Smoke Screen

Picking up a novel by Sandra Brown is a guarantee that the next reading hours with be filled with suspense, intrigue, and romance. The copyright is 2008 but as with many of the author's novels there is a timeless quality to the storyline as the corruption, betrayal, and deception could just as easily be ripped from today's headlines. The addition of the character Delno elevates interest to Raley Gannon's survival during his five years living in a cabin in the woods.

Once again I missed the twist that brought an even more suspenseful ending than anticipated!

Estuvo bien, Sandra Brown es una maestra de las novelas de suspenso que aunque la historia esté flojita de papeles y con bastantes incongruencias te sigue manteniendo enganchada. Estuve a punto de dejarla en un momento pero al final no pude y la terminé. En definitiva pasé un buen rato.

Five years ago a disastrous fire gutted the police headquarters. Seven people died in the flames but thanks to four brave men, most of those inside were rescued. The next day, and forever after, they would be known to the world as heroes.
Now, one of them has called Britt Shelley, a hotshot newswoman, offering her the scoop of her career, and asks her to meet him. The next morning she wakes up naked in his bed to find him lying beside her - dead.
She remembers nothing of the evening before but, to her horror,the police don't believe her. As the finger of blame points to her, she realises that she is the next intended victim . . .
My Thoughts:

I always know what to expect when I read Sandra Brown. The formula is the same, a crime to be show more solved, a cat and mouse relationship between hero and heroine and some sex. This book like all her others is a pacy thriller with all the twists and turns for good measure.

I like to make sure that I always have this type of book on my shelf so that if I go through a bland patch of reading or just don’t know what I fancy I can always pick up one of these books. For me they are my comfort books because whatever the plot I know I am going to reasonably enjoy it.

Just another pacy thriller with the romance element to it too and will appeal to anybody who likes these type of books. Very much in the same vain as Erica Spindler/ Tami Hoag/ and Karen Rose. show less

Britt Shelley is not having a good week. When Jay Burgess, an old hook-up, calls and says he has something to share with her, TV reporter Britt is eager. What she doesn't expect is to wake up the next morning without her memory and with Jay Burgess' dead body next to her. Given that he is a homicide detective and one of the four heroes of the police station fire some years earlier, the police are very suspicious about Britt's story.

Before she can convince the police that she is also a victim, she is kidnapped by Raley Gannon. Raley was a fire department arson investigator and Jay's best friend. He was investigating the fire at the police department when he went to a party at Jay's and woke up next to a dead girl who overdosed on show more cocaine. He also suffered from a memory loss. The ensuing investigation ruined his reputation and cost him his job and fiance. He has been brooding in a cabin in the woods and plotting revenge. When he hears Britt's story, he decides that together they can find out what happened and get both their lives back.

The story was well-written and very suspenseful. It was filled with false friends, betrayals, and danger from assorted hired killers. Britt and Raley have a large number of suspects and no one they can trust. They are on the run from both the police and the hired killers. Fans of romantic suspense will enjoy this story. show less

Britt Shelley is not having a good week. When Jay Burgess, an old hook-up, calls and says he has something to share with her, TV reporter Britt is eager. What she doesn't expect is to wake up the next morning without her memory and with Jay Burgess' dead body next to her. Given that he is a homicide detective and one of the four heroes of the police station fire some years earlier, the police are very suspicious about Britt's story.

Before she can convince the police that she is also a victim, she is kidnapped by Raley Gannon. Raley was a fire department arson investigator and Jay's best friend. He was investigating the fire at the police department when he went to a party at Jay's and woke up next to a dead girl who overdosed on show more cocaine. He also suffered from a memory loss. The ensuing investigation ruined his reputation and cost him his job and fiance. He has been brooding in a cabin in the woods and plotting revenge. When he hears Britt's story, he decides that together they can find out what happened and get both their lives back.

The story was well-written and very suspenseful. It was filled with false friends, betrayals, and danger from assorted hired killers. Britt and Raley have a large number of suspects and no one they can trust. They are on the run from both the police and the hired killers. show less

A very nice, fast paced suspense which had a couple of unexpected twists, especially near the end, to keep me on my toes. The romance part was nice, even though it took little space, and the hero wonderful. I'm glad I read it.

This is actually 3 1/2 stars. I enjoyed the read, but not as much as I have others from Brown in the past. I found it hard to relate to Britt, which is really important for me. The plot was great, suspenseful and tight, and I wanted to read, hated to put it down. If I'd been able to connect and get a better feel for Britt, sympathize with her a bit, this would have been in the 'awesome' collection of reads.

I'd recommend though, it's entirely possible that my mind wasn't always in the right place while reading this book. I am going to read again at a later date, when I don't have to squeeze my reading time into an insane schedule.