A devilishly delightful combination

REVIEWS BY BARBARA SAMUEL

When word got out that Jennifer Crusie was writing a book with acclaimed thriller writer Bob Mayer, a lot of readers asked, why mess with perfection? Not only is Crusie one of the most beloved, visible and successful writers in the genre, her last book was one of her finest—the virtually perfect, RITA-award winning Bet Me. What could Mayer possibly add to the Crusie magic?

The answer hits shelves this month. Don't Look Down is the story of Lucy Gordon, a director called in to shoot the end of an orphaned movie. On set is her ex-husband, her sister, her niece and the irritating but all-too-interesting Capt. J.T. Wilder, a Green Beret hired to bring some authenticity to the action scenes being filmed—maybe too realistically—on a bridge high over the Savannah River. Between the rapacious cast and eccentric crew, Lucy has enough troubles, but now the CIA is breathing down Wilder's neck, there's trouble with the Russian mob, and on top of all that, what is wrong with Lucy's sister?

Peopled by a classic Crusie lineup of original characters, Don't Look Down is notched up by a breakneck adventure with a hero who could never be accused of being anything but a Real Man. And that's where the real pleasure of this book lies: reading a Crusie book is like sitting in a dressing room, listening to the girls gossip as they try on bras. Mayer also brings in the guys—gritty guys who drink whiskey and know how to kill gators and fly airplanes and save little girls, even if they do frankly admire those bras (you just know they'd love red lace). Crusie + Mayer = a great time. Don't miss it.


Fast food with a gourmet touch

In Alisa Kwitney's Sex as a Second Language former actress Katherine Miner has vowed to give up sex forever after her painful divorce. She has enough on her plate without adding men to the mix—her slimy ex has vacuumed her bank account in an attempt to force her to sell their Manhattan apartment; her eccentric young son is bribing people to be his friends; and her AWOL father, an ex-spy, has been leaving messages for her at a Turkish restaurant on the corner. As Katherine struggles and juggles to make sense of her upturned life, she teaches English as a second language at a downtown school, where she gets mixed up with a raft of intriguing characters, including the endearing misfit Mangus Grimmson, who has a big secret of his own. The engaging heroine, a well-drawn cast and the author's compassionate eye takes what might have been Chick Lit of the Week to a much more satisfying level.


The consequences of fear

What happens when you keep a secret? The answer forms the spine of Pamela Morsi's The Cotton Queen, a tale of a mother and daughter over the course of 40 years. Tragically widowed Babs Hoffman manages to rally and face the world on her own with her young daughter, until a horrific experience forces her into a series of choices that have long-reaching consequences. In prose as soft as a Southern river, The Cotton Queen traces the lives of women through the second half of the 20th century, and explores, with Morsi's trademark humanity and grace, the complexities of the mother-daughter bond.


Into the heart of loss

Divorced Claire O'Neal lost her only son, 17-year-old Nathan, to a tragic car accident and donated his heart to a waiting transplant patient. Three years later, Claire has not recovered from the blow. The Piano Man by Marcia Preston follows Claire as she attempts to shake herself out of her grief by going on a pilgrimage to find the man who received the heart. When she discovers the despairing Mason playing piano in a grimy bar, smoking and drinking and abusing the body that houses her son's precious heart, she's furious. But Mason's losses are as difficult as Claire's and the broken pair tries to find meaning in a life riddled with holes. This is a well-written, if difficult, exploration of the worst kind of grief.


Barbara Samuel, who joins BookPage this month as romance columnist, writes novels from her native Colorado. Her latest book is Madame Mirabou's School of Love.

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