Berkley Sensation (Paperback), ISBN 0-425-19069-2

Although In the Cold tilts a little heavily toward suspense, the romance -- more properly a love story -- waits and wonders throughout the entire work. However, the suspense kept me breathless and doing my own wondering to the last page. A very satisfying read, indeed.

Do I recommend it?

Yes, especially if you enjoy reading the work of an exceptional author who can take very flawed protagonists (translation: really messed up mentally) and make the reader not only like them but read faster and faster, hoping for their eventual success. The intricate plot, the trouble piled on top of trouble, and the emotional response of both hero and heroine melt together into a marvelous whole.

At 16, Ashley Marin fell prey to father and son kidnappers who needed a woman to do the work around their isolated cabin. Her stubborn refusal to cooperate resulted in her being chained for several months in an abandoned mine high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Chris Judge, a college student at the time, found her and carried her out of the mine. Traumatized, Ashley continues to fight several resulting maladies twenty years after the fact.

Now, Ashley's own teenage daughter, Lauren, undergoes the same fate -- snatched by the man Ashley believes to be the younger of her own captors. So, what does Ashley do? She calls her own hero, Chris, the man who saved her before. Maybe not a wise move.

A retired and possibly corrupt policeman, depressed, divorced and overwhelmed with guilt, Chris doesn't want to be a hero, but he remembers Ashley -- and knows his feelings for her linger. He goes to her side.

But will they find the girl in time or will Lauren die in the cold, lonely dark before they can find her?

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White's latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I've Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.

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