Caine, Rachel
DEVIL’S BARGAIN
Rachel Caine
Silhouette Bombshell 2005
Pb 288 pgs
ISBN#
0-373-51367-4
Don’t let the Silhouette name sway you: this story does not read like a
formula romance, but as a mystery about a female PI whose primary client’s boss
can see the future. Accurately. There is a little romance in the story, but only
a slight glimmering thread. The focus remains on the red envelopes Jazz
Callender receives and the strange instructions within. Jazz gets more than she
bargains for when she agrees to let a handsome New York City Lawyer set her and
another woman up in the PI business just so his boss can be their primary
client. James Borden is no devil but his future-telling convicted-killer boss
who sits in prison just might be (or maybe it’s the person who put him there…).
Jazz and her ex-FBI partner Lucia didn’t want to take this offer, but when
bullets start flying their way they find they can’t refuse. So they get sent on
the weirdest jobs, and somehow they’re all connected. But how?
There’s a lot of action in this story: it is not boring. Jazz is one tough girl,
and smart too. The creepiest thing about this story is the accuracy of the
information Jazz and Lucia get—someone out there really can tell the future! …or
is it more than one someone? No wonder Jazz and Lucia get caught in the
crossfire.
I came to this book expecting more on the romance end (because of the packaging). What romance that is within the covers is well done, without formulae or purple prose. But. I’ve read this author’s work by another publisher and know her romance can sizzle. DEVIL’S BARGAIN doesn’t sizzle. So I wonder if this publisher put constraints on what she was to include and not to include. If this is the case: Silhouette! romance readers want more! “The next morning” does NOT meet this reader’s expectations of a romantic bombshell! I am going to read the next book in this series, but only because the speculative hook is so good.
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