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4.0 out of 5 stars
Not as bad as the reviews, Jun 27 2004
First the criticisms. Yes, this book is sometimes quite slow, with Camp doing a lot of telling. It is an unfortunate necessity since the protagonists have lived with a sham marriage for 7 years. The reader needs to know their history, and there is no easy way to convey all that. So the first half of the book is a bit slow while the author gives the reader all the necessary info. In addition, if you've read the other books (or either) recently, the redundancy is annoying. Read some other things in between to alleviate that problem.Michael and Rachel have indeed built their own individual prisons that keep them from recognizing the truth about their relationship, their feelings, and each other. Indeed, they do not know each other at all. Their oh-so-polite marriage is something both want changed, but they feel helpless to do anything about it after so many years. But then rumors crop up, misunderstandings are set up, and the pursuit of truth leads to an untenable situation in which Michael must pretend he's his illegitimate half-brother, and Rachel must find an inner reserve of strength and struggle with what she thinks are adulterous feelings. Her "revenge" when she finds out that Michael's been deceiving her is priceless! I found the mystery in this book to be interesting and slightly surprising. I like it when I don't have it totally figured out well before the villain is revealed. The book also features a decent cast of secondary characters. Rachel grows a lot in the book, discovering inner depths and suppressed dreams. Michael shows that he's more than a kind but distant gentleman; he's also a highly intelligent investigator and talented master of disguise who has loved her since the day he met her. Get through the first 1/3 or so of the book, and the pace really picks up. As for the far-fetched idea that Rachel doesn't recognize her husband: they live apart most of the year, they really don't know each other well, they've never consummated the marriage, Michael is a master of disguise, Rachel hardly expects him to be doing what he's doing, and people tend to believe what they want to believe. Put all that together, and it's not quite so far-fetched for the short time that she's hoodwinked. She is still rather naive at that point in the story, after all. It's a 3 & 1/2 star book, but I'm giving it 4 stars to help its overall rating. It's really not a bad book.
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