Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Krentz (Fired Up) describes a world where people will kill to get their hands on a book, but this disappointing series starter is unlikely to inspire such fervor. Abby Radwell, a rare book dealer with paranormal talents, likes to keep her business in the shallow end of the underground market. After she’s held at gunpoint, she uses her abilities to escape, only to have a blackmailer threaten to reveal her talents. Sexy mad scientist Sam Coppersmith offers to protect Abby and track down the blackmailer if she’ll hunt down a dangerous encrypted book in exchange. But Sam is interested in more than a business relationship, and the way their auras resonate makes sparks fly. Unfortunately, the contrived story is peppered with character inconsistencies, romance clichés, and plot twists that fail to surprise. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
The first book in a new ‘Dark Legacy’ trilogy, and Krentz clearly is on a roll.” —The Seattle Times
“A joy to read.”—USA Today
“Charming and compelling characters.”—St. Paul Pioneer Press
“A combustible combination of sharp wit, sizzling romance, and a riveting plot rich in paranormal-infused suspense.”—Booklist
“An engaging thriller.”—Midwest Book Review
Kirkus Reviews
In this launch of Krentz's Dark Legacy series, a psychic rare-book expert must wrest a valuable text from evildoers while resisting (or not) the uncanny charms of her client. Abby Radwell specializes in unlocking the secrets of a certain species of rare book, the kind that is encrypted with a psychic lock that can only be decoded by someone with special clairvoyance. Collectors of such codices are not your typical bookish antiquarians--since these tomes can wield dark powers, their aficionados usually have mixed motives for acquiring them. Referred by her mentor, Thaddeus Webber, Abby accepts an assignment from Sam Coppersmith, scion of a wealthy mining family, who occupies Copper Beach, his ancestral mansion on a remote island near Seattle. Abby's mission: Find a coded lab notebook that holds the key to unleashing the potentially deadly energy of crystals rescued decades ago from a destroyed Coppersmith mine. In the wrong hands, the book's secrets could trigger crystal Armageddon. The competition for the book has already impacted innocent victims: An elderly archivist is accosted in her home, and Thaddeus and a fellow book dealer die of suspicious heart attacks. Already on the run from a blackmailer and would-be kidnappers, Abby ignores her best friends' warnings to stay far, far away from Sam and the whole project. This is paranormal romance after all, and Sam and she have an instant, psychically augmented, unequivocally erotic connection. Besides, she needs a bodyguard and someone to interrupt her sleepwalking episodes, during which she tends to set things on fire. Appropriately enough, legacies figure heavily in the plot. Among the suspects trawling for the book are Lander, who believes the Coppersmiths stole his inheritance, and Abby's snooty step-relatives the Stricklands, who have every intention of cutting Abby out of the will until somebody unwittingly bets their fortune on the lab-book quest. Although the stakes are far-fetched and fanciful, the suspense never flags, and such ado over print material carries its own nostalgic allure.
