Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson is a sequel to If She Only Knew, but it is a great stand alone romantic suspense novel.  It opens with you being in the mind of a patient who is in a coma.  She can hear what is happening around her but she can't respond.  Is this the heroine or the villain?  Jackson returns to this comatose patient several times throughout the story, but the reader isn't told (although you will never stop guessing) who it is until the very end of the last chapter. 
     Cissy Cahill has a psychotic murderer for a mother who has recently escaped from the institution where she was to spend the rest of her life.  Is it her mother who is haunting Cissy now and killing off family members?  Cissy's grandmother falls to her death, one second cousin dies of an overdoes, another is shot at point-blank range.  Why?  What's the motive?  Who has the opportunity?
     This is all happening to Cissy while she is in the beginning stages of a divorce from the man she really loves but who seems to have had an affair with a co-worker.  Is Jack really taking after his womanizing father or does it just seem that way?  Cissy and Jack have one other thing holding them together and that's their two year-old son, BJ.  Jackson has created a very charming, very true to life toddler.  As the suspense builds, you will find yourself wanting to yell at Cissy and Jack to guard BJ more closely - keep him safe.
     In the end, it turns out that Cissy's mother is not the only psychotic killer in the family!

Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd

Thigh High (Fortune Hunter)     Christina Dodd has hit on a winning series with The Fortune Hunters.  If you have read any of my reviews, you know that I like to read books in a series in order - first to last.  Well, I got blindsided with The Fortune Hunters and ended up reading Book #4, Danger in a Red Dress, first!  The heroine, Hannah Grey, is a home-health care nurse, hired by Carrick Manly to care for his mother, Melinda.  Carrick has also hired Gabriel Prescott to wire Balfour House so that when Melinda tells Hannah where the Manly millions are stashed, he, Carrick, can get to them before the government can move in.  As Gabriel watches Hannah, he begins to wonder is she really is a "fortune hunter" or a nurse who really cares for her patient.
     As I read Danger in a Red Dress, I began to meet some characters whose stories had been told in previous books.  I found and read Thigh High, which was #3 (see review below) and then I read Tongue in Chic #2.
     Tongue in Chic centers on Devlin Fitzwilliam, another Nathan Manly bastard.  Devlin is out for revenge and has bought the family estate.  Meadow Szarvas doesn't know that when she breaks in looking for a very valuable painting her grandmother has told her is in the mansion.  Grandmother was once married to the original estate owner.  Meadow claims amnesia when Devlin discovers her and, since she is suppose to have amnesia, he then tells her she is his wife!  From there, the situation gets even more complicated when Meadow and Devlin realize they are not the only people looking for the painting.  Dodd writes great plots with humorous dialog and great pacing.  You won't be bored ever with a Christina Dodd romance!

Troubleshooter Series by Suzanne Brockmann

     Navy SEAL, Sam Starrett, arrives in Florida to get his ex-wife's signature on the divorce papers and to see his baby daughter for the first time in six months.  What he finds is his baby missing and his ex-wife dead.  Or, is she?  Has some one Gone To Far?
     Alyssa Locke, FBI, arrives on the scene determined to take Sam in for questioning - after all isn't the ex-husband always looked at first as the perp - and to keep her heart firmly locked against him less he break it again.
     Nothing, however, is straight forward and Sam and Alyssa finally team up to find the baby and the answers to a terrorist plot to kill the President of the United States.
     Brockman introduces a full cast of intriguing, well-defined characters, many of whom appeared in earlier books or get a book of their own later. 
     Don't miss Brockmann.  She is definitely worth reading.

     Gone to Far was the first Troubleshooters book I read, but it isn't the first in the series.  I went back and read the first ones and then read the next books in order. I enjoyed them all.  There is always plenty of action and the plots are not readily apparent.  Are they true to life?  Maybe.  It could happen, but these are fiction and I want my fiction to be larger than life. 

     Here are reviews on two more Troubleshooters.

     Max Bhagat's first assignment with the FBI was as a hostage negotiator. On one of his first jobs he stepped out wearing only his shorts to negotiate the situation.  From there, Max grew into a FBI leader of an elite counter terrorism unit. He is always on the job, leads by example, always at the front of his team and never lets up on himself.
     Gina Vitaglino enters his life when she is taken as a hostage and Max is called to the scene as a negotiator.  She steals his heart, but his job is his life until Gina is reported dead in a terrorist attack in Germany.  Max meets his Breaking Point when he goes to identify her body and then discovers it isn't
Gina. . . but where is she?  He follows her trail to Indonesia where she and her friend Molly are the bait in a trap set for an ex-Special Forces operator turned smuggler.
     The smuggler, Jones, plus Max and Max's best agent, Jules, make an unlikely team to free Gina, Molly, and, ultimately, themselves.
     Non-stop action and well developed characters with a true-to-life plot.  A great read!

     Troubleshooters,Inc. and the SEALS have joined forces for a training mission.  The first mission worked so well, they have set up a second one in winter-bound New Hampshire.  In New Hampshire, however, the hostage goes missing and Troubleshooter Lindsey Fontaine and SEAL Mark Jenkins have a very small window in time to find her.
     Battling the worst winter storm in decades and the worst serial killer ever, Lindsey and Mark go Into the Storm to accomplish their mission.  They return with much more than just a hostage.

