Review: Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 24, 2012
For those of you out there who happen to be in their late thirties and older (and perhaps some of you who are a bit younger), who doesn't remember waking up on a Saturday morning while your folks were still sleeping, tiptoing downstairs to the living room and turning on the boob tube to watch cartoons? I mean, back in the day (meaning the mid- to late 1970s), Saturday morning TV was actually watchable.Okay, I admit I am biased. The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Hour; the Krofft Supershow; Fat Albert; the Herculoids; and of course---Scooby Doo! For some reason, the latter program has seemingly survived nearly four-plus decades and is presently entertaining a new generation of Scooby and Shaggy followers. Zoicks!It's rather telling that a Hanna-Barbera cartoon was the catalyst for me liking and enjoying a good mystery. Within this particular genre can be found psychological thrillers; police drama; Japanese hentai and manga/graphic novel mystery, and one of the top sellers in recent times: the erotic murder mystery. Sandra Ross has continued in this aforementioned tradition with her title "Untouched: A Murder Mystery and Erotic Love Story."Blending both murder mystery and erotica may seem a bit unorthodox for some readers; nevertheless, Ross's prolific writing style has gained her many worldwide fans who thrill at her highly descriptive, passionate detail that has proven time and again to arouse even the most prominent skeptic who may scoff at such a modus operandi. Ross pursues and intertwines both styles to create a highly suspenseful read that is tightly written and well-paced."Untouched" unfolds with the protagonist, Abby, arriving home one late afternoon to discover that her friend and roommate, Abby, has seemingly disappeared. Nothing has been disturbed; her car keys and cell phone are undisturbed and her vehicle is in the driveway. Uneasy about how events are progressing, Abby calls Tara's boyfriend, David, and after a brief conversation, discovers that he hasn't heard from Tara, either.Tara has vanished, and no one has any inkling as to where she has gone.As time passes, eventually Abby enlists the aid of the local police, and discovers that an ex-lover, Ethan, has been assigned to cover the case. Despite their previous relationship, blatant lust and desire smolder just below both Abby's and Ethan's exteriors, and they realize that they are fighting a rapidly-losing battle to ostensibly maintain professional decorum. When Tara is eventually discovered murdered, not only do Abby and Ethan need to delve deeper into the reasons why Tara is the most recent victim of an unknown killer, but they must also resolve their highly-agitated mutually lustful state that rages between them.A sign of a skillful author is how well the plot and the characters have been developed. Ross has demonstrated numerous times that she is able to draw the reader into the fast-paced action, as well as into the snappy, clever dialogue that quickly unfolds between the characters. Like so many of her other works, Ross selects her words wisely and arranges them for maximum effect that lets the reader absorb and fathom the atmosphere and characterization within "Untouched."Ross has written an exciting story that is worthy of the coin being spent to download it. "Untouched" turns out to be a quick but mesmerizing read that keeps her loyal readers in suspense until the very end.