LINKED by Barbara Huffert

Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Date published: January 2009
ISBN: 9781419920493
Erotic Thriller
E-book
Reviewed by Tammy





CLICK TO PURCHASE!Ellora’s Cave author Barbara Huffert blends frightening chills with erotic thrills in LINKED, the story of a woman of incredible courage and the evil she is linked to.

Tori Banks has had nightmares about two evil men committing gruesome murders for years. When it appears that her nightmares might be based in fact, she risks the disbelief she knows will come and takes her story to the police. Detective Guy Breauchard is indeed skeptical but accepts the case and after spending time with Tori, falls deeply in love with her. Now if he can just stop the very real murderers before they find Tori, maybe he can get past Tori’s deep seeded trust issues and find a slice of happiness for both of them together.

Barbara Huffert’s LINKED starts out with an adrenaline packed chapter where a murder is taking place. The chapter is really well written and will have readers on the edge of their chair wondering what comes next. Then we meet Tori and the book just falls apart for this reader. It is almost like the rest of the book was written by someone else. The entire writing style changes and the book becomes almost whiny. Tori has trust issues to the point that she barely interacts with other people outside the library where she works. Although she insults and blocks every attempt at friendship from Guy, he still finds himself falling in love with this woman. For a detective that is supposed to be solving a case of serial killings, his almost immediate and constant attempts at a relationship with Tori are unusual and awkward. The steamy sex scenes, of which there are many, seem out of place and unnecessary. The thriller part of the story, which this reader assumes was supposed to drive the story, ended up taking backseat to the erotica.

Eventually, the story does get back to the murderers and the case is wrapped up fairly quickly and neatly. If only the book ended there. But it didn’t. We are subjected to even more of Tori’s emotional foot dragging and then of course the very expected realization that Tori and Guy belong together. And even then the book does not end before the author feels the need to throw in yet one more steamy and unnecessary sex scene. For this reader, Barbara Huffert’s LINKED was a really good book concept that never came to fruition. However, if you are looking for some steamy erotica and don’t really care about the weak storyline, perhaps LINKED might be the story for you.