Showing posts with label spy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spy. Show all posts

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Secrets by Jude Deveraux


About the book: When Cassandra Madden was 12 years old she fell in love with Jefferson Ames, a young man she met at one of her mother's conferences. She was a lonley child with a cold mother, and holding onto her love for Jeff helped her cope With her isolated life. When she grew up she went to college and even met a man she thought she'd marry, but Jeff was still in her head. She broke off her near engagement and went to Williamsburg, Virginia where she secretly got herself a job as a nanny to the widowed Jeff's young child.
Even though she was living in Jeff's house, seeing him every day, she still couldn't seem to get his attention. But then one day she hears shots coming from the mansion of Althea Fairmont, a woman the world called "the world's gretest living actress." Cassie ran to investigate and in an instant, her safe little life was turned upside down. Eveyone had secrets, and until she unraveled those secrets, there was no chance for happiness between her and Jeff.

Quote: Cassie laughed. "Okay, so now what do we do? Do I go groveling to my mother and beg?" "Not by a long shot," Althea said. "When I get through with you, your bully of a mother will grovel to you."

Why this book? We have a table at work where ew trade books. Someone put this book on the table and I snatched it up becuase it was by Jude Deveraux.

My thoughts: This was an ok book, a quick read. I read lots of Jude Deveraux books years ago and remember them fondly. This one is, I hate to say it, is forgetable. There were twists and I love stories with good twists. The small twists all seemed about one character manipulating the others. The murder wasn't an important part of the story. The end wound up in a contrived tangle. I would have read it again to make sure I had it but I just didn't care. I went into this expecting to love it because of my past experiences with this author's work, but I didn't. I didn't hate it either, it was....ok.

Links:
Preview the book


Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge

Pages Read in 2010:
This book - 310
Total - 5150

Friday, November 27, 2009

Call After Midnight by Tess Gerritsen


Product Description: A ringing phone in the middle of the night shakes newlywed Sarah Fontaine awake. Expecting her husband's call from Longdon she hears instead an unfamiliar voice. Nick O'Hara from the U.S. State Department is calling with devastating news: Geoffrey Fontaine, Sarah's husband of two months, died in a hotel fire . . . in Berlin.
Convinced her husband is still alive, Sarah forces a confrontation with Nick that finds them crisscrossing Europe on a desperate search for Geoffrey. Trying to stay one heartbeat ahead of a dangerous killer, the become quarry in the clandestine world of international espionage, risking everything for answers that may prove fatal.

Quote from the book: Then three weeks ago one of our London agents was sitting at his favorite pub and he just happened to over hear a voice he recognized.He worked with Dance some years ago so he knew that voice.

Why this book, you might ask: A while back, Jo (teachersays) recommended Tess Gerritsen to me so I've been reading more of her books. I found this book, or recording, cheap on iTunes so I had to get it.

My thoughts: Gerritsen's fans might be expecting a medical drama, however this was a romantic suspense. It involves the CIA, secret identities, and all manner of cloak and dagger doings. The main theme of the book is whether Geoffrey is actually alive or not. The reader knows from the prologue that he switched identities in Berlin and didn't actually die. Sarah feels that Geoffrey is still alive even though others keep telling her that he is not. Her search for Geoffery takes her first to London then on to other places. She doesn't realize the danger she is in. Nick O'Hara, the one who called her to tell her Geoffrey was dead, comes with her as to help. I liked Sarah and Nick, just wish there was more detail about them. Geoffery barely had a part in the book other than to be the catalyst of the action. I read somewhere that it was originally published as a Harlequin Intrigue. I enjoyed this, it was a quick, suspenseful read. So far I have liked the books I've read by Gerritsen and plan to read more.

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Thorndike Press (June 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786239700
ISBN-13: 978-0786239702