While the romance and suspense frequently feel at odds with one another, this is a compulsively readable romantic thriller.
A whip-smart FBI profiler teams up with a former fling to catch a killer with a personal grudge.
Grace Sinclair is the FBI’s shining star, working as one of their best criminal profilers. When not working cases, she channels her penchant for solving crimes into writing thrillers. With such a busy schedule, she has a strict rule of never seeing the same man more than once. Two years ago, Grace shared an amazing night with then homicide detective Gavin Walker, but that’s all it was: one night. She ignored his calls and requests to meet up again. Now they’ve reunited, with Gavin becoming the latest FBI recruit to join the team. Their first case together seems to be a random shooting, but as more bodies pile up, the victims bearing a striking resemblance to Grace, it becomes obvious that there’s nothing random about these murders. The crux of writing a compelling romantic suspense novel is balancing the tension with romance, and sometimes, there’s more of one than the other. Here, the fact that a serial killer is on the loose, targeting the heroine, takes a back seat to Grace and Gavin’s attraction to one another. Readers hoping for more of a thriller than a romance may be disappointed. This book is also a spinoff to Diamond’s (Dangerous Games, 2017, etc.) O’Connor & Kincaid series, and while the plot and main characters can stand on their own, the introduction of secondary figures from a previous series often feels like a revolving door of names and details. Considering that the romance takes center stage, the book is wonderfully paced, with Grace and Gavin approaching the investigation two different ways: Grace relies on her logic and profiling experience, while Gavin is led by gut instinct and hunches. As both of them try to resist acknowledging their previous one-night stand, it becomes an almost adorably awkward scenario, if readers can ignore the presence of a murderer targeting women in the D.C. area.
While the romance and suspense frequently feel at odds with one another, this is a compulsively readable romantic thriller.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-265582-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may...
A dog trainer and a wood craftsman dance around love and danger in the Pacific Northwest.
Fiona Bristow is the only victim who got away from serial killer George Perry. Now a copycat, inspired and perhaps guided by the jailed Perry, is on her trail. After Perry murdered her fiancé, Fiona rebuilt her life as a dog trainer and search-and-rescue expert on lovely Orcas Island. She’s recently met talented woodworker Simon Doyle and his misbehaving puppy Jaws, and her dormant love life is about to revive as she and the reluctant Simon slowly build a complicated relationship. Though she’s done her best to overcome her fears and make herself whole again, this new series of killings, with herself as the ultimate target, can’t help but strain her nerves. As the police and FBI track the killer, a persistent reporter makes Fiona’s life more difficult by printing information about her life and location. Through it all, Fiona keeps working. As she continues to go on rescue missions with a team that may soon include Simon and Jaws, her friends help to keep her balanced. But ultimately it will be the trust she has built up with Simon and the talents of her dogs that will change her life forever.
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may well add dog lovers to her legion of fans.Pub Date: July 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-15657-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without...
Megaselling Roberts (River's End, 1999, etc.) goes to Napa Valley for the tale of an Italian-American family wine producers rocked by scandal and a series of murders.
Dynasty head Tereza Giambelli knows that her granddaughter Sophia is the only family member capable of running a multimillion-dollar wine business—and no one contradicts La Signora. It's just as well the lovely young woman is still single: Tereza has plans for her. The matriarch has recently married Eli MacMillan, the American founder of another famous wine company. Eli's grandson Tyler knows everything there is to know about producing wine, from the vineyard to the vat. Ruggedly handsome, intelligent and earthy, he's a perfect match for public-relations whiz Sophia—or so thinks Tereza. The two young people begin to work together; Tyler teaches Sophia the fine art of making wine and making love. But other family members hope to claim their share of the Giambelli fortune, and people start dying mysteriously, including Sophia's good-for-nothing father, Tony Avano. Long divorced from long-suffering Pilar Giambelli, Tony led an opulent, self-indulgent life that provides plenty of murder suspects. He might have been killed by the mob, or a jealous mistress, or his spoiled brother-in-law, Tereza's lazy son, who's produced a passel of brats with his foolish Italian wife in the hopes of making Tereza happy. Everyone has a motive, and nothing is what it seems, Sophia discovers, but Tyler stands by her. Then a bottle of tainted merlot kills a company exec. A tragic mishap caused by poisonous plants growing near the vines? Or deliberate product tampering intended to destroy the company? Sophia and Tyler will need to delve even deeper into the convoluted and sometimes unsavory history of the family and its three-generation business.
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without a hitch.Pub Date: March 19, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14712-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
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