Review: A mixed bag
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 21, 2010
This one is a really hard one to rate. I will say it now holds the record for the book that kept me up the latest ( three thirty in the morning for heaven's sake! I just couldn't put it down.) The suspense and mystery parts of the story were SO GOOD but the romance and overall moral of the story was SO frustrating!There were really only two problems (ok, the writing wasn't top notch in places but that can be over looked), the first is concerning the romance between Jack and Bella. Jack is a hired assassin who has been in love with Bella for 10 years, she is in love with him also but they have kept their relationship on the best friend level because of his profession. When things blow apart and they find themselves on the run and fighting for their (and their loved ones) lives, their relationship takes a major turn bringing all the feelings to the forefront. Jack has been holding out in a big way, however, and Bella starts to uncover all the lies and deceit he has been employing against her (in order to "protect" her). At least 5 or 6 times the topic is brought up with both the characters stating they will need to discuss and work these problems out between them. Jack must explain his reasons to Bella before she can ever trust him again. With all the action, however, these HUGE issues never get resolved, they have been the elephant in the room through half the stinking book and it NEVER HAPPENS! They just smile and walk off into the sunset together. AGH!!!!The other problem is probably personal. The killer for hire concept with the killer, who murders whoever he's hired to just for the big money, and with no remorse whatsoever, being the "hero"- along with the contradictory plot where he is saving the son who's family have been assassinated by he and his associates just doesn't sit well. If there had been any redemption or remorse or change in attitude it would have worked for me. As it was, all good and bad just became a very dark gray. All were bad, the ones you root for are getting paid to kill indiscriminately, the ones you want to lose are also getting paid to kill indiscriminately, they're just trying to kill the ones we're rooting for. In the end, even the heroine goes to the dark side. Ick