Silent Enemy by Lois Richer

     Silent Enemy is book number two in the Finders, Inc series by Lois Richer.  It is, I think, the first book I have read by this author.  Although this is a series book, I had no trouble picking up on the characters and the action.  I enjoyed it enough that I want to read the other books in the series.
     When I looked up Lois Richer, I discovered that all of her books are published by Harlequin in the Love Inspired series.  I'm glad I found that after I read Silent Enemy.  Sometimes I find the Love Inspired books rather sappy and insipid, but Silent Enemy can stand with the best romance thrillers.  The fact that Daniel McCullough, the hero, has a firm faith in God adds to the book and certainly defines who Daniel is.
     Samantha Henderson works for Daniel at Finders, Inc.  Finders is a security service that finds expensive articles that have been lost or stolen.  Daniel has just turned down Sam's promotion because he thinks she isn't ready for the next level of responsibility.  Sam has trouble trusting anyone so she isn't a very good team played. 
     Daniel sends her to Lima, Peru to recover an Incan statue that went missing in route to the museum that purchased it.  Once in Peru, Sam thinks she is following the statue only to end up in the Amazon jungle.  A priest helps her and Sam discovers some gold coins while she is in the mission compound.  Since her cell phone works only sporadically, Daniel thinks she has once again decided to be an independent operator and he goes after her.  They end up together on a cruise where the statue is supposed to be auctioned off but the bodies keep turning up and none of the clues seem to go together.  In addition to the lost statue and the gold coins, there is also a drug cartel and 5K in missing cocaine.  All of this could get cumbersome, but Richer fits  it together in a plausible story that moves smoothly.
     I really liked this book.  It centered around the usual two people who you know are going to end up together but it kept moving and the plot was just different enough so that I didn't think I was rereading three other books.  Daniel and Sam play off of each other and Richer made you really care about them. 
     Silent Enemy is well worth the reading time!

Finders, Inc.

Identity: Undercover  (2006)
Silent Enemy  (c2007)
Secrets of the Rose  (c2007)