He virtually holds her prisoner on his private island while he continues with his latest venture, which is brokering a deal for a new and dangerous chemical weapon.

Unbeknownst to Archer, Sophie has begun to regain the feeling in her legs. Every day, while in her luxurious bathroom, out of reach of Archer's surveillance cameras, she exercises her body, building up her strength. She's smart enough to know that she will be killed as soon as Archer tires of the cat and mouse games he plays with her. Sophie plans to escape the island, and kill Archer before he kills her. Enter, Malcolm "Mal" Gunnison, who is another agent for the Committee. He is undercover, posing as an agent for a buyer of the chemical weapon, while his real assignment is to kill Archer. Sophie is merely considered a footnote. It's up to Mal whether he rescues her, leaves her on the island, or kills her. Mal is reserving judgment until he sees the lay of the land.

Archer proceeds to wine and dine his new guest while they wait for the inventor of the weapon to arrive on the island. Everything is at Mal's disposal, including the women Archer keeps around for entertainment. Soon, Archer even offers his wife for Mal's amusement, in fact, he insists upon it. When Mal and Sophie are out of range of the cameras, they soon learn the truth about each other. They have an intense attraction which neither wants, so their "working relationship" is antagonistic. Then the action really ramps up, with a devastating tropical storm, attempted murder, and many more surprises.

I admit it - Anne Stuart is my guilty pleasure, and I adore her. Her heroes are usually over-the-top bad boys who are somehow on the good side. Mal is no exception - he does whatever it takes to complete his assignment, whether it be sex, murder, or anything in between. Yet this hardened man falls for the very flawed Sophie. Despite her training, Sophie made a huge mistake in judgment regarding Archer. She was gullible enough to believe his lies, and turned her back on the Committee, and it cost her greatly. She's wise enough now not to fall for anyone else, especially a Committee agent. Or, is she? WILD FIRE is chock full of intrigue, twists, excitement, and very steamy sex. I recommend this book for fans of romantic suspense who enjoy a hot, intense read and a dark hero - it's Anne Stuart doing what she does best.