Author: Michael Pennington
ISBN:1452810877 2
Publisher: Books by Michael Pennington

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One phone call changed many lives. Susan Anderson picked up the receiver of her phone thinking it was a telemarketer. Trying to assess who was on the phone and who was calling, her whole world started to spin. The noises on the phone were peeps and the voice she began hearing in her head was foreign. But, that was not all.  As she started to come back to herself she realized something about her had changed. Her senses were more acute as well as her ability to assess her surroundings, the people in a room and read their thoughts. Frightening to say the least. What caused this to happen and who was behind that  phone call would be revealed in my review of Zhena by Michael Pennington.

As the phone call ends the man on the other end becomes weary of what might have caused the call to end too soon. Susan, or Sasha as he calls her, is the primary on a specific mission. Targeted and programmed to have her past memories reactivated, Susan’s life will forever change. As she becomes more aware of her surroundings and is contacted by someone from her past, she realizes that the key to the mystery lies deep within her subconscious as visions and memories of her past start coming back to her.  Searching for answers will not be easy and the obstacles that she must overcome will be great. Digging further into her past with the help of her friend Lois, and former friends, she tries to uncover where the money for her scholarship came from, why a close friend of hers disappeared and how all this fits into the entire plot.

Flashbacks into Susan’s past allow the reader to learn that she was a sleeper agent trained to infiltrate our country’s military. Marry an officer, manipulate his thoughts and make sure she established herself as a true military wife and mother was the goal. Chemically induced to forget along with several other women, Susan lived a normal life until they tried to reactivate her bringing her past into the present in order for Susan and other women to restore the honor and glory of old Russia. Scary to say the least and extremely dangerous if not stopped. But, there is much more. What would you do if you were Susan? Would the authorities believe you?  Through the use of mind control, a voice in her head tells her to keep to the mission and make sure she follows the plan. Susan uses every ounce of intelligence and sets her own plan into motion. Whose voice she hears you will not believe.

As Susan Anderson goes on a one-woman quest to find answers that left others want unsolved and kept secret.  A military wife, mother, friend, and potential lethal threat, Susan Anderson is fighting for her life on two different planes in order to survive. The first is to understand the voice she hears in her head that are controlling her moves and has enabled her to know how to kill and know when she needs to take action. The second is to keep her new identity in tack.  With her senses heightened, and becoming more aware of her surroundings and any dangers that are present, Susan knows that time is of the essence if she wants to survive. After 20 years her whole world has come crashing down and she doubts herself on many levels but never gives up.

With so many lives in danger, and the enemy closing in, can Susan find the clues she needs to the puzzles from her past before it is too late? Reading the journal of her missing friend, encountering other sleeper agents, and being drug induced by another, can she fight back or will she lose everything dear to her forever, including her identity? What does where she grew up and the friends she had have to do with the present?  Where the clues lead her you will not believe? The lives that are shattered will be many.

What would happen if you realized your whole life was a fabrication? When Susan’s past comes full circle into the present you will not believe what happens? Will she be reactivated and turned back into a sleeper agent and automaton living her life with a second persona she is unable to control? With an ending that will surprise you and twists and turns you won’t see coming? Author Michael Pennington keeps the reader guessing, and on edge until the last page. Some truths are told, others are left unsolved as Susan and her family are still in danger. To find out what happens next and if her life will ever become normal again, read the second in the Zhena trilogy, Dohch to find out.  Zhena in Russian means devoted, loyal wife, is that Susan? Loyalties are tested, friendships are strengthened a lives will never be the same. Author Michael Pennington’s fast paced thriller will keep on the edge of your seat. Clancy and King move aside. Make way for Michael Pennington.