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Tales of love and sultry suspense
REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY Don't try to tell a romance writer that she just writes little love stories. As these writers flex their creative muscle, readers are in for an endless supply of fascinating stories, like this month's new novels. 
A mole burrowed deep inside the FBI, Russian agents versus American spies . . . the stuff of headlines these days. And magnificent fiction. Author Gayle Lynds must be a bit of a psychic for her edgy new espionage novel, Mesmerized. Litigator Beth Convey's heart attack mid-trial sets her life spinning off-track. Transplant surgery gives her the heart of a Russian spy and soon she's experiencing memories of his violent life. Those memories draw her into the shadowy world of spies and counter-spies where Washington Post reporter Jeff Hammond is pursuing more than a news story involving a deeply embedded FBI double agent. Savor this one -- Mesmerized is as hot and savvy as a romantic thriller can be. Lynds details the danger to both national security and the human heart with the confident hand of a writer who has walked in this world. The author's own background as a think-tank editor with top-secret clearance flavors her story with authenticity, while her storyteller's talent combines the personal story of Jeff and Beth with the global workings of international espionage. Gayle Lynds weaves so many fascinating threads in this web of suspense that Mesmerized is impossible to put down -- edgy and enthralling, and an all-together absorbing read.
By Gayle Lynds Pocket, $24.95 ISBN 0671024078
If you like your suspense on the lighter, snappy side, Jayne Ann Krentz delivers a story as sparkling as sunrise on ocean waves in Dawn in Eclipse Bay. Family feuds are as old as Romeo and Juliet, but there are no simpering teens in Krentz's tale: Lillian Harte and Gabe Madison are world-class successes in the corporate world. Neither has found their better half, until they both return to their heritage in Eclipse Bay and challenge the old conflicts between the Hartes and Madisons. When their conspiracy-obsessed friend Arizona Snow is found near death and Lillian's cottage is broken into, Lillian and Gabe realize that going home again means more than facing the family. Eclipse Bay is pure de-light. The sophisticated sniping between Lillian and Gabe is worthy of Mulder and Scully and vintage Hepburn and Tracy, with the added panache of passion that won't stand for stuffy protocol.
By Jayne Ann Krentz Jove, $7.99 ISBN 0515130923
At the opposite side of the country, three women who share a birthday reunite to reconsider their lives as they turn 40. The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux is an evocative and poignant exploration of "what might have been," when fate provides an opportunity for a new outcome. Leslie, Madison and Ellie met on the cusp of adulthood at the New York DMV -- full of dreams, hopes and ambitions; summer girls filled with zest and beauty. But ambitions have unexpected results -- whether fulfilled or not, their outcomes don't follow expected paths. Now, at midlife, all three women are given the opportunity to remake the choices they've made in life. Jude Deveraux's writing is enchanting and exquisite in this story of women exploring themselves and their loves and discovering new paths along the way.
By Jude Deveraux Pocket, $24.95 ISBN 0671014188
Sandy Huseby writes and reviews from her homes in Fargo, North Dakota, and lakeside in northern Minnesota. |
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