Customer Reviews (47)

Critical Judgement
Having read all of the most recent Michael Palmer books, I hesitated to reach back to one written in 1996. Yes, the electronics of today ae not yet in place, but the story is one that transcends the 14 year gap. It keeps the reader invested in the life of Abby and causes the him/her to feel her frustration at her situation. I realize the events that happened around the time it was written, to include the San Diego McDonald massacre, and know that when such a thing occurs we all feel vulnerable to a yet unknown crazy person. This book keeps us on the edge of our seats as we invest outselves in the truth, via Abby. Excellently written - a great ride!

A solid read and enjoyable
This is a good, solid read.Michael Palmer's story about a female doctor who moves to a town with her fiance.She is employed in the emergency room and comes across patients tht she has no idea what is happening to them.At the same time her fiance is showing indications of the same thing and she wonders if his employer could somehow be involved.Then, the rest of the story.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

One more notch in Michael Palmer's belt!
Abby Dolan was a highly skilled female physician with plenty of upward mobility on the horizon at a major San Francisco teaching hospital. With no small amount of trepidation and introspection, she reluctantly changed jobs in order to be with her boyfriend, Josh, and accepted a position as head of the emergency room at Patience Regional Hospital, a much smaller hospital located in the mountains north of San Francisco that caters to the localized needs of the citizens of Patience.

It isn't long before Abby realizes that something simply isn't right. She's seeing an alarming number of NIWWs - her medical black humour shorthand for charting symptoms when she has "No Idea What's Wrong"! Like so many other small towns and cities North American, Patience is portrayed as an economic entity in which employment and survival depends on a single source. In this case, the driver is Colstar Industries, a battery manufacturer, that's part of the conglomerate empire belonging to multi-billionaire, Ezra Black. Colstar's survival, in turn, seems to depend in large part upon government contracts and the continued largesse of the incumbent senator.

As the plot began to unroll, circumstances begin to lead Abby into hypothesizing that Patience is being subjected to cadmium exposure by something or someone at Colstar and that the cause of her NIWWs is heavy metal toxicity. Uh oh ... I rolled my eyes and sighed, thinking I was wading into that aging medical thriller chestnut of the heroic sole practitioner waging battle against some evil megalomaniacal corporate demon. When Robin Cook first wrote "Coma" in 1977 almost single-handedly creating the medical thriller genre, this might have been new and exciting fare. But, since then, it's been beaten to death and I was convinced that "Critical Judgment" was bound to be a derivative dud.

How wrong could I have been? Even if the premise at its most basic isn't particularly new, Palmer's treatment of the story is exciting and fresh. "Critical Judgment" is a bona fide page-turning thriller with red herrings, lots of cliff-hangers, plenty of excitement and hold-your-breath moments plus an ending twist that nobody will see coming. Bravo, Michael Palmer!

His description of the professional politics and atmosphere of a small town regional hospital is interesting and informative with a clear ring of authenticity. In the context of a medical thriller, this makes for an innovative and most refreshing change from the usual setting of general hospitals in a major metropolis like Boston or Los Angeles. A regional hospital is clearly an entirely different environment with a multiplicity of challenges and opportunities that set it apart from its bigger city counterparts.

Last but not least, while we've seen other thrillers put a magnifying glass on surgery or obstetrics, for example, this is the first medical story I've seen that focused so completely on the emergency room. Even as the story was moving forward, Palmer treated his readers to a number of absolutely electric emergency room crises that put me into only one frame of mind - absolute awe at the skill and ice-cold decision making prowess of the medical staff that work in emergency room facilities across the continent.

Another great job, Michael Palmer! Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

Okay read
Abby, a new hire at a bucolic regional hospital, in a bucolic California mountain town, finds herself up against a corporate giant.People are showing up in her ER with strange symptoms thought to be part of industrial poisoning.While that theory is a good one, the more she digs around on behalf of her patients, the more trouble she finds herself in.

Save for some continuity errors and a couple of obnoxious thriller cliches, Critical Judgement is pretty good for a medical thriller.

