Thomas Nelson (January 6, 2009)
Having only read one other book by Dekker I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one as the other book I read was a little too intense for my taste. Kiss however, while still edge of your seat suspense, was much more up my alley. Dekker and Healy pack a pretty serious dose of romance into this one that I don’t recall in the other Dekker book I read but they also manage to maintain a fast paced, action packed story with characters the reader comes to love, hate or want to love or hate despite something that makes them not quite up to par as a bad guy or good guy.
This particular plot gets into so many technical areas it would almost make your head spin except that these things are touched upon without getting into all the technical mumbo-jumbo that would generally accompany any mention of the subjects. Shauna wakes up from an alleged coma following an accident that she is told was her fault and is informed that she is also accused of drug charges because she was supposedly under the influence and there was a vial found in the vehicle. She doubts the veracity of these charges but without any memory of the events she cannot refute anything. As her recovery progresses she is given instructions for the experimental drug regimen (developed by her father’s pharmaceutical company) formulated to work with her specific DNA structure that has been administered during her hospital stay. Eventually she discovers that she is able to access others’ minds and grab memories from them. She has at this point also suspected that the drugs somehow erased her memory and kept her in a state of confusion and uncertainty. She is not sure that the memory grabbing is also a result, though unintended, of the drugs as well but no other explanation is presenting itself either.
One of her father’s employees, Wayne Spade, has been designated her bodyguard per se though in reality his assignment is to keep her in the dark as to the truth behind many things including the accident. She is told they were very close and the suggestion is made that they were on the way to a serious relationship before she lost her memory. When things start adding up to danger and people not being who they seem, Shauna starts to question not only her own memories or lack thereof but also who can really be trusted and how much her father really knows about what is going on at the pharmaceutical company as well as with his presidential campaign funds. Is all the messy stuff happening behind his back and who is really in charge? Will Shauna find out who is telling the truth and who is out to keep her in the dark and why? Read this adventurous mystery that keeps you glued to your seat till the end and presents twists and turns you’d never expect to find the answers. (ISBN#9781595544704, 336pp, $24.99)
Codicil:
Drop into Ted’s website or Erin’s for a chat. Click the bookcover above to purchase your own copy as well as read more about the book.
