Deep Waters

February 2, 1997
Two disillusioned yuppies fall off the fast-track and into each others arms in this quirky romantic suspense novel from the ever-popular Krentz (Absolutely, Positively, etc.) Elias Winters, a well-known Pacific Rim wheeler-dealer, spent years plotting revenge against the man responsible for his father's fatal plane crash, only to be unable to destroy his enemy when he meets him face to face. Thanks to years of training by Hayden Stone, master of a martial arts philosophy known as Tal Kek Char, The Way of the Water, Elias sees that the empire his father's murderer has built will crumble on its own. Trying to fathom his future now that his quest for vengeance is over, Winters moves to tiny Whispering Waters Cove, near Puget Sound, to claim the legacy Stone bequeathed himDa pier, Crazy Otis Landing, and one of the stores on it, Charms and Virtues. In that dark curiosity shop, Elias meets 29-year-old Charity Truitt, a former corporate executive recovering from a nervous collapse and a broken engagement to a man so "big" he made her claustrophobic. Suspecting that Elias is a heartless speculator, Charity, whose small bookstore also stands on the pier, takes him to task. Romance blossoms, of course, as do complications from a murder in the lovers' midst, when the leader of a kooky religious cult turns up dead after falsely predicting the arrival of savior aliens. Drawn into the investigation, Elias and Charity ultimately apprehend the killer, even while attempting to solve their own mysterious relationship. Although light on suspense, Krentz's tale captures sexual tension with wonderful accuracy. Her Zen-like water-based philosophizing, however, scattered throughout the narrative ("To understand the waterfall, one must view the world from behind it") is, wellDall wet.

Due to overwhelming panic attacks, Charity Truitt left her position as CEO of her family's department store chain and relocated to a small town. When Elias, a high-powered Pacific Rim consultant and master of an imaginary martial art based on the study of water, inherits Crazy Otis Landing, Charity, as head of the shopkeepers' association, is sent to deal with him. The two get swept up in a murder investigation, followed by romance. Stephanie Diaz's ability to express emotions is impressive and suits the former executives perfectly, but it is in her presentation of the secondary characters, including a parrot named Crazy Otis, that the story shines. E.J.F. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine