Queen & Country Book 2: Operation Morningstar

(Queen & Country Book 1: Operation Broken Ground)

You may remember that I liked the general premise of the first Queen & Country book, but felt that it lacked something in the execution. Nevertheless, during a recent shopping binge I picked up the second book in the series.

Operation: Morningstar has two separate but related plot threads. In the first, our heroine Tara Chase is having psychological issues related to the events of the first book. Meanwhile her colleagues are on a dangerous covert mission to Afghanistan (this series was written pre-9/11 by the way). The art is similar to the first book, although a little busier and less cartoony. I think I liked the original style a bit better.

Despite the sedate, morose quality of the first plot thread, the action of the second more than makes up for what I thought was missing in the first book - exciting derring-do in exotic places. The two stories actually complement one another quite nicely. In terms of mood this story is a lot darker than the last one. Tara's problems might be resolved at the end of the story, but there are some pretty unpleasant overtones to it, and in the other thread we get to see some rather nasty slices of life under the Taliban regime. But I'm certainly not afraid of grim story lines, so this was money well spent as far as I'm concerned. My only complaint is that this collection was a lot shorter than the last one.