Keeps you guessing
As always, Mr. Palmer wrote a highly suspenseful and entertaining novel.Keeps you guessing till the end! ... Read more

Product Description
When photojournalist Bess Grady arrives in Tenajo, Mexico, with her sister for a well-deserved vacation, the scene that greets them comes straight from hell. Everyone in the village is dead, as if they suddenly became ill and collapsed. Just as frightening is the sight of army trucks filled with soldiers dressed in decontamination suits driving into town. One of them knocks Bess out, and later she awakens to find herself strapped to a hospital bed. Her sister is nowhere to be found. With the help of a mysterious agent, Bess escapes and returns to America. There she learns that what she had witnessed in Tenajo was a nightmarish experiment conducted by international conspirators. Now, even as those conspirators are after her, Bess will do whatever it takes to stop them from continuing their experiments before they achieve their goal -- the perfection of the ultimate deadly weapon.Amazon.com Review
As a photojournalist, Bess Grady is far more comfortable viewing lifethrough her camera lens than firsthand; the extra distance makes it easier to accept life'satrocities. Still recovering from an assignment on which she witnessed themassacre of an entire Croatian orphanage, Bess accepts an easy assignment from atravel magazine to photograph a small village in Mexico and brings her sisteralong for fun. What awaits her is worse than she ever could have imagined: everyone in the village has been killed by a deadly poison. After rescuing theonly survivor, Bess and her sister split up. Bess finds herself captured by the villain who seems to have plotted the horrible destruction. Her sister has disappeared,and the only hope Bess has to save her is to trust a man she believes to be a murderer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (99)

A mind-numbing unbelievable head-ache!
Fortunately I got this book in the $1 aisle at Half Price Books. Even then...
I forced myself to finish the book out of habit, but there were numerous times I wanted to throw it across the room. And then stomp on it.
Bess is the main character. To call her the "heroine" would surely be some form of heresy. There was never a chapter where I didn't want to step into the book and slap her...
It starts off tolerable with her going to photograph a tiny town in Mexico on a photo assignment with her sister and a guide friend. She's already haunted by some sort of tragedy involving babies from her past and is constantly thinking "the babies!" and "focus. shoot." This continues throughout so if you think you're annoyed at first... To quickly summarize, they find the whole town dead except for a baby that Bess oddly develops a creepy obsession with, throwing caution for everyone and everything else out the window. They split up "for the babies sake" and Bess marches right up to the bad guys and gets herself kidnapped and taken to a hospital.
The bad guy who is supposed to kill her helps her escape and she insists on taking the baby out on the run instead of leaving it in the hospital. Logical right? It gets worse...She then runs away from her rescuer with the baby into the hot wilderness.
Throughout the entire book, Bess is making stubborn, selfish decisions because she doesn't like being given orders. She gets several people killed and never learns, continuing to boss around the CIA and everyone else she meets, including the people who want to help her. But somehow EVERYONE gives in to her childish tantrums that endanger everyone else -there are people trying to kill her and she insists on going wherever she wants, whenever she wants, and her answer to everything is "well then protect me so I don't die."
I find it impossible to believe that she survives even half-way through the story and somehow the bad guys don't think of blowing up her house or poisoning her. How hard would it be to have a waiter put poison in her food? Pick her off with a sniper rifle while she runs around outside taking pictures? Especially foreign enemies with connections everywhere and biological weapons.
Each twist is more unbelievable than the next, and I guarantee that you will need to stop, look up, and say "what the HELL?" more than a few times.
Not even halfway through the book you are seriously hoping that Bess and everyone stupid enough to let her tell them what to do will die.
The random baby Bess is obsessed with somehow becomes a focal point of the book and it also, like Bess, seems to be immortal.
Just one question; with editors, and publishers, etc. and the number of authors and books out there...HOW did something this bad get published??

Bossy Heroine, Wimpy CIA Guy
The book opens with photographer Bess Grady doing a shoot of a massacred village in Croatia. She's had enough of this kind of work, comes home and accepts a safe assignment in Mexico for a travel magazine. She takes her sister along and they discover a town of dead people, apparently killed by some kind of plague, the only surviver a child. Bess wakes in the hospital and is questioned by bad guy Esteban. Bess is afraid that her sister and the baby have died. Kaldek, Esteban's second in command rescues Bess from,the evil maker of vile anthrax, but Bess doesn't trust him.

This book has all the right ingredients for a thriller, but it just didn't work for me. Our heroine is too demanding, and the CIA guys give in to Bossy Bess way to easily for me to willing suspend my disbelief. Her actions cause too many people to die and she doesn't seem to care. I'm going to have to give this one only three stars. Worth reading, but not exceptional.

Grabbed me immediately
This thriller grabbed me immediately and kept me on the run with Bess Grady, a photojournalist who comes upon a horrifying site in a Mexican village. Would she, her sister, and a man she must trust against her better judgment escape each new dangerous situation? This page turner pulls plot ideas from headline events and shows some frightening possibilities that could come to pass.

