been attacked and injected with an unknown drug. The only clues to the drug or its antidote are in a recording on Nina’s cellphone in what seems to be Russian. At first antagonistic toward one another, Nina and Aaro must overcome their hostility to work together to thwart enemies new and old, especially once they realize that the drug is a ticking time bomb that leaves Nina dead in days if they don’t find the answers they need. The drug is a psychic enhancer, and both Aaro and Nina become aware of psychic abilities they never understood they possessed. As their psychic powers strengthen, the journey grows more perilous and harrowing, and Nina and Aaro must lower their masks and place absolute trust in each other, something neither of them has ever done. Doing so cracks them open and creates a soul-deep bond of love, but will it be enough to save them, mind, body and spirit? This is McKenna’s newest erotic romantic suspense with paranormal aspects—psychic powers and a shady underworld attached to the enhancing drug—and the book offers captivating characters, explosive action and sizzling sexual tension. The world she’s set up is believable and intriguing, and despite some complex character and plot development, the story flows smoothly and with page-turning excitement and intensity. The book will appeal especially to romantic suspense fans, but anyone who likes good romance, great action and sexually intense situations will enjoy it. Avoid it if you dislike profanity—Aaro and many of the villainous secondary characters use bad language like table salt—or are offended by graphic descriptions of sex. McKenna fans will be happy to see secondary characters from other books in the McCloud series. With its action-packed plot hinged on an intriguing paranormal frame and a touching, red-hot romance, this is a great read for its intended audience. (Agent: Karen Solem)
THE SECRET KEEPER
Morton, Kate Atria (480 pp.) $26.99 | Oct. 16, 2012 978-1-4391-5280-5
A daughter refuses to let her mother take a grim secret to the grave. In 1961, Laurel, a teenager sulking in a treehouse, sees her mother kill a man with a knife intended for her infant brother’s birthday cake. During the ensuing investigation, the police question Laurel, who leaves out a crucial detail. Just before her mother stabbed him, the man had said, “Hello, Dorothy. It’s been a long time.” Dorothy is cleared—the man is presumed to be a wanted pervert whom she killed in self-defense, and the Nicholson family life goes on as before, with Dorothy, husband Stephen and their five children enjoying life in their bucolic farmhouse. An early flashback reveals that Dorothy may have had a shady past, which induced her to flee London in 1941, at the urging of her friend Vivien, who was subsequently killed in the Blitz. In 2011, Dorothy is close to death. Laurel, now a famous actress in her 60s, embarks on a quest to learn the truth about the homicide. First, she learns that her mother’s 2026
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victim, Henry Jenkins, had once been a prominent writer who fell from grace. Flashbacks from Dorothy’s POV and Laurel’s research reveal that during the war, Dorothy, whose family was killed by German bombs, attempts to befriend her fellow warwork volunteer, the somewhat aloof Vivien, an heiress who was also orphaned when a car crash claimed her parents and siblings in Australia. But Vivien is married to the controlling, jealousyprone Jenkins, an author who’s also involved in intelligence work for the government. When Vivien inexplicably insults her, Dorothy assumes that slander from Vivien also caused Lady Gwendolyn, Dorothy’s late employer, to deny her a hoped-for inheritance. Together with her fiance, the talented and sensitive photographer Jimmy, Dorothy plots revenge in the form of blackmail, threatening to give Jenkins evidence of Vivien’s infidelity. Despite some improbable developments, the suspense mounts throughout, culminating in a shocking twist. Morton’s finesse with family secrets increases with each novel.
JOHN SATURNALL’S FEAST Norfolk, Lawrence Grove (416 pp.) $25.00 | Sep. 4, 2012 978-0-8021-2051-9
A historical coming-of-age tale of a person and a time period (17th-century England), this is the story of a cook and his eponymous cookbook and an allegory of service and human purpose. Norfolk’s fourth novel arrives years after the well-reviewed In the Shape of a Boar (2001). John Saturnall is the son of a witch. Or is he? He lives with his mother, who roams with her collecting bag. The center of her life is the hearth, the pot where she brews her potions—the book of recipes her bible. John’s mother catechizes him with this book of earthy delights. Then the Reformation asserts itself in Buckland village in the lank-haired form of Timothy Marpot, and a plague arrives shortly thereafter. Sin, with its immense explanatory power, sin that demands correction and expiation, leads to the search for sinners: John and his mother are victimized. Their lives appear heretical. Exiled from home, John is sent to the Manor at the opposite end of the vale. There, he grows into his calling as a cook in the clattering kitchens of Master Scovell; into his consciousness of class and the wages of factional warfare; and into his awareness of the importance of his mother’s holy book. What might it mean if the feast belonged to all and not merely to the cook who prepares or the guest who partakes? Norfolk assembles his Dickensian confection of character and incident that includes love and war to dramatize this pungent question. If his characters occasionally verge on caricature, if the foreshadows fall as hard as the executioner’s axe, neither weakness subtracts from the plot’s satisfactions, arriving steadily as a banquet’s courses. Offers much to savor, notably the details of cooking and the central question: how preparing food is different than merely cooking it. (Agent: Carol Blake) |