"Fatal Code" by Natalie Walters

About this book:

  “In 1964, a group of scientists called the Los Alamos Five came close to finishing a nuclear energy project for the United States government when they were abruptly disbanded. Now the granddaughter of one of those five scientists, aerospace engineer Elinor Mitchell, discovers that she has highly sensitive information on the project in her possession--and a target on her back.
   SNAP agent and former Navy cryptologist Kekoa Young is tasked with monitoring Elinor. This is both convenient since she's his neighbor in Washington, DC, and decidedly inconvenient because . . . well, he kind of likes her.
   As Elinor follows the clues her grandfather left behind to a top-secret nuclear project, Kekoa has no choice but to step in. When Elinor learns he has been spying on her, she's crushed. But with danger closing in on all sides, she'll have to trust him to ensure her discoveries stay out of enemy hands.”


Series: Book #2 in “The SNAP Agency” series. Review of the prequel novella Here! and Book #1 Here!


Spiritual Content- A couple Scriptures are mentioned & remembered; Prayers; A hymn is sung; Talks about God & letting go of something/someone; Elinor’s grandfather would pray Scriptures over her, but when she went to college to pursue a science degree, “she ran into more opposition than her mustard seed of faith could handle, and so she let it go—walked away” (she does still pray); Kekoa is upset at God for something that happened in the past but does pray for God to help him, if He’s there;  Mentions of God (some can come across as slightly flippant) & trusting Him; Mentions of those in the Bible; Mentions of prayers & praying; Mentions of churches, church going, a pastor’s sermon, & a youth group; Mentions of a hymn; A couple mentions of Heaven; A mention of a blessing; 
             *Note: A villain walks into a church for a funeral & thinks that if God was going to punish him for his blasphemy, it would have happened when in walked into the church (his mother would take him to church as a child but he believes that God doesn’t care about him); A villain crosses himself & kisses a Saint Barbara medallion, believing that the saint protects him from the dangers of his job; A mention of a username containing ‘goddess’. 
 

Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bah!’, a ‘blah, blah, blah’, a ‘duh’, a ‘dumb’, a  ‘heck’, a ‘holy hydrogen’ (replacing ‘holy crap’ or something else, fits the context of the story), a ‘shut up’, a ‘stupid’, two ‘drat’s, two ‘OMG’s (as a science joke), and two forms of ‘ticked off’; Mentions of curses (including Kekoa almost cursing, said, not written); Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Seeing people shot (two), Being held at gunpoint, Being attacked, being choked, being slapped/hit, pain, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Shooting/killing someone, Being shot, Pain, & Passing out (by villains, up to semi-detailed); Seeing a beaten body & killing (in a villain’s point of view, up to semi-detailed); Causing a car wreck that rolls a car & injuries (semi-detailed); Being stalked/followed (up to semi-detailed); Elinor goes to a bar with a co-worker (Elinor does not drink, but a drunk man there is handsy); Kekoa tells a few lies (because he doesn’t want to share something); Elinor felt rejected by her parents growing up because they left her to her grandfather to raise; Elinor is grieving her grandfather & Kekoa is grieving a sibling and feels guilt; All about many mentions of deaths, murders/killings, murderers, & nuclear bombs/weapons (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of bodies, how they were killed, & finding the bodies (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a drowning (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of torture, an attack, blood/bleeding, pain, & injuries (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of gunfire, being shot at, & being held at gunpoint (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of a fire & a found body (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of terrorists, treason, jail/prison, & arrests; Mentions of heists, crimes, criminals, thieves, thefts, break-ins, & stolen items; Mentions of bombs, bombings, & threats; Mentions of lies & lying; Mentions of alcohol, drinking, drunks, a hangover, & bars (side characters drink or act like they are drinking when undercover); Mentions of tattoos; Mentions of grief (for a brother, a grandfather, & a son); Mentions of throwing up; A few mentions of rumors; A few mentions of a messed-up stomach from spicy food & being in the bathroom a lot afterwards (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of a suicide; A couple mentions of an assassination attempt & an assassin; A couple mentions of (historical) treason & a beheading; A couple mentions of a woman’s children being threatened; A couple mentions of bullies; A mention of a helicopter crash; A mention of an internment camp; A mention of someone being high; A mention of a cigarette; A mention of a death of an infant son; 
             *Note: Both Elinor & Kekoa have tattoos; Mentions of movies, TV shows, & fictional characters (Independence Day, Cinderella, Starsky and Hutch, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory, Blue Bloods, & Miami Vice); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of Uber; Mentions of singers, songs, actors, & celebrities (Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, Kool and the Gang, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Stephen King, Jason Momoa, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Don Johnson, & John Travolta); A few mentions of Apple products (iWatch, iPad, & FaceTime); A few mentions of brand name items (Spam & Coke Zero); A few mentions of stores & fast food places (Neiman Marcus & McDonald’s); A mention of GQ; A mention of Disney World; A mention of social media (Instagram); A mention of a baseball team; A mention of a man saying a company wants to be “culturally progressive” and promote a woman; A mention of someone saying Elinor can be his wingwoman (as opposed to a wingman because it’s more politically correct); A mention of prejudices in the 1940/1950s; A mention of someone being a pain in another’s behind. 
 