Strong Heroine Makes for a Super Thriller
Photojournalist Bess Grady is recovering from her previous assignment in Croatia, where an entire village had been butchered by guerrillas. She had been hospitalized for weeks after Croatia and has just been released. She is traveling to Tenajo, Mexico, with her sister Emily for a travel shoot on supposedly a relaxing assignment, but when she arrives there, all the villagers are dead.

Her sister, a doctor, believes a contagious disease is responsible and they go from house to house searching for survivors. There is only one, an infant. Then, as Bess is shooting pictures of the bodies, army trucks arrive. Bess realizes the trucks have come too soon after whatever tragidy had befallen the village, and she sends her sister into the hills with the child, while she is captured.

It seems a biological weapon has been tested, morever it seems like Bess is immune as the weapon is a mutated strain of anthrax that kills within six hours of contact and she is still alive. Has she been lured to Mexico on purpose? Did the terrorists or her government know about her immunity?

Iris Johansen writes strong female characters and Bess Grady is as strong as they come. I suppose that's why I like her work so much. Also, the fact that she knows how to pull her readers into her stories right from the beginning doesn't hurt either. This is an excellent thriller with great characters

A "little" unrealistic
The book was a great read, no doubt about that, and it kept me interested from the very beginning to the end. Can't complain about lack of "twists and turns" either; so in general, the plot was very interesting. It's just the character of Bess Grady that started to annoy me more and more as I read through. If this story had place in real life, given the seriousness of the entire situation, it's hard to believe the CIA would give in to one woman, who - in additon - was necessary to be kept alive in order to solve the predicament. Who, in their right mind, would jeopardize the life of the only person alive who holds the key to the solution? Not to mention, the solution to a problem that threatened even the entire U.S. poputation in the event Esteban succeeded? It just does not make sense to me personally. The character of Bess Grady was way too stubborn and demanding, and in effect, the actions of the CIA were way too unrealistic if it were to be compared to a real life situation. In fact, she was so stubborn and demanding it made her character very little believable. Lastly, I have to give the author an additional star for the nice development of the romance between Bess and Kaldak. Starting out as two least likely characters to fall in love with each other, yet they overcome all their differences in a very nice transition from hate/fear to strong attraction and deep mutual understanding. Although ... it wasn't too hard to guess either that these two would eventually end up together - that's why they were put in that book ...

One last note. I think the more appropriate title for this book would be something like "On The Run" or "Chemical Warfare" ... or something of the sort, lol :o) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (72)

Best Claybourne Story YET!!!
Of all the books in this series this is the best!!The dynamics between Cole and Ryan are awesome!!It's like you get two for the price of one!They are both such good strong characters.The romances that brew between Cole and Jessica and Ryan and Grace are wonderful!!!They are heartwarming and touching.I also loved the mystery behind the crimes in the book.It's a definate read!

I Think It's Great
I'm surprised ar some of the two or three stars for this awesome ending to such an amazing fictional family series.I've had this book for years now and I know that I can always go back and read this and not be disappointed.

I think she spaced out the dual romances very well and I think it helped that each couple is on their own journey in a way.I love a story with a cute child or baby in it and I just think that Caleb is a delight to read about and imagine.I have to say I am more interested in Cole's part of the story than Ryan but that's mainly because I knew him from the other novels in this series.

I think that the murder mystery was very well done and well described and I think most readers will be surprised by some of the twists and turns in the mystery.

My only quibble with the series is how little Mama Rose got to say in all of the novels not just this one.

I think Julie Garwood is one of the best writers in the field of historical romances and if you want a sexy, funny, romance with history and a little of her more murder mystery inclined stories then I think you should give this novel and the other novels in this series a shot, you won't be disappointed.

Not like her at all
Usually Julie Garwood makes you laugh and warms your heart. She delved into the arena of thriller as early as "Castles" and came along nicely with it in the opening of "Come the Spring". Sadly, she seemed to forget how to write her humorous and charming relationships along the way.

Trying to do a dual romance in this novel was a mistake. Time was taken away from both relationships such that one loses interest in either one. That leads a lacking dramatic finale because you just don't care.

The writing appeared exceptionally juvenile in places where humor was intended.

It was a nice try and I applaud an author wanting to grow her talent, but this Clayborne series never should have left the editor's desk. "Come the spring" was half-baked at best.

