All Night Long [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Whether writing as Amanda Quick, Jayne Castle or Jayne Ann Krentz, this author knows how to mix a sure-to-please readers' cocktail: Take 2 parts suspense, blend in 1 part sex, add a dash of surprises, and garnish with a satisfying conclusion. It's irresistible - after one sip you down it. Or, in the case of All Night Long read it from cover to cover.

Set in Dunsley, a small northern California town bordering a lake, Krentz's latest romantic suspense novel loses no time in painting a chilling scene. The Prologue is related in flashback as Irene Stenson remembers a summer some 17 years ago. She had been out with her best friend, wealthy and privileged Pamela Webb. Things didn't seem right when she arrived home. The porch light was off - her parents never left the house dark when she was out. Hoping to avoid recrimination for her tardiness she went around to the back door, thinking she could sneak into her bedroom. However, she couldn't open the door, something heavy seemed to be blocking it from inside. She pushed. Her screams were "high, desperate, frantic cries of grief, horror and denial" when she saw the bloody scene on the kitchen floor.

The deaths of her parents was determined to be a murder-suicide, and teenaged Irene left Dunsley forever. In the intervening years she has been haunted by the dark, unable to sleep unless the room is well lit, terrified of night places.

Now, some 17 years later she has received an email from her friend, Pamela, pleading with her to come back. What could possibly be so important that Pamela has to see her after all this time? It seems that question will remain unanswered as Pamela is found dead, pills and booze by her side. Her body is found in the home of her father, Ryland Webb, a U.S. Senator who has a new young wife and a sure shot for the presidency. Pamela's death is declared a suicide.

Irene doesn't believe that any more than she believes that her parents' deaths were a murder/suicide. Where can she turn? The townspeople are determined to consider her "not right" after the shock of finding her parents - she could surely use a friend and she finds him in an unlikely place.

Luke Danner, a former Marine, now owns Sunrise on the Lake Lodge, the string of cabins where Irene is staying. He's gruff, used to barking orders, yet very attractive. He's everything a Krentz hero is - honorable, brave, strong. Yet, he has some problems of his own. Of course, there's chemistry between the two that develops intriguingly.

While Irene had intended to put Dunsley in her rear view mirror as quickly as possible, she knows that she must find the truth that has been hidden for so many years and why keeping it secret is so vital to the present.

One more exciting read from the indefatigable Jayne Ann Krentz.

- Gail Cooke

At the tender age of fifteen, Irene Stenson's world changed over night. Irene's summer night had been spent with her friend, Pamela Webb, who is U.S. Senator Ryland Webb's wild daughter. Pamela dropped Irene off on that fateful night. Irene entered her dark house to find her parents' bodies in the kitchen. It was labeled a murder-suicide and the case was quickly closed. Irene left the town of Dunsley with a relative, hoping never to return. She could never bring herself to believe that her father, Dunsley's Chief of Police, would murder his wife and then turn the gun upon himself.

It is a little over fifteen years later that Irene is contacted by Pamela via email. Irene is now a reporter for the Glaston Cove Beacon, a small town newspaper. The email message is coded and sounds desperate. Pamela insists that they meet in Dunsley and that the night Irene's parents died is involved. Like it or not, Irene must face the house of blood and darkness that has haunted her dreams for years.

Luke Danner may be out of the Corps, but his mind set is still that of a Marine. Luke saw too much during the last two years of duty and his family fears for Luke's sanity. To get away from everyone and think in solitude, Luke purchased the lodge cabins near the lake in Dunsley and rents them out. There is not much business during this time of year, but he has one tenant, Irene Stenson. To Luke, information and clues are like dots; and he enjoys connecting dots. One thing is for sure, the lady in cabin number five has a lot of dots around her. Being the Marine that he is, Luke barrels his way into her problems and begins connecting some seriously dangerous dots. Luke is with her when Irene finds Pamela's body. It looks like she overdosed on booze and pills, but those dots just do not connect. They connect even less so when Pamela's house is torched shortly afterward. No one in town in talking either. Irene may be from an old town family, but everyone in town is too scared of Senator Webb. Irene and Luke are on their own!

**** There is not enough focus on the two main characters. Even though the author supposedly still writes Contemporary Suspense, she seems to be leaving it for regular fictional stories, much to her fans' disappointments. This story is very good. The plot is sound. However, I did not REALLY come to care for Luke or Irene until a humorous family intervention breakfast, well past the half way point of the novel. From there on, the two main characters clicked beautifully! There are two other ex-Marines in the story. One is in town, the other is a corporate investigator. I have high hopes that Ken Tanaka, the investigator, will get his own story told in a future novel. All-in-all, this is not as good as her older tales, but it is a very good story that will please Krentz's fans. Recommended. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Irene Stenson was only fifteen when fate changed her life forever. It was that night that she discovered her parents dead in the family kitchen. Ever since that night Irene has been plagued with fear of the dark having to sleep with lights on. Seventeen years later Irene is forced to face the past all over again when her childhood friend, Pamela, contacts her. Pamela is desperate to talk with Irene, but insists that it has to be in Dunsley, the town she used to live in as a child. Pamela tells her she has to talk to her about the night her parents died. Irene is apprehensive about going back, but knows she has to find out what Pamela knows.

When Irene arrives in Dunsley, she rents a cabin from Luke Danner. Luke may have left the marines, but it is true what they say about once a marine always a marine. He immediately can tell that Irene is troubled after he witnesses her fear of the dark, and appoints himself her protector. As determined Luke is to keep her out of trouble, he is with Irene when they discover Pamela's body. It is apparently a suicide, but neither believe that story especially when her house is burned to the ground shortly after. When they start to dig, it is revealed that Irene's parents may have been murdered like she has suspected for years. Irene and Luke must solve these questionable deaths, or they may not survive to have a future together.

I liked both characters Irene and Luke. They play well off each other, and I was rooting for them to solve this mystery.