Protecting Caroline

Stoker’s bland, short novel consists of story sequences that never cohere into a satisfactory work. Matthew “Wolf” Steel and his team of five other Navy SEALs are traveling on a commercial airline on a break from their missions. Wolf’s seatmate, chemist Caroline, detects drugs in the beverages served to the passengers; she warns Wolf, who manages to foil a plot to hijack the plane, but her actions draw the attention of the terrorists’ allies on the ground. When they come after her, Wolf and his team ride to her rescue, despite their only perfunctory (but intense) previous interactions. Stoker’s writing is at its best when she describes the characters’ emotions for one another, but those nuggets are not enough to redeem the overall low quality of the prose, pacing, and structure. (BookLife)