Audio book review
I have enjoyed many of Julie Garwood's novels, including "For the Roses", the beginning of the Clayborne series. While I have to admit that I skipped "One Red, One White Rose", etc. about the other brothers; this one interested me because it was about Cole. He was my favorite brother in the original book. Unfortunately, "Come the Spring" is very drawn-out and predictable. The title doesn't even apply to anything, except a quick statement made in the last chapter (an after-thought?) Maybe it was just the narration by Richard Ferrone that turned me off, but I found my mind wandering. It was clear to me who the female villain was from early on. While Cole and Daniel were compelling in their parts as lawmen, the romance part of the book is disappointing. After all the passion in "For the Roses", this book was just lukewarm in that category. Maybe it was because there were too many characters. Oh well, Julie is still one of my favorite authors, but this one is not up to par with her others.

Okay Ending to the Claybournes
Let me tell you up front, if you are looking for more of the Claybourne's in this book, you will not get it.The focus of "COMES THE SPRING" is capturing the Blackwater Gang.We start off with the bank robbery scene, and the identity of the witness is a mystery.Julie does a very good job in hiding who the witness is, until it is revealed.

We finally get the story of Cole Claybourne, the most "rough" of the Claybourne brothers.Cole is made into a U.S. Marshal by Marshal Daniel Ryan, who supposedly stole his compass from Mama Rose.Little is known about the compass that causes Cole to search for Ryan, and this plot does not follow in the book.

I thought Jessica and Grace were very good heroines.Jessica was really the perfect match for Cole, loving and in need of his care.The baby, Caleb, was also very adorable throughout the book.Grace was the exact opposite of Daniel Ryan's first wife, which proved to be a challenge to the Marshall to figure her out.While I enjoyed the chemistry with Grace and Daniel, I was a little disappointed that Cole did not have a story all to his own.I thought his character deserved more.

Overall "COMES THE SPRING" is a good end to the series.I would recommend it to anyone who has followed the Claybournes since "FOR THE ROSES."Mama Rose's speech at the end did not bother me, as it did some reviewers, because we really don't hear a lot from her, but we know she has been behind the meddling.Definitely read this book, it's worth the time. ... Read more

Product Description
A tale of brilliantly sustained terror from america's "queen of suspense"

Set in Newport, Rhode Island, Moonlight Becomes You has as its center Maggie Holloway, an independent young woman who has put personal tragedy behind her and become one of the fashion world's most successful photographers.

While accompanying her date to his family reunion, Maggie is reunited with a woman who had once been her stepmother. Nuala, now widowed, invites Maggie to visit her, but when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala dead -- the victim of an apparently random break-in.

Maggie is stunned when she learns Nuala had changed her will, leaving her Victorian house to Maggie -- the only proviso that she occasionally visit her old friend Greta Shipley. When she accompanies Mrs. Shipley to the cemetery to visit Nuala's grave -- as well as those of other friends recently lost -- Maggie discovers that something is terribly wrong. Using her skills as a photographer to aid her in uncovering the secrets hidden on the gravesites, she realizes that these deaths may not have been random, but part of a diabolical scheme. What Maggie doesn't realize is that she too has become a target -- and each clue brings her closer to a shocking, unimaginable fate.

With the sense of swiftly mounting danger that has made all of Mary Higgins Clark's works major bestsellers, Moonlight Becomes You is enthralling suspense.Amazon.com Review
Newport, Rhode Island:a world of old money, old names,and sinister secrets.Maggie Holloway, a fashion photographer,goes to visit an old friend -- but when she arrives, the friendis dead, the victim of a violent robbery.Maggie is stunned whenshe learns that she's the beneficiary of the will -- and evenmore stunned when she recognizes a pattern of murder in Newport society that will lead the killer straight to her. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (90)

Moonlight becomes you
One of her earlier ones. still good but not as good as her newer novels

Just okay
This was my first MHC novel and I thought it was okay, but not much more than that.It started well with a creepy prologue and then an enjoyable reunion between the main character, Maggie, and her former stepmother.There was enough suspense throughout the first half that I kept wanting to hear more, but as the revelations started coming, they just didn't gel for me.There were contrivances a-plenty; for example, the killer intentionally leaves a clue that moves the story along but is severely counterproductive to his/her motives as they are eventually revealed.Speaking of the killer, I'm not a big reader of murder mysteries, but the red herrings were so glaringly obvious that I had the identity of the head baddie guessed correctly halfway through and that of his/her accomplice at the ¾ mark. The whole subplot about the lawyer felt like padding and could have been cut with no loss. By the time I was finished, I had the impression MHC had learned about Victorian bell ringers and thought it would be a nifty idea to build a story around.Unfortunately, the final product required too much suspension of disbelief for my taste.

