Running from the Devil: A Novel

A race against evil . . . Emma Caldridge, a chemist for a cosmetics company, is en route from Miami to BogotÁ when her plane is hijacked and spins out of control into the mountains near the Venezuelan border. Thrown unhurt from the wreckage, she can do nothing but watch as guerrillas take the other passengers hostage. An endurance marathon runner, Emma silently trails the guerrillas and their captives, using her athletic prowess and scientific knowledge to stay alive. Those skills become essential when she discovers an injured passenger, secret government agent Cameron Sumner, separated from the group. Together they follow the hostages, staying one step ahead by staying one step behind. Meanwhile, as news of the hijacking breaks in Washington, the Department of Defense turns to Edward Banner, former military officer and current CEO of a security consulting firm, for help. Banner quickly sends a special task force to the crash site, intent on locating the survivors before it’s too late. But finding Emma and Sumner is only the beginning, as Banner starts to realize that Emma was on a personal mission when the plane went down. There is more to the beautiful, talented biochemist than anyone ever imagined, for in her possession is a volatile biological weapon in an ingenious disguise, one that her enemies have set for auction to the highest bidder. Combining the action-packed plotting of Lee Child and Daniel Silva, and the rich scientific detail of Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen, Running from the Devil is a breathtaking debut from a bold and daring new author.

A chemist for a cosmetics company and an ultramarathon runner, Emma Caldridge is en route from Miami to BogotÁ when her plane goes down in the mountains near the Venezuelan border. Thrown unhurt from the wreckage, she watches in horror as guerrillas drag the other passengers into the jungle. Stranded and alone in a deadly environment, Emma has no choice but to follow—and stumbles across Cameron Sumner, an injured government agent who was left behind to die.

As a Washington, D.C., task force races to the crash site in hopes of finding survivors, Emma and Cameron creep closer to a nightmare they may be powerless to prevent. But Emma is no ordinary woman—and she guards a secret both powerful and deadly that her adversaries would gleefully kill to possess.

And now she must run . . .

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Freveletti's less than impressive debut, a British Airways flight from Miami, Fla., to Bogotá carrying 30-year-old chemist Emma Caldridge crashes in the Colombian jungle. Armed men dressed in fatigues start taking the survivors hostage, but Caldridge manages to escape into the forest. A distress call from her cellphone reaches the U.S. government, which recently sent troops to Colombia to help guard an oil pipeline, as well as Darkview, a Blackwater-like outfit assisting the U.S. military with special ops around the world. Caldridge proves amazingly successful at dodging the bad guys, and even uses her professional training to derive digitalis from a plant for a fellow passenger who'll die without it. Cameron Sumner, a member of a drug agency who had special reasons for being on the BA flight, provides the requisite romantic interest. Some may cheer the author's larger-than-life heroine, but the clichéd action offers nothing thriller readers haven't encountered countless times before.A (May)

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Emma Caldrige, a chemist and endurance runner, survives a plane crash en route from Miami to Bogotá in the mountains along the Venezuelan border, avoids capture by guerrilla soldiers, and uses her skills to heal another survivor and track the soldiers, but the U.S. sends in a special team lead by Edward Banner, who becomes suspicious of Emma