Nikki Z is a love-her-or-hate-her news anchor on Atlanta TV. Cassie Page is an African-American crime reporter for cable news giant Global News Service. Jimmy Hagan is her lover, an Irish-American police detective.Rudy Decker is a flashy playboy, a user and abuser of women. And, he’s getting rich slaughtering black bears for their body parts, worth thousands in Asia. Human life is cheap too. A … cheap too. A sexy TV talent coach is murdered for making a ten-second phone call.
Just as Nikki Z is about to expose Rudy’s poaching ring, he has her kidnapped by animal activists. Rudy’s bloody schemes are threatened by Cassie and Jimmy and by women set on revenge.
“Fatal Ambition is another edge-of-your-seat thriller by award-winning authors Don Farmer & Chris Curle, whose intimate knowledge of TV news is on full display.” –Bert Rudman – News Director Sinclair Broadcast Group, Eugene OR
“Fatal Ambition is a wild ride through the worlds of TV news and criminal wildlife trafficking. The twists and turns in this book make it hard to put down. I can’t wait for the film version of Fatal Ambition.” –Dr. Terry Maple – Former President/CEO of Zoo Atlanta & Palm Beach Zoo, past President Assoc. Zoos & Aquariums, author & university professor
“Don Farmer has done it again in Fatal Ambition, delivering heaps of humor among the homicides. Bad deeds and revenge abound.” –Gail Evans – Former CNN Executive Vice President, best-selling author
“Don Farmer again weaves his insider’s knowledge of television news through an action-packed tale about bad men, feisty women and ambitions that turn deadly.” –Neal Boortz – Best-selling author and former national talk show host
“Don Farmer has written a thoroughly engrossing. As a veteran newsman and TV anchor, Farmer captures the strong personalities of the newsroom and the “can’t look away” drama of a riveting news story. Great characters, strong women, a vile villain and a plot that keeps you turning pages.” –Rebecca Chase Williams – former ABC News Correspondent &
former Mayor of Brookhaven GA
“TV news veterans Don Farmer and Chris Curle are back with a thrilling story of greed, jealousy and murder. Police and reporters chase kidnappers and bear poachers as they follow the deadly mistakes of flawed men and vengeful women.”
–Clark Howard, Nationally syndicated radio talk show host
“Former TV Newsman Don Farmer gives us an edgy thriller that has it all…heinous schemer, hard-driving news anchor, clever detective and insider details. You simply cannot put it down!” –Karna Small Bodman — Bestselling author of Trust but Verify
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For those of us who enjoyed the co-authors’ previous novel, Deadly News in 2013, it is a delight to see them back with this new offering featuring a few of the same major characters. Jimmy Hagan and Cassandra “Cassie” Page are back as is Bren Forrest, head of Global News Service network. Cassie is a prestigious crime/investigative reporter at Bren’s GNS and Jimmy is now Chief of Detectives at Atlanta PD. They have been sharing a condo for some time now and enjoying a mostly compatible loving co-existence despite the hectic pace of their careers. You need not have read Deadly News to enjoy this new title.
Fatal Ambition opens with the kidnapping of an Atlanta TV anchor, Nikki Zachos or “Nikki Z.” She is known not only for her hard-bitten reporting style but also for a sable coat that she wears on her 5-foot 10-inch frame. Surely a sight not to be missed by anyone within a few hundred feet of her presence. Ordered by her boss to have dinner at an expensive Atlanta eatery with Hunter Freeman, Nikki shows up. However, she is not in any mood to listen to the Avon Lady turned image consultant to TV celebrities and exits the restaurant after finishing her meal and letting Hunter know what to do with her advice. Hunter innocently calls a phone number as directed by her boyfriend Rudy Decker to announce that Nikki has left the building. She is an unknowing pawn in Rudy’s treachery and pays a dear price for trusting him. Nikki is waylaid outside the restaurant by members of PAP, People are the Problem, a pro-animal group that hates Nikki and her fur coat. They want to set her coat on fire at the Beastly Feast, a benefit for the Atlanta Zoo, to gain attention for animal protection. No, the obvious flaws in that stunt did not occur to them – none of them were members of Mensa.
What follows in the next 300+ pages is a romp through the industry of the 24-hour news cycle when one of their own is the victim of a major crime. That is once they accepted that she was actually a victim and had not disappeared of her own accord. Of course Nikki’s own network felt a sense of ownership of the story but knew that was not realistic. The maneuverings of the broadcast media to be the first, if not the best and most accurate, with breaks in the case begin. They are hampered by several layers of law enforcement from the local to federal levels, all itching to control the flow of information to and from the media.
Meanwhile, Cassie Page has deduced that something is going on in the North Georgia hills regarding poaching of black bears’ body parts and that it is somehow connected to Nikki’s kidnapping. She slips out of Atlanta with a “crew” of two others to follow the clues.
I found it to be a smart complex story of multiple crimes spread from Naples, Florida to the hills of northern Georgia, that kept my attention throughout. Somehow the co-authors manage to blend murders, torture killings of bears for their body parts, and humans generally behaving abominably to each other with large dosages of humor. Then bring all the storylines together at the end. In the meanwhile, they have delivered smart dialogue and descriptions of the characters conjuring vivid images in the reader’s mind. Time well spent in my opinion.
I give Fatal Ambition 4.5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun smart read that is definitely worthy of your time.