Secret sisters by Jayne Ann Krentz

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Piatkus, 2015. ISBN 9780349409368
(Age: Adult) Recommended. Romantic suspense. Jayne Ann Krentz is a best-selling author of romantic suspense, both historical novels and those set in the present. In Secret sisters she leaves the series for which she is so well known, and in this stand-alone novel, she brings together two young women Madeline and Daphne, who had been friends and secret sisters when they were young. A terrible crime at the hotel that Madeline's grandmother owned led to both families leaving the island when they were children, and it wasn't until her grandmother's death that Madeline has returned to the island to wind up her grandmother's affairs. Once at the abandoned hotel, Madeline uncovers secrets and feeling threatened and unable to trust the local police, she brings in Jack Rayner, her security expert, to lend a hand. With the assistance of his brother Abe, and reunited with Daphne, the four face danger and uncover a long buried mystery.
I enjoy romantic suspense and Jayne Ann Krentz never fails to write a compelling and often amusing romance with lots of mystery thrown in. The friendship between Madeline and Daphne is a highlight of the story and the theme of secret sisters an interesting one. Add to this two intelligent and capable young women, a dark and brooding man and his geek brother and a murderer on the loose and the reader has a great escapist read.
Good romantic suspense novels manage to have the mystery and suspense complementing each other and Krentz actually manages to have two romances: that of Madeline and Jack, and also Daphne and Abe, while at the same time tantalising the reader with clues to the mystery and keeping up the tension as one murder follows another. Right from the very first creepy chapter, when a man is standing in the shadows trying to decide which young girl he wanted to take, to the dramatic and unexpected denouement in the final chapters, the reader is taken on a compulsive ride, always wondering just what is going to happen next.
This is a perfect summer or holiday read, just right for fans of Jayne Anne Krentz, or those who love romantic suspense.
Pat Pledger

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