Suz's Troubleshooter Series (in order):

The Unsung Hero (2000)
The Defiant Hero    (2001)
Over the Edge   (2001)
Out of Control (2002)
Into the Night   (2002)
Gone to Far (2003)
Flashpoint   (2004)
Hot Target   (2004)
Breaking Point   (2005)
Into the Storm   (2006)
Force of Nature   (2007)
All Through the Night   (2007)
Into the Fire   (2008)
Dark of Night   (2009)
Hot Pursuit   (2009)
Breaking the Rules   (2011)






 

Blue Smoke by Nora Roberts

     Reena Hale, age 12, watched her family's pizzeria go up in smoke.  She had been the one to discover the fire and that flamed her ambition to become a fire investigator.
     She finds satisfaction and personal fulfilment on the arson squad.  Off the job is a different story.  Most men seem to find a soot-covered, assertive woman a turn-off.  Bo Goodnight, however, is a different breed.  He will not be put-off by her job or her personality.  And when the job becomes personal for Reena and it is clear that she is the target, Bo is just as clear that he, too, will stay close.
     As with all Nora Roberts' stories, Blue Smoke (c2005) is well planned, tightly written, and  well paced.  This one will burn up a night of great reading for you.

Birthright by Nora Roberts

     What happens when you discover your world is built on a lie?  When you are Callie Dunbrook, a respected archaeologist, you begin to peel back the layers of your life and dig for the truth.  After all, it is every one's Birthright to know their true beginnings, isn't it?
     In Callie's search, some of those layers are very sensitive to some people and Callie discovers that the truth may kill her.  However, her ex-husband, Jake Graystone, also an archaeologist, is just as determined to find the truth and to keep Callie alive.  As they excavate a 5000 year-old site at Antietam Creek, they also excavate the mystery of Callie's past.
     Roberts always gives us a many layered story and Birthright (c2003) is no exception.  The characters are well developed and the plot is well planned.  A fascinating read.  

Regency Romance by Mary Balogh

     I found Mary Balogh when I read A Summer To Remember (c2003).  I went on to read as many of her books as I could find.  At that point, I didn't find many so I left her for another.  Recently, at the library, I found she has been very busy.  I picked up A Secret Affair (c2010)  and remembered why I liked her so much.  Besides all the standards of a good romance - beautiful lady, handsome man, etc. - she almost always adds a little extra something to the plot.  In A Secret Affair she has made the leading man miss being a member of the ton by the mere fact of his birth being two days before his father (an earl) married his mother.  It seems this does not  bother Con too much and it makes it possible for him to find a passion to which he devotes his life and to keep that passion a secret.  There are really two secret affairs in this book and neither of them is the affair between Con and Hannah.
     After I read A Secret Affair, I discovered it was the fifth book in a five book series!  Again, because I like to see how an author allows characters to grow and evolve, I wish I had found the books in order.  In the first book, it seems that Con is a blackguard and a scroundrel.  As the books progress, Balogh uncovers Con a layer at a time.  Because of this quirk of mine to see growth in characters, I have listed the series below in order for you.  At this point I have read most of them and I can assure you that the characters do take on insight and maturity as the series progresses. Each romance is different just as each couple is different. 
     If you have read Mary Balogh before, this series will not disappoint you.  It is also nice to think that there were a few noblemen and women who were truly noble.

The Huxtable Quintet

First Comes Marriage  (c2009)
Then Comes Seduction  (c2009)
At Last Comes Love  (c2009)
Seducing an Angel  (c2010)
A Secret Affair   (c2010)

Under the Dome by Stephen King

     Let me begin by stating that I am not a Stephen King fan.  Under the Dome is a book I never thought I would read.  I do not read horror and I do not like fantasy or sci fi.  Then, you ask, why should I post a review of a Stephen King book?  Simple answer - I could not put this book down (and that is saying quite a bit since it is a 1000 page book)!  Since I don't read King, I can't say if this is the best he has written.  I only can speak to this book - and it is a compelling read.
     A dome has fallen over the medium size town of Chester's Mill, Maine.  It has sliced off the hand of a gardener, caused the crash of a small plane which flew into it at full speed, and caused the division of families when some members are caught on the outside.  No one knows where it came from, what it is, or when it will leave.
     Dale Barbara is on the inside.  He is an Iraq vet turned short-order cook trying to leave his military experience behind.  He finds himself teamed up with a few courageous towns people against the current Chester's Mill mayor, Big Jim Rennie.  Big Jim has power and means to extend it.  Big Jim's son has a horrible secret in the pantry and in his head. 
     While "Barby" and Big Jim are on a collision course, it is the dome which is the real adversary.  Time is running out for the residents of Chester's Mill.
     This is really a story about what could happen in a society closed off from the restraints of the larger world.  How far will someone go to retain power?  How courageous are "normal" people?  The mix of people King brings together to save the town is what makes this story real.  The Iraq vet, the town newspaper owner (a woman), three teenagers, and a physician's assistant are just some of the unwilling heroes.
     This is a story that you will remember and find yourself thinking about long after the book is closed.