Review: An Interesting Mix...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 4, 2012
This book is hodge-podge of romance, mystery and action. It's like a cross between a Jason Bourne story and a Harlequin romance novel. Or a mix of a Lifetime Network Original Movie, the TV show Nikita, and the Wall Street Movies. I know that sounds confusing, but trust me when I say it's better than it sounds.Anita Gold and Ezra Paris are fascinating characters with rich, deep backstories that make them very interesting and likable and they have great chemistry together. The people closest to them are also have a lot of depth and personality (even Paris' deceased parents sound captivating) and even the minor characters play off our leading man & lady really well. And Mr. Conroy has a gift for imagery as he describes the various settings from New York at Christmas time to Paris' vineyard in Sardinia Island to the deserts, plains and jungles of Africa. And call me old fashioned, but I really liked Conroy's talk of honor and integrity in a world filled with greed and corruption. I felt like it really kept things grounded in a story that could've ended up being oversentimental & sappy.However, I had some issues with it. For starters, I would've preferred a better villain. I can understand having the antagonist(s) on the sidelines for mystery and not to get in the way of the love story, but I would've preferred one interesting, maybe even fun bad guy (ya know, someone you'd love to hate) instead of a bunch of one-note crooks. Someone to be the anti-thesis of Paris and Anita's father. A Gordon Gekko type who saw good in the evils he was doing and would think up a way to justify them even as he profited. Or at least an "invisible hand" the other bad guys would speak of nervously or who's name would pop up over all others in Anita's investigations. When short lived rebel thugs are more interesting than the men pulling the strings, that's a problem. Though this is a personal quibble and other readers might not mind so much. But they might mind the other problems.Until the last eighth (or maybe seventh) of the book, action scenes are reported ala Sheakespeare and it worked out nicely. Then things quickly get "24" ugly. It's quite jarring and feels unnecessary after the story has been fairly calm for so long. Anita becoming an action heroine at the last minute and smacking around thugs just didn't feel right to me. During the same time, the narrative becomes strangely preachy about what's going on in Zimbabwe and other such countries(though that might just be me).If you're looking for a story with a diverse mix of elements and well written characters, you've come to the right place. Things get out of hand near the climax, but until then it's both a moving love story and enticing mystery.