Smoke Screen

June 30, 2008
At the start of this scorching if somewhat formulaic thriller from bestseller Brown (Play Dirty
), Charleston, S.C., TV reporter Britt Shelley wakes up in bed next to the dead body of police detective Jay Burgess. While Jay had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the authorities suspect foul play. Jay's former best friend, ex-fireman Raley Gannon, suffered a similar shock five years earlier, waking up next to party girl Suzi Monroe's naked corpse after a party at Jay's home. Raley had been investigating a fire at a local police station that took seven lives, despite the heroic efforts of Jay and several other cops, one of whom is now South Carolina's attorney general. Cleared of Suzi's death, Raley eventually teams with Britt to look into a nasty arson coverup. Brown laces her dependable romantic fireworks with a solid action-filled plot, though readers should be prepared for a few stereotypes, including a limp-wristed gay, a macho skinhead and a power-mad female politician.

Narrator Victor Slezak is masterful at spinning this thriller, which he delivers in Southern drawls listeners will savor. Packed with twists and turns, the story features characters listeners will love to hate and can't help but love. The last thing Charleston news anchor Britt Shelley remembers is going to meet with an old flame, a cop who was one of four heroes in a fire five years earlier. He's promised her the news story of her career. The next thing she knows, she wakes up to find herself in bed with him. He's dead, she's charged with murder, and she has no memory of how he died. Brown is an expert at romantic suspense, and this is a great listen. A.C.P. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

August 1, 2008
Browns latest thriller offers a lively twist ona familiar premise: an attractive man and woman who cant stand each other are forced to work together to unravel a mystery.He is disgraced fireman Raley Gannon, whose career went up in smokewhen he was found in bed with a dead woman. She is newswoman Britt Shelley, who pursued the story relentlessly. Now Britt is in the same predicament: after meeting police officer Jay Burgess for a drink, Britt wakes up disoriented and groggyto find Jay dead beside her. Jay and several of his fellow officers were deemed heroes five years ago when a fire broke out at the police station, but the night he died, he told Britt he had something to confess to her. Now the prime suspect in Jays murder, Britt finds herself forming an unlikely alliance with Raley. Brown is undeniably a master of romantic suspense, and readers will be completely engrossed in this involving mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)