THE RACING HEART

The stakes are high for a young supermodel as she tries to foil a terrorist plot in this high-speed, passionate romance novel.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans, the pinnacle of automotive racing, serves as the backdrop for Roosevelt’s debut novel. Stir in a Middle East terrorist plot to take out the president of the United States, a few torrid one-night stands and one love story, and there is enough to keep the reader turning the pages. The reluctant heroine is supermodel Tygre Topolska. Tygre’s previous—and unfortunate—liaison with the wealthy Saudi owner of Karim Racing places her in a unique position to help the FBI prevent an attack on some very high-value targets. But the price she pays is staggering. The novel is peppered with rich, powerful, abusive men who helped determine the course of Tygre’s rise to fame, leading up to the über-villains, epitomized by the pill-popping Khalil Karim and his pathologically malevolent assistant, Malik Youssaf. Flashbacks reveal the personal journey of a romantic, high-spirited teenage girl from Poland who, as a young woman, must find her way back to her core set of values—a task made more difficult while living amid the excitement and glamour of a world filled with private planes, exotic homes and access to the nation’s center of political and economic power. The prose lacks elegance, and the dialogue is a bit thin. Deeper character portrayals would have made the story more engaging. However, the narrative progresses quickly, comfortably vacillating between present and past. The behind-the-scenes details and dangers of Le Mans racing ring true and function well as a compelling foil for the simultaneous life and death drama being taking place off the racecourse.

Perfect as a light beach read or a pleasant escape on a cold winter night by the fire.