TEST
Deeply atmospheric and filled with twists and turns, Sea of Suspicion kept me flying eagerly through the pages. Just when I thought I’d figured things out, the author would switch them up on me. That quality, plus the steamy chemistry between the lead characters, drew me further and further into the book.
The basic setup of the story is straightforward enough. Susie Cooper, a lecturer at the Gatty Marine Labratory in St. Andrews, Scotland, is settling into her new job. Though single and very career-focused, she also longs to start a family. Her plan seems to be to do this on her own, but when she meets Detective Inspector Nick Archer, that just might change. From the moment she sees him speaking to one of her students, she is drawn by his looks. When he runs into her later at a local bar, he feels drawn to her as well.
Things start to click a little more when the two are thrown together at a dinner party hosted by one of Susie’s friends. However, unbeknownst to Susie, Nick has a secret. One of his reasons for getting to know Susie is to bring him closer to another professor in her lab, one whom he suspects of murder. Even so, the chemistry between these two is a very obvious thing and they soon have other reasons to be together beyond Nick’s investigations.
Both of these characters have major secrets, and watching them reveal themselves gradually to one another is almost as suspenseful as the mystery plots themselves. Nick is truly a tortured hero and the author shows this very well. Rather than simply telling readers what a poor, tortured soul he is, she starts with a prologue of Nick at his wife’s funeral about twelve years before the main action of the book begins. We see Nick’s grief and pain, as well as his suspicions about his wife’s murder. It’s very effective and makes what comes later work more smoothly. The leads in this book have chemistry, but that doesn’t mean that actual relationship-building comes easy to them. Their pasts get in the way, they make mistakes, and they have to actually work at communicating.
Susie is also a likeable character, though it took me a little longer to warm up to her. She’s not unpleasant; It’s just that the opening chapter or so of the book happens to be somewhat overwritten. The author tells us a lot rather than showing it in these first chapters, so I had to wade through paragraphs of narrative description about characters and their lives. It made the characters themselves feel rather distant from me. Thankfully, the prose tightens up as I moved further into the book.
In addition to the long-ago murder of Nick’s wife, the two must also contend with a murder that takes place in the Gatty. The suspense portion of the story follows many twists and turns, as does the relationship between Nick and Susie. The author really makes her setting feel alive and, even without the author’s note at the end, I can tell that this place is one she truly loves. There’s a sex scene in the secondary romance toward the end that really felt out of place and jerked me out of the story, and one of the grad students Susie works with has his over-the-top moments, but otherwise the setting and supporting characters definitely add to the mood of the story, and make it feel more complete.
Though it has some moments of feeling rather rough around the edges, the majority of Sea of Suspicion delivers an entertaining romance suspense tale. It was entertaining enough that I gladly spent the time poring over my screen, and was happy that I’d read the book. The author has many threads of plot to work with, and I liked how she pulled them together gradually rather than heaving one huge resolution onto the reader in the last chapter. This was my first foray into the newly launched Carina Press, and I suspect it will not be my last.
Grade: B
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 11/06/10
Publication Date: 2010/06
I enjoy spending as much time as I can between the covers of a book, traveling through time and around the world. When I'm not having adventures with fictional characters, I'm an attorney in Virginia and I love just hanging out with my husband, little man, and the cat who rules our house.
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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.