 
Sexual Content- Two forehead kisses, a blown kiss, two barely-above-not-detailed kisses, and a semi-detailed kiss; Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Staring at someone’s lips; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Nearness, & Flutters (up to semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Flirting; Noticing & Smelling (up to semi-detailed); A villain tells Elinor that if she does not give him want he wants, she will be raped & beaten until she wants to die (bluntly written, barely-above-not-detailed); Elinor is close to punching a drunk man at a bar that is handsy (barely-above-not-detailed); A man get uncomfortably close to Elinor (three times); A co-worker asks Elinor “what’s the harm in a little fling?” (Elinor does not answer but knows she does not do flings);  A form of ‘hot’ and two ‘sexy’s; Mentions of dating, dates, boyfriends/girlfriends, & exes; Mentions of jealousy, flirting, blushes, & winks; A few mentions of a child being born out of wedlock to a woman of the night (a man’s mistress); A mention of seeing a couple kiss; A mention of a woman having her eye on a man for a position at her company and maybe in her bed; A mention of a man leering at Elinor in a way that leaves her feeling sick; A mention of a crush; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
             *Note: Kekoa blushes seeing a female co-worker take off her top to reveal a bulletproof vest; A few mentions of figures & curves; A mention of a bra. 
 
-Elinor Mitchell, age 30
-Kekoa Young 
                                P.O.V. switches between them & a few others
                                                        309 pages

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Pre Teens- 

New Teens- 

Early High School Teens- 

Older High School Teens- 

My personal Rating- 

Like the first book in this series, I really wanted to like this one. 
But, well. Hmm. 

I did like the friend group more in this second book and Kekoa grew on me. Not gonna lie, the aerospace/nuclear stuff was lost on me, but I tried to keep up as well as I could. I did really like Kekoa and Elinor together and figured there would be a third-act break-up because of The Secret of his job. It was settled quickly and the overall pacing was good. The romance was definitely the lightest from the books I’ve read by this author and I really appreciated that. 

There was a comment that I wasn’t a fan of. A villain threatening Elinor with gang rape and because she’s part Korean, the men will make her want to die because of what they’ll do it her. It goes into a bit more and it honestly shocked me to see. It was disgusting and, yes, it came from a bad guy, but it was unsettling. In addition to that, because we see some of the villains’ point of views and them killing without remorse, it added a heaviness to the story that I wasn’t expecting. 

A more minor thing, but more frequently mentioned, is casual drinking and though neither of our main characters drink, other side characters do and it’s looked upon as a normal thing. 

Due those elements, I felt like I had to drop the ratings.  

 

 

See y’all on Friday with a new review! 

*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.