SHOW NO FEAR

Author: Marliss Melton ISBN: 9780446509275 9/2009 SUSPENSE Publisher: GRAND CENTRAL

FEAR HAS A WAY... Lucy Donovan always gets her man. As a fiercely independent CIA agent, she's survived hundreds of death-defying missions. But her latest may just get her killed. Weighed down with a secret she's desperate to keep, the last thing Lucy needs is to be sent undercover with a man who brings out the best—and the worst—in her. OF GETTING YOU KILLED Navy SEAL Gus Atwater never turns down an assignment, even if it means working with the only woman he's ever loved and lost. So with a volatile mix of desire and distrust, Lucy and Gus confront their tangled past. Pretending to be man and wife is risky enough, but now the clock is running out. As their mission escalates from desperate to deadly, will Lucy's secret expose them both?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

SHOW NO FEAR is not my favorite Melton book. I am not drawn to the storyline or the characters. I want to care about the them and their plight, but I don't feel the tension or pull I should, considering their circumstances. The writing just does not do it for me.

In the beginning of the story, I am intrigued by what is about to take place, but as the story goes on I became tired and distracted by the heroine and her "I work alone" mantra, as well as the forced interaction between her and the hero. Their relationship is not romantic, and it's not tension-filled. It simply is.

*Spoiler Alert!* What really turns me off in this book is the scene where some women are horribly brutalized in front of the hero, and yet he comes back to camp ready to get it on with the heroine. I had a hard time finishing the book after reading that.

Shannon Johnson