4.5-STAR REVIEW: DEATH IN HIGH PLACES by Sara L. Jameson

Troubled Waters: Book 2
Publication Date: February 28, 2023

An Interpol agent with a deadline he can’t miss. Urgent intel warns of terrorist cells planning coordinated attacks throughout Europe. Special Agent Jacob Coulter of Brussels Interpol is assigned to find the terrorist financiers supporting these groups and shut down their funding operations. An opera singer’s life and career hang in the balance. The Queen of the Night’s vocal pyrotechnics have launched many a soprano’s international career. But Riley Williams, Jacob’s fiancée, is terrified of heights, and her Antwerp Opera debut as the evil queen requires her to sing from a hydraulic lift forty feet above the orchestra pit. When newspapers cite Riley’s recent unmasking of an international terrorist plot and the lift malfunctions, Jacob suspects terrorist sabotage. He encourages Riley to accept her BFF’s invitation to stay the Savoy Hotel in London where she’ll be out of danger. Or so he thinks … A series of murders connected to a notorious terrorist financier known as the Priest leads Jacob across Europe. When the victims’ deaths point to London, his Interpol partner convinces him London is a haven for terrorist financiers. But the clock is ticking, and what Jacob uncovers is more devastating than anything he could have imagined.

Sara L. Jameson’s Death in High Places  is a rollicking, intercontinental escapade where a beautiful opera star and handsome Interpol agent find themselves on the trail of international terrorists and financiers. The trail leads from Belgium to Brussels to Paris and finally to London, with plenty of mayhem in between. Lives, including their own, depend on their success.

Riley Williams, a budding American opera star, has successfully landed a gig at the Antwerp Opera House, where echoes of her recent success in foiling terrorists have followed her. A dress rehearsal with a questionably safe hydraulic lift as part of her performance leaves Riley questioning if terrorists have targeted her performance with nefarious intentions. 

Jacob Coulter, Interpol agent, and Riley’s fiancé, has received an assignment to exploit his and Riley’s earlier success nabbing terrorists to head an international team in locating the terrorists’ financiers. Riley’s and Jacob’s paths criss and cross Europe, finally landing them in London, where both have become unknowingly entangled with the mastermind of the entire operation, a clandestine and dangerously powerful figure called ‘the Priest.”  

While sidestepping several attempts on their lives, Riley’s best friend, Frenei, and Jacob’s little sister, Tracy, also become embroiled in the affairs of the mastermind, and all must use their wits and good sense to outmaneuver this vastly wealthy and powerful man.  

Death in High Places is a page-turner in the most enjoyable way. In its fast pace but sometimes improbable action, the characters charm you into their world of high drama and high stakes. Although you know somehow, someway, Riley and Jacob will find a way to survive the worst the villain throws at them, the journey and fun of finding out just how are definitely worth the entertaining ride.

Sara L. Jameson won Scrivenings Press’s grand prize publishing contract in January 2020. They released her debut romantic suspense novel, Cruise to Death, in June 2021. Death in High Places, (Book 2 in the Troubled Waters series), releases February 28, 2023, to be followed by Vengeance in Vienna.

Sara is the pseudonym of a multi-published former university professor who writes non-fiction under her real name. She also writes WW2 historical novels. When not writing, she enjoys reading, swimming, cooking, and dog-sitting.