Harper Collins (Paperback), ISBN 0-06-000253-0
Ashley Farrell spends a lot of her time in paradise -- the paradise also known as the splendid Lovelund Resort in the Virgin Islands, peopled with the famous, the rich and with many, many newlywed lovers. On this particular moonlit and lonely evening, however, she feels herself to be more out of place than usual -- both she and the man that she just met. A man who bobs very deadly in the wavelets that lap alongside the path to the beach.

Farrell assists with the production of an award-winning television dating game, and she gets to escort each week's winning couple on their prize -- a holiday weekend in the Virgin Islands. But too much time spent in the business of beautiful people makes Ashley feel rather disenchanted with the myth of physical perfection, and her jaded observations of the starry-eyed bachelorette and the predatory bachelor that she must chaperone on this particular weekend make very entertaining reading indeed!

Another mysterious someone has spent too much time in the business of beautiful beach paradises, and that unknown person's knowledge of the underlying ugliness in the islands brings suspense and fast-paced action to the novel. Mix this with the three or four threads of romance that Gavaler weaves through her story, and Pretend I'm Not Here richly deserves its billing of romantic suspense. As its cover teases, "Just another weekend in paradise -- sun, sand, romance...and murder!"

Pretend I'm Not Here races along, driven as much by Ashley's pursuit of another (live) sexy man whom she also meets in the Caribbean as on the speedily receding chances that either of them will leave the balmy islands alive. But don't neglect to notice the chapter titles! Each one comprises a frivolous questions from the TV dating game, including such gems such as, "Would You Kill for Love, and If So, Whom?" and "If Columbus Discovered You Naked on the Beach, What Would He Conclude About the New World?"

This debut novel from Chris Gavaler proves to be a light and satisfying page-turner. Enjoy it with chocolate when you're in the mood for some escapism.

Moira Richards

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