Almost Home

December 1, 2008
Taking a break from WWII historical romance, Jenoff (The Diplomat's Wife
) delivers a cool, contemporary romantic thriller. Ten years have passed since American Jordan Weiss, a State Department intelligence officer, lived in Cambridge, England, where she suffered the loss of her gifted rower boyfriend, Jared Short, in an apparent drowning. After hearing from her former roommate and best friend, Sarah Sunderson, who has terminal ALS, Jordan transfers from Washington to the London office. She has a surprisingly quick reunion with Jared's friend Chris Bannister, a journalist who asks for her assistance in proving Jared was murdered. In a harrowing series of events, Jordan discovers Jared's death might be connected to the State Department's investigation of American and British companies that are laundering and funding Albanian mob activities. Jenoff keeps the pace brisk and the plot tight, flipping smoothly between Jordan's past and present while concluding with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger.

December 1, 2008
In the latest from Philadelphia attorney Jenoff (The Diplomat 's Wife, 2008, etc.), an American diplomat returns to London to face a personal tragedy and an international conspiracy.

Jordan Weiss has served in the trouble spots of the world. A career diplomat, she saw a colleague die in Liberia and is only back in Washington, D.C., to recover from a wound. But when her friend Sarah writes, asking for her, she knows she 's facing a truly terrifying assignment. Sarah is terminally ill, and she 's dying in London, the city where Jordan spent her postgraduate years coxing a men 's crew —and falling hard for one of the rowers, who died mysteriously weeks before graduation. As this nicely paced thriller opens, Sarah is pulling strings to arrange a transfer, and the action only picks up once she lands. Her new post has her investigating the Albanian mob, in the company of a sexy colleague, Sebastian. Another of her old crew, Chris, has turned up as well. Now an international journalist, he has uncovered evidence that Jared 's death was neither an accident nor a suicide, as Jordan long feared. Jenoff 's heroine has a lot on her plate, but she isn 't always up to the task. Granted, she is battling jet lag and heartbreak, but she constantly botches what should be routine work, ham-handedly bungling a first interview with a potential source and obliviously allowing both the men in her life to manipulate her. Still, the lucid writing, complete with lovely descriptions of Cambridge and London, make this a somewhat enjoyable read. By the end, although several double crosses add to the dubious believability of the book, Jenoff has us rooting for Weiss and her much more deserving buddy, Sarah.

For those who buy the heroine 's clumsiness, this thriller delivers politics and plot.

(COPYRIGHT (2008) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2009
Jenoff ("The Diplomat's Wife") does a masterly job of blending romance, friendship, loyalty, greed, spies, the political ambitions of the rich and powerful, and a bit of shady World War II history into a suspenseful and multilayered novel. American State Department employee Jordan Weiss manages to arrange a work assignment in England to be closer to her friend, Sarah, who is suffering with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Upon her arrival, Jordan finds that her assignment is not the desk job she initially anticipated but an investigation of the Albanian mob and a money-laundering scheme. Complicating Jordan's return to England is her memories of Jared, the college lover who apparently drowned ten years ago. But when she learns that Jared's death may not have been an accident, Jordan searches for answers. The novel moves along at a quick pace with an ending that deftly brings foreclosure to the plot's numerous red herrings while allowing just the right amount of ambiguity in the final pages. Readers who enjoy suspense stories with a good deal of character development will find much to appreciate here. Strongly recommended for popular fiction collections.Margaret Hanes, Warren P.L., MI

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2009
Jordan Weiss is an experienced agent with the State Department and has done tours of duty in some of the most dangerous places on earth, but she hasavoided London. A graduate student at Cambridge when her boyfriend died suddenly, she hasnt been ableto step foot in the country for the last10 years. But when one of her best friends from her Cambridge days tells Jordan shes ill, Jordan requests a transfer to be close to her. In London, another old friend contacts her and shares suspicions that her boyfriend was murdered. They quietly begin to investigate but soon find a much more tangled mystery than they suspected, and Jordan isin over her head with a case whose leads stretchback to the State Department. Jenoffstense, timely political novel issupported by authentic, emotional characters far from the usual standard-issue federal agents.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)