Thursday, March 16, 2017

SECRET SISTERS by Jayne Ann Krentz

Published:   November 29, 2016
ISBN:        978-0515156348
Genre:       Romantic Suspense
Format:     Ebook
Obtained via:  Publisher  

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

 
FOUR HEARTS

 

 

Eighteen years ago Madeline had a pretty nice childhood.  Yes, her parents died, but her grandmother, Edith, made sure she wanted for nothing. Edith, the owner of a line of boutique inns based their home on Cooper Beach. Then one night, during a sleepover with her best friend, Daphne, Madeline’s world changed.

In hours Edith removed Madeline from the island and they took up residence in one of Edith’s other properties while Daphne and her mother headed off to Colorado. Now, eighteen years later Edith dies in a freak fire and Madeline is left to pick up the pieces. Among those pieces is Jack Rayner, the security expert Edith hired for the hotel line shortly before her death.  Still reeling from her grandmother’s death Madeline is shocked and upset to receive a call from Tom, the caretaker left in charge of the inn at Cooper Beach.  Tom tells Madeline he needs to speak to her, in person.  Madeline, along with Jack, heads to Cooper Island and they arrive moments before Tom dies…killed by an intruder still in the inn.  And so begins a race to find why someone is trying to kill anyone who was on Cooper Island eighteen years ago.

I haven’t read Jayne Ann Krentz for quite some time and SECRET SISTERS was a wonderful “welcome back” to her stories. The seclusion of Cooper Island made for a Christie-esque mystery—all the players on an island with limited means and times for leaving while a killer is among them.  That, coupled with a Ewing type family—a matriarch, a son heading into a political career, a brother with a penchant for mayhem is only the beginning of potential suspects.

I liked how Jack worked step by step to track down the killer while at the same time confronted is own issues.  The same with Madeline—for so long she avoided her past and now, with it dogging her steps, she stops running and turns to face what happened. Despite some frightening events, Krentz gives her a wonderful inner strength. I liked how she had that strong core, but bit by bit her softer nature came through.

The secondary romance between Abe and Daphne was a nice addition—particularly because Abe is not one of the usual alpha heroes, but your basic, regular guy.

What didn’t work for me, which was fortunately a very small part of the story, was an event that happened to Jack. It was a needless bit of gratuitous drama I could have done without.

Definitely one for your TBR.

 
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

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