A thrilling novel of the deceptions we hide behind, the passions we surrender to, and the lengths we’ll go to for the truth from the New York Times bestselling author of Untouchable. When Charlotte Sawyer is unable to contact her stepsister, Jocelyn, to tell her that one of her closest friends was found dead, she discovers that Jocelyn has vanished. Beautiful, brilliant, and reckless, … Beautiful, brilliant, and reckless, Jocelyn has gone off the grid before, but never like this. In a desperate effort to find her, Charlotte joins forces with Max Cutler, a struggling PI who recently moved to Seattle after his previous career as a criminal profiler went down in flames—literally. Burned out, divorced and almost broke, Max needs the job.
After surviving a near-fatal attack, Charlotte and Max turn to Jocelyn’s closest friends—women in a Seattle-based online investment club—for answers. But what they find is chilling…
When her uneasy alliance with Max turns into a full-blown affair, Charlotte has no choice but to trust him with her life. For the shadows of Jocelyn’s past are threatening to consume her—and anyone else who gets in their way…
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Love this author and love this book! I read all of Ms. Krentz’s books and am never disappointed. Normal people thrown into the middle of a deadly mystery with many secondary characters that just add to the tapestry of the story. This seems to be the start of a trilogy of brothers. Can’t wait for more!
Curl up in your comfy sweats or jammies, a cup of tea at your side and be ready to read the night away. Romantic suspense done right!
I love her characters.
This is a part of a trilogy, but it was very entertaining, and easily stands alone without needing to read the rest of the story.
Here is a great beach read with plot, strong characters, humor and some scares. For one thing, the author has given a group of smart, professional women…..granted one of them may be a bit evil…
Each character is drawn with a few strokes and you feel you know them. Add the atmosphere of Seattle with hip places, condos, businesses, and cloudy days. Then add the mountains, the rural hideaways, and the rain.
Introduce yourself to Charlotte, a genuinely nice person that is not as naive as you think and has the best lines in the book!
Jocelyn, her step sis, is missing or perhaps just on a retreat. But her best friend,Louise, is dead and Max is investigating. Max is a great character, smart, haunted by his past, an ex-profiler, a great son and best of all, he sees the real Charlotte.
Excellent plot and love the use of the senior home, the people, atmosphere and a depth to the residents…especially Ethel…..she may be old but she has lived a life and is still active.
Max and Charlotte have great charisma and sensibility.
Realistic scenes in the mountainous areas where the wrong move may get you killed.
Give this book 5 stars! Enjoy
I like Krentzs writing.
Love all her books!
Love this author.
Krentz never disappoints and as always there is a twist. This is a keep you reading thriller. I am not much interested in the adult interpersonal relations so I skip that and continue on with the good story by a fantastic author.
An excellent read! A woven tale of intrigue, mystery, family secrets, inheritance, and lost family members…A layered first book in this new series…
Max Cutler enjoys his work as a PI even though his first career as a profiler for the FBI – along with his marriage and the home he’d made for himself – all went down in flames during his last case. When he agrees to take on a client who insists his cousin’s death isn’t what it looks like Max meets Charlotte and together they discover the unusual link between Charlotte’s step-sister’s mysterious vanishing and Max’s suspicion, death. Soon they’re working together, each determined to find some answers.
Jayne Ann Krentz has been a staple of my reading material for more years than I’m comfortable remembering. This book really brought home to me just how amazing she is as a writer, because over the years (gulps: decades!) she has continued to grow and thrive in her writing style. She has always been an exceptional writer but I found this book really exceeded even my own high expectations.
For example – this book had a good number of strong, varied and interesting secondary characters (the investors group of four friends, the nursing home residents and Max’s family as just a few). Whereas there is almost always some secondary characters to help flesh out the world and situations – I thoroughly enjoyed that this book really had a higher than usual number and yet the quality and interest in this large group remained high. I also really enjoyed how the plot wasn’t linear – numerous threads all wove slowly but steadily together and the story-telling around this and weaving the pieces together was not just artful but entrancing to me.
As I admitted above I’ve been a fan of Krentz’s for ages, but like all relationships it ebbs and flows. Some books hit the mark better than others and while they’re all good – there are different levels of “good”. I adored this book and it really hit a number of my “excellent” buttons so I rate this book above a number of her other recent works. Now sure, there are the usual tropes which are as comforting and enjoyable as they are predictable – Charlotte is smart, savvy and has a “crash and burn” relationship in her near past, Max has his own issues and a far bigger “life-altering moment” in his past and they each are dealing well with their respective histories and baggage. They’re both strong characters, attracted to each other but cautious of getting burned again and focused on the mystery and task at hand – all the usual tropes. But that doesn’t detract (for me, at least) one inch from the enjoyableness of the story, and for sure it doesn’t lessen the intensity of their characters or the situation at all. Indeed the comfort and known quantity of these aspects helps me enjoy the tension and weaving of the multiple plots more than if I was trying to grapple with their character and objectives. I know this style of characters and can enjoy the plot and circumstances more because I’m not questioning or catching up on other parts of the story.
Readers who love a fairly traditional style of romantic suspense should definitely give this book a whirl. If you haven’t read Krentz before you can pretty much look into anything of her backlist in the last 10-15 years and chances are good there’s a number of decent stories there awaiting your perusal. Krentz is a go-to for me for solid, enjoyable, believable and interesting romantic mystery/suspense. This is definitely one of my favourites though they’re all of a high quality. The romance is a slow-burn and while the bedroom door is left open the focus of the romance is more emotional and Charlotte and Max connecting and working their investigation together with a bit of bedroom sizzle thrown in – this is not an explicit or heavily graphic romance story, but a solid mystery/suspense with a good dash of romance woven in and balanced well.
A solid and thoroughly enjoyable read, I was delighted by this and can heartily recommend it.
Fantastic great characters
Follower of this author for several years and hooked for life! Have to admit her books stick in my mind as she is a master of words that create the exact vibe needed to make you part of her story – sticking in your mind for days, weeks . . . and also when there are funny noises in the night . . . Amazing author. Can’t put her books down until I know how it ends.
Anything Jayne Krentz writes pulls me into the world her characters are inhabiting.
Krentz is one of my absolute favorite authors. Always entertains.
This first book of the trilogy was captivating. Strong, interesting characters with a challenging task. Good love story with characters who find each other in a challenging mystery / thriller. Great first story, followed by two other great books to round out the three brothers stories.
Lots of twists and turns
Always love her books! Mysteries are great and characters are very engaging.
Another wonderful mixture of murder and romance by one of my favorite authors. There are several plots interwoven with that of the murder of a member of a small investment club that is not all that it seems. The twists and turns will keep you on the go so that as as you think you have all the answers, you find out you are wrong. Loved this book!
Love this book and love this author.
Krantz handles the evil and avaris of these women in a most interesting way.