Review: A Shot of Red by Tracy March

A Shot of Red
by Tracy March

Blurb:
After fleeing DC following a one-night stand that had her reeling, biotech company heiress Mia Moncure has thrived working with a humanitarian aid team administering vaccines in Haiti. When the United States is threatened with a flu epidemic, Mia’s grandmother demands her return to unveil a new flu vaccine for Moncure Therapeutics. She arrives to find that her ex-boyfriend, the company’s PR Director, has died in a suspicious accident in Switzerland that Mia soon suspects was murder.

Determined to reveal a killer, Mia heads to Switzerland where she’s threatened as she discovers a plan to infiltrate the vaccine for nefarious purposes. Desperate for backup, she turns to sexy Gio Lorenzo, Communications Director for her mother, a high-ranking senator—and Mia’s one-night stand. While negotiating their rocky relationship, they race to uncover a deadly scheme that could ruin her family’s reputation. But millions of people are being vaccinated, and there’s more than her family’s legacy at stake. Mia and Gio struggle to discover the truth about the scheme and their feelings for each other, but it just might be too late.

My Review:
I got a copy in exchange for an honest review

I was in the mood for a suspense book and am trying to read more books in this genres. A Shot of Red is an interesting story and I really liked the political aspects and the vaccine plot. Pretty soon it’s obvious something is going on with the vaccine and I couldn’t wait to find out more alongside main character Mia. The political aspects surrounding the pharmaceutical company Moncure where done really well and I liked how some characters seemed to focus on the fact people where dying while other where more focussed on the problems for the company, it made for an interetsing dynamica. And while A Shot of red was an enjoyable story that kept me reading, there where also some things that could’ve been done better.

One of my biggest issues with this book is a certain plot twist at the end. If you think back to the story, nothing seems to make sense anymore in light of this relevation and it feels like the story is falling apart with it. You know some books are fun to re-read because then you see the hints and can make sense of things earlier? Well with this book the story would be ruined when you re-read it. Nothing makes sense in light of the last plot twist and actions and motivations aren’t properly explained. I would’ve liked this story better without that twists, it didn’t add anything except for the surprise element at the end.

Mia was a great character, she genuinely cares about people and wants to do things to help them. She also is loyal to her family’s company, but for her the people are more important than the reputation of the company. I liked her and thought she was a great character. When she first gets hints something might be wrong with the vaccine she reacts very believeable. The cast of side characters mostly consist of character that shouldn’t be likeable like Mia’s mother, Richard and Mia’s brother. I did like Mia’s grandmother Lila, she was an awesome character and some of her actions towards half of the book made me like her even more.

The romance also is an important part of this book, but the romance didn’t do it for me at all. I couldn’t feel their chemistry and while there was some lust between them, I didn’t feel their emotional connection they claimed to have. They where nice together and Gio was really protective of Mia, but I just didn’t feel chemistry and I wish they talked a bit more. There are a lot of misunderstandings between them and there wasn’t enough talking and finding things out about each other. It just didn’t work for me and I didn’t care about the romance and even skiped some of those scenes later on in the book.

To conclude: A Shot of Red is an interesting story that kept my attention. The political aspects where done well and I liked the mystery surrounding the vaccine. I didn’t like a certain plot twist towards the end and thought it ruined the story a bit, as many things didn’t make sense in light of that. I liked Mia as a main character, but the romance between her and Gio just didn’t do it for me. They had some lust going on, but nothing more it seemed and their misunderstandings where annoying. All in all an enjoyable book and I liked the suspense and mystery aspects, but it could’ve been better.

You can add A Shot of Red to your to-read list on Goodreads.

You can buy A Shot of Red here:
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo