Author Jeannée Sacken draws upon her experience as an international photojournalist to heighten reality in Double Exposure, the sequel to Behind the Lens. Annie Hawkins Green is a veteran photojournalist embedded during wars around the world. She’s dropped her married name and now goes by simply Annie Hawkins. She returns to Afghanistan to try to rebuild the school her best friend started and which Annie helped fund, but in doing so, she exposes herself to more danger. As a result, she angers the men in her life. Her ex-husband declares he still loves her as his second marriage fails, and Cerelli, her new love, is angry at her hard-headedness and his own inability to adequately protect her. She continues to suppress her PTSD. Her daughter, a teenager as strong-willed as her mother, lays guilt-trips on Annie about never being there while encouraging her mom to pursue her life’s ambitions. A law suit filed by another female journalist complicates Annie’s life at work just as her ex’s impending divorce and her daughter’s truculence complicate her home life.
Like Sacken’s Behind the Lens, I could not put Double Exposure down. Having spent time in Afghanistan during my own stint as an international travel photographer, I identified strongly with Annie. Sacken’s vivid descriptions of people, places, foods, and the experience of taking photographs are authentic. She is true to the customs and religion of Afghans, sympathetic to their plight but wary of the effects of the Taliban and ISIS on the country. Annie herself is a strong female protagonist, one to be reckoned with by those who underestimate her drive and stamina. The other characters are convincing, multifaceted, and evolve over time, revealing layers that must be peeled away to reveal the truth. I confess I found an unexpected new “book boyfriend”—Finn Cerelli—and enjoyed Annie and Cerelli’s slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance. I look forward to many more books in this series.
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Double Exposure (TEN16 Press, September 27, 2022) is available through:
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You can read my review of Behind the Lens here.
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