Black Out by Annie Solomon

Annie Solomon definitely knows how to write a thriller but her romantic sense is just a bit hard to swallow. After reading three of her books I will now approach her work as being thrillers with an edge of sexual tension instead of romantic suspense. I have not found the romance that she hit on with Blind Curve in the following two books, even though the quality of suspense was just as strong.

We met Jake Wise in Blind Curve. He was the FBI agent that helped hide Danny when he couldn't trust anyone. Jake's mentor and friend Frank Temple has been murdered and he believes that the woman he has been following on Frank's bequest has something to do with it the murder.

Margo Scott has lost a month of her life, literally. When she shows up to open her book shop she realizes that a month in her life has vanished and in it's place is a big black hole. If that doesn't put her on edge, the little she remembers of her life seems to be disappearing as well. A sister that doesn't exist, an apartment that she doesn't recall having, guns, knives... Things that can't possibly be part of the life of a book seller suddenly appear and disappear in the span of a few hours.

The police are closing in, asking for answers that Margo cannot give since she has no clue herself, when Jake steps in and offers a light in the blackness that is her mind.

The book was very good if I kept my romantic expectations at a minimum. Solomon takes the couple on a sexual relationship but not on an emotional one and credit must be given that she didn't try to feed us a romantic relationship when the heroine was in no place to even think about anything of the sort.

"Maybe I want to hold your hand"
And that was the problem, wasn't it? He was the only living creature she had an attachment to, and she wanted to cling to him like Krazy Glue.
But how could she trust that any of the feelings were real? And if they were, how could she figure out who she was, who she wanted to be, if he was always there to cushion her fall?

This is just an indication of how mixed Margo's feelings were at less than 50 pages from the end of the book.

When it came to action and getting an answer to the 'who dunit?' question, Solomon kept us guessing all the way to the end. We never could completely disregard Margo as a suspect because no one knew exactly why she had the Black Out of her memory.

I think I'll hold out from blindly purchasing more work from this author because I like my romance and, although I read through this book fairly quickly and enjoyed the ride, I want more emotional connections between my main couples.

Grade: B