romantic suspense

Well I'll start by giving a summary about the book then delve into why I only gave it three stars.

Lindsey Metcaff travels to Seattle to locate her missing younger sister Traci. Traci left a message on her answer machine and had not been heard from since. Upon arriving in Seattle she discovered Traci's house ransacked and a message on her answer maching from a guy named Striker. Lindsey discovers Striker is a an ex-cop and Private Investigator awaiting trial on charges of Felony Assault. She and Striker team up to find out what might have happened to Traci. They soon discover that Traci was involved in a world of sex and perversion. While investigating Traci's disappearence, Lindsey and Striker become romanitically involved. I won't say anymore since that will ruin the ending and will instead go into why I thought the story only deserved three stars.

The story was good and had potential but I could never warm up to the female lead, Lindsey. Time and time again she refused to believe the evidence in front of her. No matter what was told to her or shown her about her sister Traci she refused to believe anything bad about her sister. Even when she was shown a movie showing her sister engaging in group sex, and rather happily I might add, she believed that her sister had been drugged and forced to do those awful things. After awhile it just got to be annoying. Now don't get me wrong. I'm a police detective and know that families always refuse to believe the bad in their children or siblings but this was alittle much. It just made it very hard to believe she was the intelligent woman that the author was trying to depict. For some reason this story didn't really flow like the rest of her books but give it a try and see what you think.

I will agree with the first review, this story is a little more romanticly involved than I like. I didnt feel like the author actually got to know her characters until well into the middle of the book. The leading male, once he finally emerged beyond the shell the author held him captive in was quite endearing, but unfortunately I spent most of the read not knowing too much about him, as far as his emotions. One thing I can give the author, the first love scene between the lead characters was hot...well worth drudging through the first half of the book! Notice how the address of the sister goes to 353 to 3553? I really think the book was padded, it felt like we were being told things that the author had clearly stated in previous chapters.
All in all, I would not read again.

At the risk of sounding sexist, I have found many mysteries written by women to be involving, but more romantically melodramatic than hardboiled (by the same token, some male authors tend to be hardboiled without any balancing emotionalism). This book, the first I've read by this author, hits a near-perfect balance between hard-edged and sensitive situations. I enjoyed it very much, enough so that I shall seek out the author's other mysteries.