From Publishers Weekly
A punchy prologue to this disappointing romantic thriller pits ex-spy Sam Keeline, psychosomatically blind concert pianist Julia Redmond Austrian, and her peppery grandfather, Lyle Redmond, against her wealthy, wicked Redmond uncles. The plot coils around the final four days of Uncle Creighton's race for the U.S. presidency, during which Julia suddenly regains her sight but loses it again after witnessing a horrendous crime. Two mysteries are buried in the heart of this overcomplicated story: What originally caused Julia's blindness? And what happened to Russia's famed Amber Room, a treasure from the Winter Palace that disappeared from a Nazi train at the end of WWII and for which Sam, Julia's love interest, has long searched? Lynds (Masquerade) writes splendid action scenes, but though she expertly rides the roller coaster of Julia's alternately blind and seeing states, the off-again on-again affliction is hard to believe. Clever twists keep the fast-paced plot going for a while, but eventually it's weighed down with too many characters and too much repetition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
Concert pianist Julia Austrian's blindness, which tends to come and go in times of stress, is only one of the mysteries woven through this second thriller from Lynds (Masquerade, LJ 12/95). Like Elizabeth Lowell's Amber Beach (Avon, 1997), the focus of the excitement is the Nazi theft of artifacts from the fabled Amber Room in one of Russia's imperial palaces at the end of World War II. With the help of Sam Keeline, a disillusioned CIA agent, Julia discovers the connection between her grandfather and the murky origins of her family's wealth. But an assassin pursues her from London to Washington, and the scandalous implications of her discoveries lead to the highest levels of government and law enforcement on both sides of the Atlantic. Though the timing of Julia's recurring blindness sometimes seems contrived, the excitement of the chase and the deviousness of both sides are satisfying. Fans of Robert Ludlum, Linda Howard, and Tami Hoag will find this an exciting read.AKim Uden Rutter, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
