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Jul 29, 2018susan_findlay rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gardner's history as a romance novelist is abundantly clear in this novel. I noticed it a little bit in another of her early thrillers, but this one is at least as much romance novel as it is thriller. Which means that, yes, there are sex scenes if that matters to you. I read thousands of romance novels as a teenager so had no issues on that front and have nothing against the genre - but I'll admit I felt a little misled by the book I was expecting to be primarily thriller. All that said, it's a good romance novel with a bit of thriller mixed in. The romance is not with the evil husband (thank goodness!) but rather between the runaway wife and the mercenary she convinces to train her to protect herself from said evil husband. The evil husband is suitably creepy. Some of the things he manages to do stretch credibility, but truth can be stranger than fiction so I saw this more as fiction keeping up. They weren't completely unbelievable just "are you sure? really? that seems very unlikely" As I have come to expect from this author, the story is fast-paced and surprises you from time to time. I really enjoy her writing style, but you can tell that this is an earlier work as she was still settling into this genre.