Masquerade

January 1, 1996
The publisher's claim that Lynds will be the ``first bestselling female author of international suspense'' is hollow-and a bit surprising, given that at least one bestselling female author of international suspense, Linda Davies (whose Wilderness of Mirrors is reviewed below), is a fellow Doubleday writer. But Lynds does an admirable job in her debut novel of aping some of the top male international suspense writers of our era, especially early Ludlum, as she tosses into a swiftly moving narrative stream a vast and dangerous conspiracy, an array of improbable coincidences, several rogue government agents, a legendary international assassin (the ``Carnivore'') and a nearly friendless innocent caught in the middle of it all. Amnesiac Liz Scarsborough awakens to a house and husband she can't remember, to be told that she's an ex-CIA agent who has been living in hiding from the Carnivore. Liz believes that story for only a little longer than readers will, and she soon finds herself on the run from a gallery of threatening figures, heading for Paris in the company of a very neatly introduced fellow agent and incipient love interest. The resourceful heroine is captured but escapes, is recaptured but escapes again, in a dizzying sequence of action scenes that eventually involves a doppelganger, mind-bending drugs and brainwashing. Thriller fans may not find plausibility in Lynds's first, but they certainly will find the sort of teeth-grinding suspense that they crave. Major ad/promo; author tour.

Starred review from June 29, 1998
Parallel stories told in the distinct voices of Jane Turner and Phil Beaumont (last seen together in Escapade) merge in this witty and beguiling mystery set in 1923 Paris. American expatriate Richard Forsythe, acknowledged dilettante and wastrel, is found dead in his hotel room with his German mistress, Sabine von Stuben. The police have ruled the deaths a double suicide, and the case is officially closed. But Richard's determined mother has hired the Pinkertons to delve into it, and Jane, a British operative who is placed undercover as governess to a different branch of the Forsythe family, gleans invaluable details from Richard's 18-year-old cousin--who is quite smitten with her. Her wry and perceptive observations are penned to a British friend. Phil, a shrewdly observant American, narrates his side of the story in a straight first-person voice. A Pinkerton who can work equally well with corrupt Parisian police, smug aristocrats, violent drug dealers or his gourmand French counterpart, Phil produces information that definitely suggests that Richard Forsythe was murdered. The book is wonderfully rich in detail and atmosphere, offering riveting scenes in sewers and salons, as well as over-the-top cameos by Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein. Best of all, when Phil and Jane finally cross paths, they provide some electrifying moments. This deftly told mystery, a delightful mix of high society and the demimonde, offers readers a terrific imaginary junket.