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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

In Their Footsteps


****½ In Their Footsteps by Tess Gerritsen. Romantic suspense.









This is one of those hidden gems you sometimes find. I got it for 20¢ at a flea market several years ago because I recognized the author's name, but I didn't expect anything more than a quick, easy read. I was very pleasantly surprised.

British socialite Beryl Tavistock meets the mysterious American Richard Wolf when his car nearly collides with her horse on the road to a party at her family's country house.

She receives a bigger jolt at the party when she learns that her parents, who'd been spies, hadn't died in the line of duty 20 years ago as she'd thought, but instead in a jealousy-fueled murder-suicide.

But when Beryl tries to learn more, she finds herself in danger and in the middle of international espionage, and Richard Wolf always seems to be in thick of it as well.

I'm a sucker for spy stories, anyway, and this was like Len Deighton with romance. Lots of fun, intrigue, and page-turning action, from the British country house, to Paris, to Greek isles, to Berlin. And as the mystery unfolds, so does the romance between Beryl and Richard.

They're very much espionage-novel types--I'm not really sure how to explain it, other than to say that if you read older spy stories, particularly Deighton's, you'll recognize them. Maybe it's the writing style that makes me think that. The conflict between Beryl and Richard has to do with trust, but in a spy story, that's a much better conflict than the trust issues I complain about (#13) in other romances (#16).

If I'd read this one in 1994, I'd have been reading romance a few years earlier. As it is, the frontispiece says there's a sequel--the story of Beryl's brother Jordan. I think I'm going to have to search for it.

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Comments:
Hmmm...romantic suspense....you know I heard about Tess Gerritsen through our friend Angela (from our JDRobb group) and she mention about how good Tess Gerritsen is. Maybe I give this one another think over and a shot :)

Great review as always...and WELCOME BACK! I surely miss you! :)
 
Julia,
Keep in mind that this is a 13-year-old book. Tess Gerritsen writes medical thrillers now, not romantic suspense.
 
Uh oh....okay than I need to rethink more LOL! What kind of medical thriller, do you know?

Angela probably told me but I forget about it....
 
Yeah, you'd probably have to ask Angela. I don't think I've ever read one of her medical thrillers. I don't think they're romances, but I don't know for sure.
 
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