Title: Wired
Author: Julie Garwood
Series: Buchanan/FBI #13
Not the best Garwood I’ve read, but not a terrible book
This book doesn’t seem to have been received very well. While the majority of its ratings are four- and five-stars—the percentages on Amazon and Goodreads are almost identical right now—the reviews are mixed. My personal opinion is that this is a good book, not a great one—but I have certainly read far, FAR worse.
It’s been a few years since Garwood released something new. I believe there were health issues, hers or a family member’s (I can’t specifically remember), that kept her from writing and screwed up her schedule. Wired was pushed back again and again, and fans were getting frustrated. Some left horrible reviews that had nothing to do with any of Garwood’s books, simply because they were selfish and impatient. But here it is, the book we’ve all been waiting for—and it’s just okay, which certainly didn’t do it any favors.
Neither did the beginning of the book. We all learn in grade school that stories have to have a hook to gain the audience’s interest, and Garwood made an effort by making her heroine sound like she was about to be thrown in prison…but it was hollow and didn’t hold up for long. Accompanying the flimsy hook were pages filled with gigantic paragraphs of exposition, and I understand the reviewers who said they were bored from the start and stopped before getting far. We learned Allison’s life story right off the bat, and I really don’t think that was necessary; learning the relevant pieces as the scenes played out would have sufficed. It was also confusing and a bit tangental, and I never did figure out for sure how old Allison was supposed to be. The only way I guessed (23) is because she’d been in college for five years. If that fact hadn’t been thrown out, I’d have had no idea. The timeline and explanation of it wasn’t crystal clear.
There are also reviews stating that this was not up to Garwood’s writing standards. I can’t give a definitive opinion on that charge, because it’s been a long while since I reread any of her books, so I’m not immediately familiar with her mechanics and style. But I will say that the writing was…straightforward, I suppose. Sentences were simple and lacking a certain finesse. That’s not to say it was bad, and I did recognize some of the tongue-in-cheek Garwood humor peeking out from time to time.
Allison tried to be a spunky, strong, independent Garwood heroine, but didn’t quite manage it. Actually, now that I think on it, Garwood tried to make Allison strong-willed and timid at the same time, and the traits were at cross-purposes. Allison would stand up for herself (proving to the condescending males that she could whip their butts at coding), then turn around and be meek and humble (begging Liam and Phillips for immunity). She couldn’t be completely strong-willed or the subplot with her aunt and uncle would have been unfounded, and she couldn’t be completely meek or the audience wouldn’t respect her. It was an odd mix of emotions to follow. But overall, I liked Allison—though I did get sick of hearing how beautiful and perfect she was. “Perfect” is a word that only wins over the superficial, which most readers are not.
Liam was a domineering, possessive, typical Garwood hero, but came across as more manipulative and egotistical. He cut it close, realizing he loved Allison just as I was thinking, “If he walks out on that girl again, I’m gonna—” I think it was supposed to be humorous that Allison would decide to tell him no, then give in as soon as he was actually present, but it wasn’t. It was an example of Allison’s mixed personality—wanting to be strong-willed but in reality humble and just grateful for scraps of his attention. Also, I’m not sure why Liam was Australian, it didn’t matter to the story at all—his background in general didn’t matter to the story at all, we never even learned what he actually did for the FBI, which could be considered a cop-out—but I guess I perceived him as extra-sexy because he was an Aussie (all I could think of were the Hemsworth brothers.)
The supporting characters did what they were supposed to do. It could be argued that there were far too many characters running around, but I kept them straight. SA Phillips and Dan and Mark were sweeties. Allison’s friends Alec, Jordan, and Noah all have their own books; I didn’t detect any blatant fan service, which was nice. They didn’t gush about how blissfully happy they were, no one announced they were pregnant. I liked that they suited the story; the story didn’t suit them. Though I did notice that Jordan was supposed to be Allison’s best friend…but Allison always had an excuse not to tell her anything. I thought it was kind of strange.
As to the plot… It depends on how you look at it. Imagine roads that look like a chicken’s footprint: three separate roads from different directions meet and become one highway. That’s how I understood it. The main plot is the romance between Allison and Liam, and the suspense subplots serve that one by moving it along and giving Allison and Liam outside antagonists to react to and mature by. Subplot One: the leak in the Bureau that causes Liam to meet Allison. Subplot Two: Allison’s aunt and uncle stealing her money. Subplot Three: Allison’s stolen program. Each one of those subplots provided misdirects, and honestly, I had no idea who was behind what. It could have plausibly been any of them, and I would call that a well-structured mystery. But someone could say there was too much going on, or someone could be upset because the FBI suspense plot he was sold on was pushed aside, anticlimactically resolved, and ultimately just the reason for Liam and Allison to meet. But I liked it.
Overall, I think the long delay and the anticipation that festered in the meantime likely hindered the book’s reception, but the criticism isn’t completely unjustifiable.
(I vote for another historical set in Scotland!)
