SOS squad delivers suspense

REVIEWS BY SANDY HUSEBY

Somewhere in the earthquake-shattered ruins of Kazabek is the laptop of an Al-Qaeda terrorist. The covert squad of SOS operatives searching for the computer risks the dangers of a brutish warlord and the aftershocks of nature in Suzanne Brockmann's riveting thriller, Flashpoint. Jimmy Nash and Lawrence Decker's longtime undercover partnership is challenged when Tess Bailey joins their team. Frustrated by her boring desk job, Tess believes she can match their commitment to finding the laptop. Convincing Nash and Decker of that is another matter, particularly because both men are attracted to her. In the ruined capital city of Kazbekistan, the trio cannot rely on the latest technology. Instead, their own training and instincts guide them. Sometimes those instincts fall short, but they pit their skills against both nature and man in this exhilarating and timely thriller of passion and danger that's as intense as it gets.


Sleepin' single in a stranger's bed

When a secret mission goes wrong, a man may try to put it behind him, but life has a way of making him face up to his past. In Lorraine Heath's evocative Smooth Talkin' Stranger, Serena Hamilton is a woman who wants roots; Hunter Fletcher is a man drawn to danger. They shared a one-night stand that neither can forget. Serena, a sheltered small-town Texas widow with a young son, can't believe she's reacted so rashly. Hunter is the prototype for no strings, ma'am. His covert work as a CIA operative reinforces his own belief that marriage is no good for him. Yet it seems Serena and Hunter can't resist each other, and when Serena discovers she's pregnant, they both must confront their own ethics and emotions. Hunter also carries a secret burden: he is responsible for her husband Steve's death. Lorraine Heath's gifted touch draws these strangers together to create a family.


Sidney steps out

When Sidney Stein's marriage goes on the rocks, she finds herself surrounded by a lot of losers in Stacey Ballis' first novel, the cheekily comic Inappropriate Men. From the moment she deliberately ignores their gold wedding bands intertwined in the darkness of a movie theater, Sidney finds that the romantic attentions of the very married Geoffrey Fahl provoke a torrent of warrant emotions: I'm the luckiest girl . . . an evil seductress . . . making a huge mistake . . . having the best time . . . all of the above. All of the above are in store for the reader as Sidney's wry take on her oversized life weaves its way into the heart. Sidney detangles herself from one marriage and contemplates who's worthy of her next trip down the aisle, revealing a vulnerability and verve for life that transcend the page. Sidney Stein is a heroine to cheer lustily for, because that is how she lives her life: in grand style, and refusing to settle.


Medieval hearts on fire

Rejected by a mere knight, Elena is only too happy to escape her rustic surroundings and the guidance of her beloved godmother, Lady Melanthe, for the bright lights of the courts of London and Prague. But fate intervenes, snuffing out that adventure while igniting a far more challenging one in Shadow Heart, the dazzling return of historical author Laura Kinsale. Taken captive by the mysterious Allegreto, Elena is as haunted by his torments as he is himself. Consumed with the craving to restore his rightful place in the province of Monteverde, Allegreto makes her first his prisoner, then his bride. Elena grows from a budding maiden, teary over a youthful romance gone awry, into a wife able to stand with equal strength at her husband's side as she helps him come to terms with his assassin's background and roguish nature. Here, the plunder is heartfelt as both strive for love greater than themselves, and the treasure is Kinsale's gift to her readers: a powerful story and characters with dimension and depth set in the 14th-century times and exotic landscapes that Kinsale paints with ringing clarity.


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