TEST
Next of Kin, the third book in the Code Red continuity, is a brisk little pageturner. It’s an enjoyable enough way to pass a few hours, but it also falls slightly short of a recommendation.
In what seems to be the trademark for this series, the book opens with a gripping action sequence, the best one yet. One moment, on a beautiful Southern California day, Jackie Kellison is driving down the highway. In the next, an explosion in a car in front of her sets off a chain reaction resulting in a multi-car pileup. Jackie manages to escape her car unharmed, and as a nurse, quickly moves about trying to help the injured. She is assisted in her efforts by motorcycle cop Casey Guthrie. Together they find a baby screaming in a crushed car, its mother dead at the wheel. Rescuing the child, they race it to the hospital on Casey’s motorcycle.
The attraction between Jackie and Casey is sharp and immediate. They soon have more of an opportunity to explore that attraction when they join forces to investigate the mystery surrounding the baby. It turns out that the car the child was in was stolen, and the woman driving was not its mother. The baby was kidnapped, but when it is returned to its family, Jackie and Casey sense something isn’t quite right with the situation. The family members are all behaving suspiciously. They refuse to involve the police or file a report, and there’s a lot they’re not saying. Concerned about the baby’s safety, Jackie and Casey are determined to get to the bottom of all this. Meanwhile, they grow closer as they work together.
The romance is rushed (although less than halfway through the book Casey thinks, “their relationship was progressing slower than he’d hoped,” which is ridiculous). It’s still fairly persuasive. Jackie and Casey aren’t very deep characters, Casey in particular, but they’re both very likable and have a reasonable amount of chemistry. Readers who enjoy the kind of romance where the hero immediately falls in love with the heroine and sets about pursuing her might enjoy it. It’s that type of story. Casey, a notorious ladies’ man around town, immediately takes an interest in Jackie and wants to pursue something more with her. Jackie is wary, still recovering from the death of her husband two years earlier for reasons that are slowly revealed.
If the story had focused more on the relationship than the mystery, I probably would have recommended it. But the suspense plot eventually takes over, and it’s merely okay. Anyone who doesn’t mind a weak suspense element, or those who aren’t very good at figuring them out, may not mind it as much as I did. I thought it was way too obvious what was going on, which made the characters’ inability to see that very frustrating. It’s no surprise that Casey is a motorcycle cop handing out speeding tickets instead of a detective, because his investigation techniques are lousy. The main characters keep jumping to fast conclusions and then basing all their theories around those instead of considering all possible scenarios. Even if I hadn’t known they were wrong, it would have been obvious. What are the chances that the characters in a mystery are going to be right on their first guess, or that they’d have major pieces put together so early in the book? It was too clear that they were following the wrong path simply to keep the plot in motion. After they find out how wrong they were about that initial assumption, the author writes, “Jackie couldn’t contain her astonishment.” I couldn’t contain the impulse to roll my eyes.
The story moves quickly and the author’s writing is engaging. But too much of the story’s focus is on an average suspense plot that really can’t sustain it. More of the characters and less of the mystery would have improved it greatly. Instead, it’s merely a slightly better than average read.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 27/09/02
Publication Date: 2004/10
Related Reviews
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.