Tracy’s review of The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne
Attacked on a rainy London street, veteran spy Justine DeCabrillac knows only one man can help her: Hawker, who also happens to be the enemy. With London crawling with hidden assassins and someone out to frame Hawker for the assault, the two spies must work together to find who’s out to destroy them…
Justine is on her way to British Intelligence Service headquarters to see Sir Adrian Hawkhurst – head of the BIS – when she is stabbed. She manages to make it to Meeks St. where they attempt to save her life. As she lays fighting for her life Adrian thinks back on the many years that he and Justine have known each other.
Adrian first met Justine when they were but 12 or 13 years old. He worked for the BIS and she for the French Secret Police. They shouldn’t have even spoken to each other, much less worked together. As the years went on they continued to work with each other from time to time and eventually became lovers. Adrian fell for Justine but since they worked for such different factions they could never be together. We get some great details of their time together and see how the two fell in love.
Now as Justine recovers they must figure out who tried to kill Justine and for what reason, especially when they discover that not only the attempt on her life but the murders of two others are being pinned on Adrian.
This is a book of Bourne’s that I have been waiting for for so very long. I have loved Hawk from the moment he was brought into the picture in past books. He was always such an intriguing character and I just knew that there would be a wonderful story behind him, and I was right. The man pulled himself up by his bootstraps, with help from his friends, to make something of himself. He was a great spy, a great friend and an excellent strategist. He knew what he was doing in his line of work and because of that became the Head of BIS. I couldn’t admire him more.
With Justine it took me a bit of time to warm up to her. I really liked her and admired her as well for what she had become – especially knowing what she had lived through in her life. She was a person that held herself back for fear of being hurt and betrayed and frankly I didn’t blame her…it just made it harder to get close to her – for Adrian and for me as the reader. After a bit I came to understand her better and when that happened I saw the charm of the woman and could see what Hawk saw in her. Truly they were a perfect couple together and I loved reading their story.
I’ve truly loved reading this serious and hope it’s not over yet. There’s Pax I need to know more about and hope we get his story some day. If you haven’t read this series you should – it’s well worth the time.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
Thanks for the review. I’ve really enjoyed this series and am looking forward to reading about Adrian and Justine’s backstory.