Original Sin - Beth McMullen
This is probably somewhere between 2.5 stars and three. It was obvious going in that this wasn't a spy story to be taken seriously (if the bright pink cover wasn't an indication, the organization, the USAWMD, is). Which is a good thing for anyone to keep in mind going into this, otherwise you're going to be sorely disappointed. Lucy Hamilton/Sally Sin is a terrible spy (even though she calls herself 'good enough'). It's only through sheer luck (and the odd taunting soft spot the primary bad guy must have for her) that she is still alive. She talked about being paranoid, but there were several suspicious people and occurrences that she simply let go and was never even curious about (which was actually pointed out to her as a flaw early in the book). She was never stealthy, pretty clueless as to how to handle most situations and assailants, and for some reason never had or held onto her gun (even when she was setting up a guy in her apartment, she left her gun in her bedside drawer!).Most of the story is flashbacks of Sally's heyday as a USAWMD agent. While they are is necessary to set up the players in the present day story, there wasn't any forward movement until halfway through the book. They were also sort of a jumbled mess. She'd jump from present day to flashback, it might finish or there could be a chapter break for no apparent reason before it continues, or it could go back to the present before going back to finish the flashback. It was sometimes confusing to keep up with where the story was going. There were also a few frustrating flashbacks that really served no purpose or didn't go anywhere. And a couple that were leading up to an entirely different storyline that, it turns out, will be the mystery at the core of the next book. Which is rather annoying since they were in the middle of this book. The book was somewhere between entertaining and tedious. Sally could be funny at times and there were some points where she would interact with other people and there would be warmth and emotion (usually with her kid, Theo). Otherwise, I just couldn't connect with her. Now, in this book that could actually be a conscious decision by McMullen (we never even find out her real name, Sally is her code name and Lucy was her chosen new identity when she quit the agency), but by the end I really didn't see this as being intentional. Still, I'll read the next book when it comes out.