The characters were developed? I missed that...
I am finally on the last chapter. I have been using this book for two weeks now, to put myself to sleep at night. While there seems to be an interesting plot beneath the surface, the surface is cluttered with two-dimesional cliched "nice" and "not nice" characters. I was surprised at the occasional sterotypical ignorant way charaters viewed people working in the funeral business - I don't think all people view them as creepy, etc., I think a certain percent realize what they do for society and are grateful some people take on the job of taking care of our loved ones after death. The one actually interesting charater in the book is from a family of morticians and is interested in death as it pertains to various cultures. Unfortunatley, he is pretty much dismissed as a creepy red herring. The other male characters are so bland I had a hard time telling them apart the first few chapters. The heroine is incredibly banal and perfect. I am to the point where every time I read about her sipping at her non-fattening drink (tea, etc.) and "nibbling" at her food it makes me roll my eyes. Of course she is thin, beautiful, wealthy, and incredibly talented. And apparently sexless. The plus is its a formulaic read - I've read at least two books by this author before and from what I can recall they are indeed great for a light pleasant read inbetween more meaty, absorbing and memorable books. I strongly recommend you check books by this author out from the library and spend your money on something with more depth like "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time". Now that is a book that stays with you.

Still Good Second Time Around
This is the second time that I read this book and found it well written and a quick read.Unfortunately, I remembered the identity of the killer halfway through the book but I still enjoyed it.Mary Higgins Clark is an excellant mystery writer and seldom disappoints.It is good enough not to be ready to put into the donation pile.

Good, but not exactly a page turner
After the terrible, terrible experience I had with Eleventh Hour (overall assessment: don't read that book even if you are forced to), I had to come back with a decent mystery.I had read Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark a while back and greatly enjoyed it so figured this one would redeem the genre.

Plot:
Maggie Holloway is a successful photographer in New York.She reunites with her beloved step-mother, Nuala Moore, at a family reunion and is invited to spend two weeks with her step-mom in Newport, Rhode Island.However, just as Maggie comes, Nuala is murdered.As Maggie settles into Nuala's home, she begins to realize that maybe the murder wasn't random and that maybe it was connected to the death of Greta Shipley, one of Nuala's friends living at a retirement center, Latham Manor.

Good:
Mary Higgins Clark writes and writes well.In Eleventh Hour, there were so many writing issues--missing transitions, juvenile writing--that are pleasantly absent in Mary Higgins Clark's writing.Her characters are real and not cardboard cutouts.The dialogue they speak makes sense given their personality, education, background, etc.She describes the surroundings well and knowledgeably (particularly when relating to the eccentric professor, Earl Bateman, and his monologues about death and its rituals).
Further, Moonlight Becomes You begins with an absolutely heart-stopping foreshadowing.I cannot see how anyone could read that beginning and not want to continue reading.I was a little hesitant about a mystery, but after that beginning, I was hooked.The middle was kinda slow (see below), but took off after the 250 page point and didn't stop until the very end.And the end--wow!I had predicted who one of the perpetrators was but the other was a complete surprise.
My favorite character is a tie between Neil and Earl.It was sweet to see how Neil liked Maggie and tried hard to find where she went on vacation.Then, to see Neil and his father hunt for Maggie--it was great and completely genuine.Also, I loved the relationship he had with his parents.And Earl Bateman was so different from the average man.His obsession--death--may seem odd (as every character mentions in the book), but is it that much different from people who are obsessed with video games?Comic books?Trading cards?Food?Cars?(You get the point.)

Bad:
Overall, a good book, but I still have a few complaints:
1. Slow plot.After the heart-racing beginning, it takes almost 2/3 of the book before the mystery really advances (of course, when it does, it is *awesome*!).In the meantime, we have two people get murdered and a woman who continually is too tired to investigate the things she comes across until the very end.I mean, if I heard something fall on the floor, I would hunt around until I find it not go "Oh, well, I'll get that later".Or when I find dirt in a pocket, not say, "Hmmm, better leave it there".Had Maggie been half as curious as she becomes in the end at this time, the book would have lost about 100 senseless pages that don't really go anywhere other than elaborate what the reader already knows (that someone is scamming people out of money, Latham Manor is creepy, the enormous cast, etc.).
2. Maggie Holloway.Our heroine is great, but not that awesome.She is rather stoic (somewhat understandable to others as she lost a spouse, but to the reader?) and icy.I don't see why she gets so chummy so quickly to Greta Shipley or to Laura Bainbrigde.I have no clue why Greta takes such a shine to an aloof, somewhat pleasant (when in social situations) woman.I mean, Greta meets Maggie twice and says, "I can see why Nuala was so excited to see you again".I just wished Clark would have told the audience how Greta knew this after two meetings.I see nothing particularly out of the ordinary about this woman.She got better at the end, but I really didn't care much about her at all.
3. Too many characters.While it is kinda neat to do the whole Murder on the Orient Express thing, I think that the number of viewpoints should have been halved.It is too hard to balance all that is going on and to bebop from Maggie to Greta, to Douglas to Janice to Dr. Lane to Neil to Neil's dad to Malcolm...I liked thinking, as I read the viewpoints, "Now, who is the bad guy?" but did Clark have to have almost a dozen different character viewpoints?

