Book review: Dangerous Games by Danielle Steel

Addicted to danger, TV reporter Alix Phillips dodges bullets and bombs to bring the most important news stories to the world.
Dangerous Games by Danielle SteelDangerous Games by Danielle Steel
Dangerous Games by Danielle Steel

The single mother is determined to expose evil, corruption and anarchy… but can it ever be right to be so reckless with your safety when you have a family to care for?

Danielle Steel, one of the world’s most popular authors, is on cracking form in this page-turning political thriller, a gripping story of corruption, ambition, power and international intrigue, and the first novel with her new publishers Pan Macmillan.

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Dangerous Games takes us to the heart of the White House as fearless and feisty Alix takes on a powerful and sinister adversary as she tries to solve a twisting, turning mystery that puts her life in more danger than she could ever have imagined.

Alix Phillips willingly puts herself on the front line of battles, wars, riots and demonstrations in her bid to bring ‘reality’ to her viewers. Her cameraman partner Ben Chapman, an ex-Navy Seal, also exhilarates in the risks and whirlwind pace of the work but knows that there are times when ‘reason has to win out.’

Widowed when she was aged just 20, Alix has raised her 19-year-old daughter Faye with the help of Alix’s French mother Isabelle but now Faye is in college and the freedom to take on tougher and more dangerous assignments is beckoning.

But Faye is not happy that her mother is so reckless with her life, reminding her constantly that she has a duty of care to both herself and her grandmother.

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And Alix’s latest mission puts her at the centre of an explosive story that will reshape many lives, including her own. Her boss, senior producer Felix Winters, has always had a hunch that the vice president of the United States, rich and successful Tony Clark, is not what he seems and wants his top correspondent to do some digging.

Clark had been best friends with Senator Bill Foster, a political icon tipped to be the next president but brought down by an assassin’s bullet six years ago.

Alix starts her investigations with a nationally revered woman who may be the key to exposing dark secrets. Olympia Foster is the late senator’s fragile, reclusive widow and since his death she has found emotional support in Clark, who once wanted her as his wife and now stands as her protector and confidant.

When Alix begins to dig deeper, federal agents pick up the trail but then the threats begin. As the stakes rise in this dangerous game, Alix needs Ben’s help as never before as she embarks on some of the most dangerous games of her career.

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Alix is an impressive leading lady… fearless, principled and resolute but exceedingly vulnerable when it comes to her beloved daughter Faye. And it is this pivotal relationship, a constant battle between mother and daughter, which underpins Alix’s conscience as she heads off to the world’s hot spots.

With the added impact of supporting roles by handsome hunk Ben Chapman and the intriguing Olympia Foster, this is an exciting political thriller packed with mystery, drama, romance and fast-paced action.

A clever, compelling story with all loose ends tied up to perfection…

(Macmillan, hardback, £18.99)