Forged in Smoke by Trish McCallan [Review]

Forged in Smoke (Red-Hot SEALs #3) by Trish McCallan
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: June 23, 2016

Red-Hot SEALs
1. Forged in Fire
2. Forged in Ash
3. Forged in Smoke - Paperback | Kindle
4. Forged in Ember

Trish McCallan
| Website | Twitter | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Faith Ansell could never be mistaken for an action hero. The scientist is content in her lab, working with her team on life-changing discoveries. But when a mysterious organization captures her colleagues, she’s forced to flee for her life with SEAL Team 7.

Lieutenant Seth “Rawls” Rawlings, ST7’s corpsman, hasn’t been himself since a near-death experience in the Sierra Nevadas. He’s tense and distracted, and the team caught him arguing with himself—loudly. Despite his erratic behavior, Rawls is the only one Faith feels comfortable confiding her life-threatening secret in.

But Rawls has a secret of his own: his wasn’t the only spirit to return to the physical plane when he was resuscitated. At first, Rawls assumed the “ghost” he saw and heard meant he was having a complete mental breakdown. But the apparition soon becomes convincingly real, and what’s more, he may be the key to the conspiracy looming over them. Rawls had better act quickly because ST7’s race to save their reputations—and Faith’s life—is on.

Thoughts on Forged in Smoke: I read book 2 recently and was totally on board with all the crazy that had gone on previously. That said, this book gives A LOT of answers as to why ST7 has been so aggressively targeted after their run in with the hijackers in book 1. What they're up against is big and bad and has resources at their fingertips that would flatten anyone but this badass team of super soldiers.

The fact the SEALs recently hooked up with a shadowy organization of their own (good shadowy, not bad) helps things immensely.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This book is Rawls and Faith's book and they have a few hurdles they have to get past before they can find their happy place. Namely, Rawls sudden connection to the other side and all the headaches it brings. Honestly, he's in a bad way after his healing and it takes a while for him to even chance finding his footing again. Which is a shame because his team is used to dealing with the strange and unusual and he needs them on his side.

Meanwhile, Faith has a few issues she needs to deal with on her end. Confiding in Rawls is the first step. Cluing the SEALs in on what they're fighting for is another one. That's huge, by the way. Plenty bad enough to have everyone hopping.

While Rawls and Faith's relationship is tied up in this book, there's plenty more questions that need answering before this series ends. BIG THINGS are coming. BIG. 'Sokay, though. ST7 is ready for it.