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Very extremely minor (one or two d*** and other crass words).I didn't perceive anything sexual in nature (other than a mention that Odile Lane, Dr. Lane's wife, had a boyfriend).Violence includes a woman bludgeoned to death and five women dying in their sleep.A woman is buried alive.

Overall:
Much better than Eleventh Hour but too slow.It takes too long to get to the mystery part, and there are too many characters.Also, the heroine was rather shallow, making it hard for me to be that invested in her.Probably a 3.5 stars, but since I can't give half stars, I'll be kind and round up to 4. ... Read more

Product Description

No one can get close to John Medina, the CIA's legendary Black Ops specialist who works in the shadows of the government's deadliest missions. He is a virtual invisible man, with no friends, many enemies, and a cloud of suspicion surrounding the death of his wife. And no one knows the dangers better than Niema Burdock. A sharp, steely-nerved communications expert, Niema and her husband, Dallas, worked side by side with Medina on an explosive mission that went tragically wrong.

She could hear it all play out, horribly, on the radio: Dallas set off the detonators at John Medina's command -- and found himself trapped in the crossfire. In a shattering blast, Niema's hope and her love were destroyed....

Now Niema has withdrawn to a quiet Intelligence position, and a safe -- if predictable -- existence that has helped her heal her scars from five years ago. And she never planned to see Medina again. But now John Medina needs her....

A French arms dealer is supplying international terrorist units, and John Medina must infiltrate his compound and crack the deadly ring. But only Niema can plant the undetectable bugs needed to nail the dealer -- a feat that begins by going undercover and winning his trust. But when their careful strategy begins to crack, Niema and John take flight -- and find their partnership sparking with an erotically charged, unquenchable electricity. In a world of deception, one thing is clear: John Medina has once again set Niema on a freefall into danger and desire -- and one can't exist without the other.Amazon.com Review
Setting: contemporary Virginia, France, Iran
Sensuality:7

CIA agent John Medina and electronics expert Niemi Burdock sharea violent past: the two were part of a covert operation that wenttragically wrong, resulting in the death of several people. Now, fiveyears later, their paths cross again and John, whose love for Niemihas only grown over time, is determined to keep her in his life forgood. Having spent the intervening five years living a solitary, staidexistence--due to feelings of guilt over the ill-fatedoperation--Niemi is somewhat reluctant to reenter the shadowy worldshe once inhabited. Still, she can't resist the lure and excitement ofdanger when John asks her to join him on his latest mission todiscover the origins of a deadly new explosive already in use byterrorists.

Concocting a plan to reveal the source of theexplosive, the two enter into a dangerous masquerade, walking atightrope between safety and death, while passion boils beneath thesurface. Unaware of John's feelings, Niemi fights her physicalresponse to the legendary agent as her emotions, in frozen limbo forthe last five years, thaw with astonishing speed.

First introducedin Kill and Tell, agent John Medina is as intriguing as theperilous world he operates in. Watching him in action, à laJames Bond, is exhilarating--as is the single-minded intensity of hisfeelings for Niemi, whose ability to hold her own with John--on both apersonal and professional level--and with the host of terrorists,spies, and double-dealers the pair encounter is impressive to say theleast. Throw in a couple of chilling chase scenes, some romanticinterludes hot enough to peel paint from the walls, and one or twobigger-than-life internationally connected characters, and you've gotthe latest from Linda Howard--a romantic thriller that's sure to becoming soon to a bestseller list near you. --Lois Faye Dyer ... Read more

Customer Reviews (180)

Spy suspense
The Story
Niema was a witness to her husband's murder five years ago. John Medina was there to take care of her and get them out of the country safely. Now five years later John Medina is just as interested in Niema as the first time he saw her. After five years Niema is still single and John makes his move. He has to go on a black opsmission and talks Niema into it. A new explosive is being made and is unstable compound. John needs to steal information and plant a bug in the arms dealer's phone line. Deep undercover Niema has more fun than she's had in years. Together Niema and John must make it through the op trusting each other is the only way out.

