Claire Berlinski, Loose Lips

Loose Lips

Claire Berlinski

Ballantine, Jun 2004, $12.95, 272 pp,

ISBN: 0812967097

After a stint in India as a Sanskrist expert, Selena returns home to Manhattan to become a bored teacher until she reads a weird Internet ad and she surprises herself by responding. In the blink of a cyberspace eye, Selena is interviewed, tested and evaluated to determine whether she is an "extraordinary individual".

The CIA hire Selena, who relocates to Virginia, where she receives top rate instruction at the "Farm"; Selena becomes an expert in hand combat, emergency medical care, and other needed skills for someone expected to work in the cold. She is considered a potential superstar except for a fear of flying that even Jung could not cure. Selena becomes friends with fellow student Iris and dates Stan, whose memory skills are incredible. However, bad things happen leading to the CIA Internal Affairs investigating Selena as the evidence points to her being a traitor; Stan roots for her hanging, but Selena refuses to take the fall when she knows someone set her up.

LOOSE LIPS is an enjoyable chick lit takes the CIA tale that will leave the audience laughing from start to finish. The tale is exceptional when Selena goes through her excellent training as a top gun while her relationships are shaky until Stan enters her life. The tale remains fun, but loses some of its oomph when Selena becomes the subject of an investigation of a seditious act although she remains Pollyanna at the Farm.

Harriet Klausner