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

Tell Me No Lies by Annie Solomon

This one is the prequel to Blind Curve, which I read last month. Unfortunately it was not as good. I think if it had been marketed as a thriller rather than a romance novel, I could have gone into it with a different perspective but that was not the case.

Hank Bonner is just a week away from leaving his job as a NYPD detective. After a family tragedy were his sister is killed by his brother in law, Hank feels he needs to leave the department to take a more active role in the family business, Apple House. His niece and nephew need him and he feels guilt over the events that lead to the death of his sister and brother in law. His life is a mess when, as his last case, he has to work on the murder of a convenience store owner.

Alexandra Jane Baker is a rich socialite that has brought to the town a deal that has Renaissance Oil taking over an old GM plant. The deal promises to bring back the small town from the edge of bankruptcy. But the truth is, she is making the deal to further her agenda of revenge against Miki Petrov, a ex-KGB Russian who murdered her father. She has created a false life and buried her past to make sure that her plans run to fruition but the death of Luka Kole brings Hank Bonner to her door.

The book was a bit of a disappointment for me. Through out most of it I felt no chemistry between the hero and the heroine. Actually for most of the book there was little interaction between them other than his working the case and her avoidance of him. There was so many lies spewing out of Alex's mouth, I had a hard time accepting that Hank would feel any attraction to her.

It still says something about Solomon when in the end the relationship was believable. As with Blind Curve, the relationship appeared to be flawed but Solomon twisted things such that it gave the relationship a chance for a happy ending. Even though this twist helped the reader accept the relationship, I could not put aside that for most of the book there was nothing there. I will still give her new book Black Out a chance, since Blind Curve was so good, but this one was not the same quality as the first.

A side note: The main characters of Blind Curve were not mentioned in this story so, it really was a stand alone.

Grade: C

Blind Curve by Annie Solomon

Annie Solomon joins the short list of most exciting new author I have read in a while. Pamela Clare was the other one. Blind Curve is a romantic suspense that kept me glued to the story from start to end. There was definitely no pause, no slow spot, and no lag. This one was up there with the likes of Linda Howard and Suzanne Brockmann.

Danny Sinofsky is working a gun trade as an undercover cop but when he arrives at the warehouse something goes very wrong. The guy selling the gun ends up dead and Danny ends up blind. Seems like Danny suffered a stroke after being hit in the head a few days before and the outcome is complete blindness.

Martha Crowe is a mobility instructor and when Danny loses his sight, she is called to help him cope with his new blindness. But someone is out to kill Danny and having failed at the location of his undercover sting they come to his house to finish the job, expecting him to be defenseless. Danny might be blind but Martha isn't and when she walks in on the attempt to Danny's life, she becomes a witness. Great premise, huh? Well it gets better!

Danny and Martha are placed into protective custody but there is not much to protect if someone on the team informs their enemy of their location. Now Danny and Martha are on a race against time, trying to keep in front of the assassins while trying to find out who is the traitor in the department. The race takes them from making deals with a Mob boss to getting the FBI involved.

The narratives in this book keeps you on the edge and just turning the page to find out how these two will pull themselves out of the mess they're in. I had an issue with Danny and Martha's relationship. Martha is an ugly duckling and Danny is the beautiful Jock she just dreamed about when she was in high school. At times it felt as if Danny was just using her. I could not find credible that his feelings for her were actually real and not a response to her being the link between him and the seeing world. As soon as he became blind, Martha was his only real contact to the world he once knew, so I saw their romance more of a refuge from a traumatic experience, like those victims that fall in love with their heroes. The author handled this very nicely in the end, wrapping things up in a way that told me that there was more to this relationship than a certain dependency on both their parts.

Another issue that I found difficult to believe was how he became blind one afternoon and the hospital sent him home just a few hours later? Can't swallow that one! Regardless of these quirks, the book was so engrossing, I could forgive these issues.

Grade: A-