Dead Certain

SUMMARY: Her stalker/assailant now safely in jail, antiquities-expert Amanda Crosby has put her life back together and, in the process, has discovered an independence heretofore unknown: she has earned her black belt in tae kwon do, publicly speaks about the necessity of stalker awareness, and even has a column in the local newspaper. As her life is coming together, her business partner and best friend, Derek England, makes a move that could potentially destroy their antiques shop. Angry and frustrated, Amanda makes some innocuous threats...and is later horrified when they come true. Amanda find herself the primary suspect, but as the bodies continue to drop, it becomes apparent that Amanda herself is the real target.

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: show more Amanda Crosby is the most well-rounded and believable heroine of Stewart's trilogy. She's smart, independent, and decisive, but also vulnerable and thoughtful. Chief Sean Mercer is an admirable love interest, with his own tragic past. Two people alone in the world, finding each other in a time of great peril...trite, but extremely effective. Villainous Vince Giordano is also the most frightening criminal of this trilogy in that there is no real etiology ascribed to his evil; he just is evil.

WHY YOU WON'T: Honestly, I can't think of any real reason why you won't enjoy this novel, assuming you enjoy this genre. The action sequences are able, as are the romance sequences. The characters are well-written and enjoyable. The conclusion is very satisfactory.

BOTTOM LINE: The second and best installment in Stewart's trilogy. Highly recommended. show less

Same as always when it comes to a female author -- it was good/decent but I did not enjoy it too much. I liked that the cop did end up being the good guy and that Amanda ended up trusting him.

Again, in all fairness, I don't particularly care for female authors. I found the dialogue to be long and pointless, and not entertaining. At the end of the book I stopped reading all the dialogue and just skimmed for point and content to see what would happen next. The whole "family" aspect of the book was needless.

This was just ok for me. I understand that the concept of the series (three guys in jail make a deal that requires each of them to kill the people another guy wants revenge on) requires that the books have similar plots, but this book just gave me a lot of deja vu. I'll probably continue this series, but only because the 3rd bad guy is the weakest of the three and I want to see how that is handled.