Deadly Little Secrets [Mass Market Paperback]

It took just one book for Jeanne Adams to be added to my auto-buy list and her second and third books have only further solidified her position as one of my favorite "go to" romantic suspense authors. In "Deadly Little Secrets," she combines a tightly-woven plot with sizzling passion and intense suspense to once again create a story that enthralled me from beginning to end, keeping me on the edge of my seat and happily reading late into the night. And, if that isn't enough, she waited until I was proudly patting myself on the back for solving the mystery within the story before adding a twist that had me saying; "WHOA! I sure didn't see that coming!" I'm now eagerly counting the days until the next terrific story from this up-and-coming star of romantic suspense!

After a mission in Rome goes tragically wrong, CIA agent, Ana Burton is placed on probation and transferred to the highly undesirable Cold Case division in San Francisco while she awaits a final determination on the future of her career. Keeping a low profile, she quietly goes about her job until a ten-year-old cold case involving art fraud and multiple murders lands on her desk, causing all her instincts to go on red alert and leading her to billionaire art collector, Dav Gianikopolis and his chief of security, Gates Bromley. The chemistry between Ana and Gates is immediate, and not entirely welcome, and the scenes between the two are terrific! From beginning to end, they dominate the pages of this book with their personalities, drive and sizzling chemistry.

Gates is a man who has suffered too many losses in his life and will do everything in his power to keep those he cares for safe, including Dav, a man who is more brother than employer and Ana, a woman he's coming to care for more deeply each day. As Ana digs deeper into new leads on the case, it becomes apparent that there are people who will do anything to stop her, even commit murder. Gates is determined to prevent that from happening but, in a race against time, will he be successful? And, if not, who will pay the ultimate price?

With non-stop action, sizzling sensuality and a brilliantly complex mystery that kept me guessing, this is a book I could not put down. There are also intriguing secondary characters that I look forward to seeing again in Ms. Adams' next book and a heroine and hero who engaged my emotions and had me cheering, crying and holding my breath for their happily-ever-after.

I highly recommend one of my favorite books of 2010 - the thrilling, sexy and suspenseful Deadly Little Secrets!

~As posted at The Romance Dish.

A CIA field mission in Rome turns ugly leaving dead agents behind. Due to the botched Italy operation, field agent Ana Burton who worked the ill-fated mission is assigned to investigate cold cases in San Francisco. Her current inquiry is almost a decade old as an art fraud case led to five cruel murders.

While doing her investigation, Ana meets security expert Gates Bromley who works for art collector Dav Gianikopolis. Soon after they discuss her case and realize their attraction to one another, someone tries to kill Ana. Soon after the attempt on her life, intruders assault the Gianikopolis estate. Gates and Burton know someone wants this case to remain lost in the tundra.

Deadly Little Secrets is a terrific romantic suspense investigative tale as a cold case suddenly turns the heat up. Ana is a super lead as her confidence is degrees below zero; she prefers cold cases because the dead are already dead so she cannot be the cause. That is the irony of Deadly Little Secrets. Gates is a wonderful counterpoint to the heroine although some readers might feel he may be too skillful. Either way fans will enjoy this action-packed thriller.

Harriet Klausner

STORY BRIEF:
CIA agent Ana is brilliant with computer research and hacking. She is currently doing cold case research, working on a nine-year-old art fraud case. Several pieces of art were stolen and replaced with fakes, and several people were killed. Dav is a victim who lost paintings. Ana contacts him about the case and meets Gates who is head of security for Dav. Gates helps her with the case. They quickly develop feelings for each other. There are several attempts on both their lives. They don't know who is doing this or if the shootings are related.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I'm having trouble with this. It's not pulling me in. I've read ¾ of the book, and I feel like I don't know any more now than I did at the beginning. Ana is doing computer research here and computer research there. Some bad guys have conversations, but I still don't understand what's going on other than three different unrelated bad guy groups connected to Ana or the art case. I haven't been excited about anything.

I'm now at the end of the book. My thinking is what? What about the bad guys? It wasn't tied together or explained. They arrest one guy. Others are still out there. There were multiple bad guy groups involved, and I still don't know who did what or how everything was related. I was never in the bad guys' heads to understand their motives or gains, so there was no showing, but there was also no telling. It was not good. Only one guy was arrested, and he didn't have the paintings. The case is not over - but the book is. I feel like the author got tired of writing and just wanted to be done.

A secondary story involved someone shooting at Gates. That also was not explained well - just a short comment at the end. I wanted more details about the mind and motives of that bad guy.

Something else was odd. Almost all of Ana's investigation was doing searches on her computer. She didn't interact with people to gain information. In one scene she attended a fundraiser for the purpose of talking to certain people about the case, but she didn't talk to anyone, other than party chit chat.

The best part of the book - one intimate scene was nice and sexy.

OTHER BOOKS:
I've reviewed the following Jeanne Adams books.
4 ½ stars to her first book Dark and Dangerous.
2 ½ stars. Dark and Deadly
2 stars. Deadly Little Secrets

DATA:
Story length: 329 pages. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 5. Number of sex scene pages: 10. Setting: mostly San Francisco, California. Copyright: 2010. Genre: romantic suspense.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

CAUTION - MINOR SPOILER (about the couple separating):
Gate breaks up with Ana for her own good - to keep her safe. That's not a favorite device for me. And it was not well done. The way he did it was cruel and mean. Why couldn't he tell her the truth: that he loved her but wanted her to stay away until all this was resolved?

CAUTION - SPOILER ABOUT ONE OF THE BAD GUYS:
One of the bad guys owned a shipping company that had a connection to the stolen art. Through her computer searching Ana discovered that he used different names and was a bigamist. That was her big discovery, and they arrested him. But there was no evidence about the art fraud. Was he personally involved with the thefts? Was an employee of his doing it? Where was the proof that his company actually did something wrong with the paintings? I saw nothing that a prosecutor could use.