No Safe Place

It would have been difficult for any reader to rescue this painfully long and not very suspenseful political thriller. As it is, Alexander Adams does a credible job of leading the listener through the chaotic life of an Irish-Catholic presidential aspirant who happens to be following on the heels of his beloved brother, gunned down before the California Primary 12 years earlier. Adams's narrative tone is strong and clear but lacks warmth. Mercifully, he avoids the temptation to portray the characters through the collection of accents, Irish, Italian and African-American among them, that span the book's hopelessly contrived dialogue. J.B.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine


Susan Denaker's sultry voice is a perfect match for Ross's suspenseful mystery set in the bayous of Louisiana. Kate Delaney, a Chicago Homicide detective, travels south to investigate her twin sister's death and teams up with bad-boy former cop Nick Broussard. Denaker ably contrasts Delaney's by-the-book personality with Broussard's laid-back Creole charm. Denaker's occasionally slow, lazy delivery is a great foil for Ross's casual, chatty prose and perfectly captures the various Big Easy characters. The chemistry between Delaney and Broussard is explosive as is the secret they uncover in the action-packed conclusion. Denaker's diverse vocal range and warm, expressive voice make this a listening pleasure. S.C.A. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

January 15, 2007
Ross's return to the bayous of Louisiana sizzles with the sensuality and danger fans of her romantic thrillers have come to expect, as Chicago detective Kate Delaney travels to post-Katrina New Orleans to investigate the supposed suicide of her estranged twin sister. Once there, Kate finds she can't trust the NOPD, so joins forces with bad-boy private investigator Nick Broussard, a former New Orleans police officer recently thrown off the force. Their investigation turns up a killer, a plague of corruption and a mystery assailant whose target is unclear; is Kate the next victim of a serial killer, or are Nick's crime world contacts looking to silence him? Though Nick and Kate's instant attraction might seem predictable and precipitous—yes, she's a "no-nonsense, Joe Friday, Yankee police detective" and he's "the most frustrating man she'd ever met"—the scintillating love scenes it yields shouldn't disappoint. Though new readers will find Ross's casual, chatty prose style a love-it-or-hate-it affair, it pairs well with the Big Easy backdrop, and her deliberate pace pays off in the powerful, action-packed conclusion.