Under Cover by Karen S Meyer is a romantic thriller that was released in 2017. Bearing ISBN-10:1542894859 and ISBN-13:9781542894852, the 190 paged 24 Chapter book tells the story of two FBI agents, Andrea Atkins and Anson Wellings who fall in love whilst working on a spy bust, become Mormons and get married whilst managing to stay afloat in their respective careers. The story shows the strength of the couple, their struggle with spirituality and tells their love story. Under Cover starts by telling Andrea’s story, then Anson’s story and rounds up with a sweet ending.
The story begins at the FBI Academy in Quantico, with Andrea becoming valedictorian in her male dominated class. She reflects on her journey and realised that she has beat Anson, a colleague of hers who pranked her but stopped his teasing when she threw him on a mat. Anson is depicted as this smug guy who doesn’t want to work with women. Unfortunately for Andrea and Anson, they are summoned to the Directors office to take up an assignment in which they have to play husband and wife. Anson and Andrea are to befriend John Smithe, the suspected spy in Northrup and find out what is going on.
Andrea and Anson are offered a luxury apartment close to the Smithes, with FBI members as staff. They pose as Mr and Mrs McArthur, with the aim of bugging the Smithes apartment and finding out if John is leaking secret data. Andrea and Anson attend church, but they worry that their deception will be discovered. They discover some new facts about each other while playing newlyweds and fall in love. The couple become friends with John Smithe and his daughter Faith, divulges some information to Andrea. Anson continues to work at the Northrup laboratory where he discovers a secret. The Bishop of the church and other elders suspect that Andrea and Anson are not married, but they say nothing.
Anson finds out that John is indeed involved in criminal activities and Andrea throws a party. Andrea finds out that Ivana Doblinsky, a kingpin under the FBI trail is actually living with the Smithes as a maid. The church members confirm their suspicions at the party where they discover that Andrea and Anson live in separate rooms. Both Andrea and Anson go to church, confess to the Bishop and receive baptism. The two decide to get married with the permission of the Bishop.
Andrea and Anson have their doubts about exposing Faith’s Dad, but a plan is set in place. John Smithe is assigned to top secret information in the laboratory that is fake. The couple and other agents round up a Russian boat in their country’s waters. They manage to break up the spy ring and trap Ivana, who had been blackmailing John Smithe. Andrea and Anson decide to stay in their new location and remain partners. Ivana manages to get away, but gets a toy model of a B2 Bomber instead of the airship she was trying to steal from the Northrup laboratory.
Under Cover is a feel good book, more of a spiritual romance than a thriller. It is written in clear, easy to understand text that makes comprehension easy. However, there are few twists and the story line is predictable. The story tells itself, instead of showing the journey of the characters. Under Cover, albeit was an interesting read which I would give a score of three out of five, and recommend to a dreamy friend who adores romance and spirituality.