Run Jane Run

March 1, 1999
Tan delivers a second action-packed thriller starring tough, cynical British Secret Agent Jane Nichols (AKA Jane, 1998). When Jane's MI-5 superior, Mac, recalls her to London, she departs Savannah, Ga., leaving behind her lover, police chief Alex Callaghan, and the emotional entanglement she fears. Jane and Agent John Wiggins are assigned to rescue senior MP William Winthrup's kidnapped nephew. A wound Jane receives during the mission triggers nightmares about her parents' murder when she was six: Could Sir William have been one of their assassins? Mac sets her up as bait to trap Winthrup, then sends her to Savannah to recover from her wound; there, she discovers that someone has been stalking Alex. The plot expertly weaves together Jane's dangerous position as Mac's bait; her awakening memories, long repressed, of her parents; Alex's peril when the stalker becomes more violent and his fears about the stalker's identity; and the precarious relationship between Alex and Jane. The narrative's hectic pace can get cartoonish as villains die slam-bang and double crosses abound. Nonetheless, the novel is studded with welcome humor, and Jane and Alex make an electrifying pair sure to inspire cries for an encore appearance.

January 1, 1999
Tan, whose AKA Jane (Mysterious, 1997) introduced Woman of Steel Jane Nichols of the British MI-5 we have grown to know and adore, has put her secret agent into play again. This time petite, powerful, but never plain Jane must recall the horrific murder of her parents in Greece when she was little. Strangely, these deaths are connected to her current mission to save the worthless hide of a kidnapped aristocrat. Pulled from a cozy semiretirement with her lover in Georgia, Jane is simply awesome as she invokes disguises, wields weapons of serious destruction, and plays taut psychological games. Tan writes in cutting bursts of staccato energy, a style that mellows only for a few delectable passages of romance. As her boss's exemplary undercover operative, Jane gives readers a run for their money in this explosive tale of death and redemption.--Barbara Conaty, Library of Congress

January 1, 1999
Jane Nichols has a secret: in addition to writing bestselling mystery novels (under a pseudonym), she's also an MI-5 agent. When she's called back to duty, she leaves her comfortable home in Savannah, Georgia, to rescue the kidnapped son of a man whose continued support of MI-5 is vital to the service's survival. But things soon get mighty complicated: Jane discovers that the kidnap victim doesn't really want to be rescued and that his father may have had something to do with the murder of Jane's parents. The answers lie back in Savannah, with a man Jane thought she'd left behind forever. It's tempting to describe Jane as a female James Bond, but that isn't entirely accurate. Yes, there's plenty of romance and derring-do here, but Jane is a far more rounded character than Bond, and she's full of insecurities, self-doubts, and fears. More than 007-style romps, the Jane Nichols series offers well-told stories with lifelike characters and some genuine emotion. ((Reviewed January 1 & 15, 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)