Thoughts
The book is fast paced and interesting. I read it all in one sitting. Niema and John's relationship was complicated and romantic. Their attraction is a force that's uncontrollable. I love Linda Howards book, the queen of romantic suspense. This book is well written, very intellegent and witty. It's not my favorite of hers, but its good all the same. If you enjoy a good spy novel with suspense and romance this is the book for you

the usual Howard greatness
Young widow of Navy SEAL goes undercover to bug computer of French weapon's dealer.She pretends to be the love interest of attractive & mysterious Mr. Temple, who's really a special ops guy who was with heroine & the rest of their Special Ops team when her husband died 5 yrs ago & who's kept tabs on her because of his personal interest in her.

This romance-suspense is an exciting Howard book.The action-suspense kept me on my toes & the romance engaged my emotions.Sexual chemistry sizzled & culminated in a passionate love scene, even though it didn't occur until 3/4 of the book. Good pacing

Well recommended.

All The Queen's Men by Linda Howard
Fantastic Book!! You will really enjoy this one. It's got exciting intrigue and great sexual tension between the two main characters. I've reread this book at least 4 times.

Loved it!
I loved this book!Try to read Kill and Tell first, because it will give you a little background or lead-in to John Medina's history.Both books are fabulous if you love a little bit of cop, CIA/spy and romantic story - you can't go wrong!I give Kill and Tell and All the Queen's Men both 5 stars!

Favorite LH Book
This is the first LH book I ever read and it remains one of my favorites.For those of us who love espionage books with a lot of romance thrown in, this is the one by which all other books are compared. ... Read more

Product Description
Mary Rose's brothers never knew what kind of stray she would bring home next. Her latest is an Englishman in need of training in frontier living.Amazon.com Review
Mary Rose Clayborne is as well-protected by her four adoptivebrothers as any woman in Blue Belle, Montana could be--until LordHarrison Stanford MacDonald comes to town and she finds herself falling in love.How can Mary Rose keep her family together and learn to acceptHarrison's questionable past?This story of love and adventurein the Old West will keep you turning the pages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (84)

Awesome
I really loved this story. It had some of the hottest sex scenes too. I thought the Claybornes were absolutely hysterical. The story definitely held my interest, and while there were a few pages that were a little boring and unnecessary, I would absolutely recommend it.The boys cracked me up every time.

OMG MY FAV BOOK EVER
This has every thing! Its a great sweet romance and I can't wait to read the sequels!! Its that goods!!!

For the Roses
Book is in great shape, have not read it read, but looks like a good one.
Book came in timely manner, and would order from seller again.

i have read over and over again
What a WONDERFUL book! I saw the movie which i liked, ok but my mom convinced me that i must read the book because it was so much better. Try 100x better! The movie portrays Mary Rose as quite the selfish girl and kills off Cole plus portrays Adam as being deathly ill at the end. They also don't portray the bond that the brothers and Mary Rose share, the movie makes it seem as if Mary Rose is all that kept them together and they disband when she leaves Rose Hill. this does not happen in the book, you can feel the love between all of them.

I especially love the letters to "Mama Rose" in the book, it really helps you see how Mary Rose was raised in a loving family of "brothers". They really are a family in all sense of the word except for being blood related. The romance between Harrison and Mary Rose is excellent, you can see them falling in love, developing respect and understanding for one another throughout the book. GREAT bit of mystery, too and an excellent end to Adam's secret past. Excellent, Excellent read. I am reading it again for the third time and still knowing what happens.... can't wait to read what happens next :)

Too explicit
If you like reading explicit sex scenes, this is the book for you.If you want a real story, thoughtfully crafted, with an intricate plot and living characters, this is not the book for you. ... Read more

Product Description

Dr. Toby Harper works the night shift in an emergency room. She spends her daytime hours alone with her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. When elderly Alzheimer's patients from the same retirement home start dying mysteriously, Toby is the only one suspicious enough to investigate. As a result she finds herself, her mother, and her own sanity at risk.Amazon.com Review
Former romance author and medical doctor Tess Gerritsen iswriting in a new genre: medical suspense. Advertised as her"first novel," Harvest jumpedonto the New York Times bestseller list and thus legions of newfans were introduced to the work of this talented author. Gerritsen'ssecond thriller, Life Support, is as moving as any of herromances. Dr. Toby Harper works the night shift in an emergencyroom. More comfortable with the steady horror and tedium of emergencycare than with a normal lifestyle, Toby alienates herself sociallyfrom her peers and from her sister. She spends her daytime hours alonewith her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. When elderlyAlzheimer's patients from the same retirement home start dyingmysteriously, Toby is the only one suspicious enough toinvestigate. As a result she finds herself, her mother, and her ownsanity at risk. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (74)

What's Happening Here?
Short but still a thriller, Life Support had my attention right away. Who was doing what to this teenaged prostitute? And why? What did it have to do with the sudden deaths of older people, including Dr. Harper's mother?

