Karen Foley Flyboy

Flyboy

Karen Foley

Harlequin Blaze, Oct 2007, $4.99

ISBN: 9780373793570

Department of Defense aerospace engineer Sedona Stewart has spent much of her education and work trying to be accepted as one of the boys. However, in spite of her superior record, she was passed up for promotion to senior engineer again; this time the chosen one is dorky Bob Lewis. Irate as the good ole boy network has slapped her in the face, she vows to get that job.

She soon learns that her agency has a secret criterion that is not part of the OPM/EEO/Rumsfeld civilian personnel rules and actually illegal as sexual prowess determines selection. She plans to expose this illegal practice with a formal complaint, but first investigates a series of jet fighter crashes partnering with Navy pilot Angel Torres. They are attracted to one another, but stopping the sabotage comes first and her peers comes second or do they?

Though DOD is noted for its sexual harassment prevention program, with some of the sex scandals that have occurred over the past decade or so, the conquest criterion seems over the top yet somehow the audience will believe it is feasible. Sedona is a terrific protagonist who has been one of the guys in all ways except apparently the key one. However when she meets her Angel, she knows she no longer wants to be one of the boys or one of his women; she wants to be his only woman. Although the sabotage is exciting and brings the lead couple together, FLYBOY is an entertaining military thriller that is at its best when the plot looks into sexual office practices that harm employees and cause morale issues.

Harriet Klausner