GRR Reviews Hell or High Water (The Deep Six Book 1) by Julie Ann Walker

Hell or High Water by Julie Ann Walker combined a taut plot with some pretty good characters with old issues. The threat was credible. My only problem is a slight technical inaccuracy.

Ex-Navy SEAL Leo Anderson, along with his ex-SEAL buddies are relaxing on his ancestral island in the Florida Keys on a long-term lease. But the lease is running out, and he wanted to find a fabled Spanish galleon's treasure that he had heard about, but nobody can find. He had a boat inherited from his father, and his buddies as crew, but it's not making enough money. Then someone from his past intruded... Olivia Mortier, CIA agent... a woman he fell for but knew it couldn't last. And one of the SEALs lost his life protecting her, and they hadn't seen each other... for a long time. But now she's back... and she has an emergency assignment... There is a mole in CIA and in order to draw him out, CIA used the most daring of bait... some real chemical weapons. Three small canisters that fit in a large makeup kit case. Somehow, the case was intercepted by those terrorists from Guantanamo during a prisoner riot... and their ship sank. Now Leo's ship must retrieve those chemical weapons with a dive... before they really disappear into the black market. But the mole is out there, and his followers are ready to kill anyone in their way...

The plot twists are good, but the fight seems a bit... off? I honestly don't believe you can sink a few hundred ton ship with just two RPGs (or "rocket launchers") unless you manage to hole it below the waterline, but wouldn't the RPG go off when you hit the water? A SLAM (much bigger missile), I can believe. But AT-4 / RPG-7? Seriously doubt that. But the plot twists are good.

The author's really needs a technical advisor. One of her other books got rated a 2 star by me for interesting romantic entanglement but IMPOSSIBLE resolution to the plot.

Category: Romantic Suspense / Military

Primary Plot: A CIA agent must ask an ex-SEAL (and ex-lover) and his team of salvage divers for help in retrieving stolen weapons...

Tropes: SEAL, evil enemies, search and rescue, betrayal, spy

Overall Rating:  4/5