Off the Grid

OFF THE GRID is the second instalment in Monica McCarty’s contemporary, adult THE LOST PLATOON romantic, military suspense series focusing on SEAL Team Nine whose members are MIA or dead following an unsanctioned and undercover mission to Russia. This is twenty-seven year old investigative reporter Brittany Blake, and twenty-nine year old Navy SEAL John Donovan’s story line. OFF THE GRID can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary although I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as there is an ongoing theme and premise throughout. There is also a developing story focusing on former husband and wife duo Colt Wesson, Team Nine’s former chief, and CIA agent Katherine ‘Kate’ Wesson. Told from several third person perspectives including Brittany and John, and Colt and Kate, OFF THE GRID continues to follow in the aftermath of a mission that went horribly wrong, an unsanctioned mission to Russia and incident that could have easily sparked as US-Russian war. With only six survivors from their original fourteen, the remaining SEALs must remain ‘off the grid’ in order to survive. The US government claims no responsibility or knowledge therefore it is up to one of their own to search for the truth. Former Navy SEAL John Donovan knows loss including the loss of his best friend, and fellow Team Nine SEAL Brandon Blake but coming face to face with Brandon’s sister Brittany, an investigative journalist hoping to prove a government cover-up in the death of her old brother and his team of Navy SEALs, finds John on the defensive as he must keep Brittany from her self-appointed task in order to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love, and the men with whom he has served. What ensues is the building relationship between John and Brittany-a second chance of sorts for our story line heroine, and the potential fall-out as Brittany is targeted by more than one source, in her journey to uncover the truth. Brittany is hoping to write a tell-all expose on the military operation that took her brother’s life. A clandestine rendezvous nets our heroine some important information, information that is about to get our heroine killed. As John continues to warn Brittany away from her current path, her TSTL attitude places herself and John in the direct line of fire forcing John to work overtime in order to protect the woman with whom he will fall in love. John’s LC Lieutenant Commander Scott Taylor, fears the team has been set up to take the fall for an act of betrayal and revenge. Meanwhile Team Nine’s former chief Colt Wesson is tasked with working alongside the woman he once loved. Burned by betrayal, Colt struggles to trust CIA agent Kate Wesson, a trust that was destroyed years before. As Kate and Colt begin to uncover a trail of Russian spies and US operatives in a government cover-up that could very well go to the very top. OFF THE GRID is a story of danger, suspense, action, and the prideful determination of a journalist trying to prove she is more than just the sum of her past. Brittany’s inability to see beyond her own journalistic drive threatens the lives of the surviving Team Nine SEALs, as well as her own-in this I struggled to accept her desire for the truth. The premise is intriguing, frustrating and revealing; the romance is fated and provocative; the characters are numerous, colorful, animated and intense.