A passably entertaining whodunit with very few surprises.
Quick, who is Jayne Ann Krentz in thriller mode, moves her setting from Victorian London ('Til Death Do Us Part, 2016, etc.) to golden-age Hollywood.
Anna, private secretary to wealthy New England socialite Helen Spencer, finds her boss dead at her upstate New York lodge, apparently the victim of multiple stab wounds. The warning “Run” is written in blood on the wall. And run Anna does, after finding a letter from Helen, cash, and a leather-bound notebook. With the notebook, which contains arcane, scientific-looking squiggles, Anna heads for California, changing her name to Irene. She lands a job as a cub reporter with a Hollywood gossip rag, Whispers. A scoop is promised when starlet Gloria Maitland summons Irene to the exclusive Burning Cove Hotel on the Pacific coast. Irene hopes to glean juicy details about Gloria’s rumored affair with movie star Nick Tremayne, whose career is rocketing into that rarified strata previously reserved for Clark Gable and Cary Grant. Arriving for the midnight appointment only to find Maitland’s body floating in the pool, Irene barely escapes menacing footsteps behind her. Later, Oliver Ward, the hotel’s owner, helps Irene assess clues and risks. Oliver knows all about misdirection and distraction, tools he used to his advantage as a magician, a stint cut short by a crippling injury. Nick Tremayne and his studio handlers are obviously suspect. However, notorious womanizer Nick can hardly see gossip as a murderworthy threat. The mystery deepens as more women, among them another gossip reporter, die by drowning. Against her better judgement, Irene keeps a rendezvous with another Nick paramour at a deserted warehouse only to learn, unsurprisingly, that a deadly trap has been set for her and Oliver. Emerging unscathed, they come across the paramour’s unsurprisingly drowned corpse. Now Irene and Oliver must deploy his sleight-of-hand arsenal on two possible culprits, one a movie star, the other an East Coast lawyer with ties to Spencer. And of course, romance being Quick/Krentz’s default mode, Oliver must deploy his sleight-of-hand on Irene.
A passably entertaining whodunit with very few surprises.Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-17447-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