Gerritsen's medical expertise is obvious in this chilling novel. What is killing these elderly but apparently healthy people?Is there more than one culprit involved in this coverup operation? Will Dr. Harper figure out who the bad guy is before it's too late? I missed Rizzoli and Isles in this book but knew there had to be a surprise ending in which things would work out for the good guy or gal with or without their assistance. I wasn't disappointed.

Read it!
This is one of those books that I find hard to summarize without giving away spoilers or too much information, sometimes even the ending. So this time around, I will not try to write one.

However, I can say that this is Tess Gerritsen's second medical thriller book. Tess Gerritsen is one of my favorite suspense/thriller authors, if not my ultimate favorite. This novel did not fail.

If you have a faint-heart, can not stand even the slightest mention of blood, then this is probably not for you. Because just on the very first page, there is already a mention of these things; things that Gerritsen describes so well.

I really love Gerritsen, as you, by now, can already see. She writes all the scary things that get to your head at night (not talking about ghosts though), and her books are fast-paced and has so much action that you can't dare miss.

Life Support is not an exception. It was good. Read. it. =)

Life Support
Book arrived quickly, a real steal for the money!Great reading!I love Tess Gerritsen books!Thumbs up!

Medical Thriller at its best
I reallly love Tess Gerritsen's books.She writes wonderful stories that scare you to death and that are very fast paced.Aptly described as a page turner, they are very hard to put down.

Where she shines in the genre is in character development. Somewhere on the roller-coster ride story, you come to know and care about her characters.

This story is about a single, thirty-something ER doctor, who is also taking care of her vulnerable, alzeheimer's afflcited mom. The local ER is a small town type where there are ups and downs in activity, but usually on the low to mid area.

Her life takes its first turn when in one night she loses a cardiac patient to death and loses a confused elderly patient to (well no one knows). He was in the ER strapped to a bed when the cardiac patient arrived, and then he was no where to be found.

From there the pace revs up until Dr. Toby Harper is being attacked from all sides.She is being attacked at work for incompetence, and (well I won't give up the whole plot to you), leave it to say, she is even being accused of murder and the police have a warrent out for her arrest.

I will tell you that Toby is a caring and tenacious lady.She is smart and not easily thwarted when she senses that something is very very wrong. This is why she is introuble.The forces out to get her are real, rich, well respected in the community, and will do anything to shut her up. (Sort of reminds you of Coma).

I would recommend this book for anyone intersted in a fast paced, well written medical thriller.

So-so medical thriller
Just finished Life Support by Tess Gerritsen this evening. I read my first Tess Gerritsen 4 years back and reviewed it here. It was book # 2 in her Jane Rizzoli-series and it was called The Apprentice. I wasn't impressed. Later on I picked up a couple of other Gerritsen-books and found that I enjoyed them. So it didn't take long to pick up Life Support and get reading. The story is about ER doc Toby Harper and about how a normal and perhaps a little boring life can deteriorate in a matter of weeks, which is was happens to Toby when she stumbles across a conspiracy involving a luxurious retirement home, young prostitutes and her own mother, suffering from Alzherimer's. One slow night in the ER, Toby receives an elderly man who is naked and confused and found wandering the streets of Boston. Before Toby can diagnose him, he has disappeared into thin air and no matter what Toby and her staff do, he remains missing. Toby cannot get him out of her head and finds out that he was a resident in the luxurious retirement home Brant Hill. Soon she smells something fishy going on in the Brant Hill retirement home and she begins her own investigations, going against the wish of several colleagues and doctors from Brant Hill. Then unpleasant things begin to happen to Toby herself, and in a matter of a few weeks, she doesn't know whom to trust and whom not to trust. All in all this is a pretty good plot and the book is also relatively well written. BUT! I like a medical thriller as much as the next girl, but this one wasn't fast paced at all. It was also too easy to guess the plot and the character development was lacking. It was hard to find any sympathy with the main characters who just felt one-dimensional and slightly annoying. Still, Life Support is an easily read and entertaining little medical thriller, but I am sure Tess Gerritsen can do much better than this. ... Read more

Product Description
4 Audio Cassettes in slipcover. Abridged. ... Read more