Review: Suspicious ways
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 29, 2013
This is one for yachting enthusiasts. In Sydney Harbour American Ali Graham is running a charter business alone since her father's death, and the economic downturn causes the bank to foreclose. Jackson McKenzie tells her he has bought up her loan - but she hasn't seen him since one night four years ago, and her life has changed.Ali's mother's serious illness takes all her money and the beautiful yacht is the last asset she owns. Ali distrusts Jackson's motives, and he distrusts her possible relationship with Zane, a sleazy playboy. Jackson asks Ali to dinner and in between discussing GPS and sloop racing they rehash personal matters. Ali wants to rekindle their relationship, but not while Jackson could take away her yacht, and Jackson quietly resents her chartering for Zane, who is rumoured to be selling drugs. Ali heads off on her charter to the Solomon Islands, desperate to earn money, while Jackson fumes about the situation, not realising that Ali is now in personal danger from Zane. Stormy weather ahead....Lexxie Couper has written a detailed tale of yachting, set against the cancelled charters and company takeovers that make life so hard for any small business. I felt that her characters should have shared more and not jumped to so many conclusions, but both were solitary types. Ali was determined not to appear vulnerable but at only 24 she needed all the help she could get. I liked the writing, which didn't hesitate to show the underside of this world, and felt it would suit sport sailors more than others.