Avon Books (Paperback) ISBN 0-380-81550-8
Too many plot lines overburden It Happened at Midnight. The central story follows Michaela Langtry and Harrison Kane II. Michaela loses her glamorous job at a New York television station after filing a sexual harassment suit against her boss. She returns home to the Langtry ranch in the rugged mountains of Wyoming, hoping the scenery and friends of her youth will help her emotions heal.

Harrison Kane II never left Wyoming. He built a corporate empire, and he wants Michaela. He's wanted her since his teen years. Only Michaela can break through the thick wall of logic that surrounds and protects Harrison. He carries his own wounds from an abusive childhood and a crazy mother.

Enter a new subplot. Harrison's crazy mother stole Sable, the Langtry baby, the year Michaela turned four. Of course, none of the Langtrys ever recovered from this terrible tragedy, a fact which London brings to the reader's attention all too often. The kidnapping haunts Harrison, who spent a fortune trying to find Sable. Michaela mentally replays the kidnapping scene too many times.

Michaela goes to work for Harrison at his struggling television station. Sparks fly between them. This time he won't let Michaela get away, but she keeps punching holes in his rational composure any way she can.

Melodrama saturates this novel. To complicate matters further, London adds another subplot: the long-lost journal of the first Langtry who settled in Wyoming and married a Native American. This journal distracts more than enhances the story. But the conflict between the high-charged Michaela and the cool, in control Harrison sizzles. Their romance kept me reading, even through all the excessive plot detours.

Doris Valliant

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