Review of LIBERTY OR DEATH by Kate Flora

A THEA KOZAK MYSTERY

Forge, January 2003

On her wedding day, Thea Kozak gets word that her fiance has been kidnapped by a militia group and will only be released when the police release a Viet Nam vet who shot up a V.A. Hospital. Thea goes undercover in the community that is the center of militia activism and discovers that the disease has spread more widely than anyone had suspected. No matter where she turns, she finds another member of the militia--or civilians so badly scared that they will do nothing, not even when the militia moves against her.

Author Kate Flora delivers a tight and emotional tale. Thea's trials as waitress, prospective mother, and potential victim are gripping. A few logic problems (why, exactly, did Jed Harding decide he needed to go to jail in the first place?), and Thea's amazing ability to discover so many of the militia's secrets almost by accident, weaken the novel, but only if you let yourself step away from the breakneck action.

From the cover blurb about Stephanie Plum and Thea Kozak having a lot to say to each other, I would have guessed this was a zany comedy. No way. It is a serious action adventure with a hardnosed heroine who, ironically, thinks of herself as even more hardnosed than she really is.

Three Stars

Reviewed 2/23/03

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