***Warning: May contain spoilers.
Book description:
Behind her mask is a deadly secret…
The powerful head of the covert mercenary organization The Committee, Isobel Lambert is a sleek, sophisticated professional who comes into contact with some of the most dangerous people in the world. But beneath Isobel’s cool exterior a ghost exists, haunting her with memories of another life…a life that ended long ago. But Isobel’s past and present are about to collide when Serafin, mercenary, assassin and the most dangerous man in the world, makes a deal with The Committee.
Seventeen years ago Isobel shot him and left him for dead. Now it looks as if he’s tracked her down for revenge. But Isobel knows all too well that looks can be deceiving…and that’s what she’s counting on to keep her cover in this international masquerade of murder.
Who writes these blurbs for the back? It can’t be the author b/c the back cover is a crock of crap. Tracked her down for revenge? Yeah, not so much. More like he kept track of her for 20 years, even though they parted in the worst possible way.
Seventeen years ago, Isobel Lambert shot her lover, the man she thought she was in love with. Convinced that he was dead by her hand, Isobel shed her innocence that day. Rising from the ashes (how melodramatic is that?), Isobel has numbed her emotions and is known to most as the Ice Queen.
As head of The Committee, Isobel is responsible for bringing in a known terrorist, Josef Serafin. Though he has truly done some atrocious things, he has also saved countless lives. Before she leaves, she reviews everything they have on Serafin the Butcher and learns that he is none other than her long-dead lover, Killian.
The only thing that makes her feel better with coming face-to-face with the man that would have killed her was knowing that he would never know who she was. After shooting him so many years before, Isobel was attacked while she fled. Viciously, brutally attacked. Requiring numerous plastic surgeries, Isobel looks nothing like the girl she used to be.
After meeting up with Killian, who she thinks doesn’t know her, she receives another shock. Not only does he know exactly who she is, but he’s been keeping tabs on her for the last seventeen years.
So revenge? Not so much.
As Isobel tries to get Killian to safety, she has no idea that he has an agenda of his own (again): bring down the Committee. When they almost lose their lives at least three times, Killian forces Isobel to think that the attempts might be on her life rather than his. She’s incredulous to say the least. She’s wrong though. It is her that someone is trying to get rid of.
I really enjoy Anne Stuart’s books. Her heroes are so effed up, they seem irredeemable. As I’m reading one of her books, I’m always thinking that there is no way that she’s going to make me like this hero. How could she? I mean all her heroes will kill the heroine if it’s necessary to their mission, even AFTER they’ve gotten intimate. Yet by the last page, I just love the hero and how much he has sacrificed for the heroine. I don’t think Killian is her “darkest” hero, which is what I’ve read. I still think Peter Masden takes the cake on that one.
In this book, Killian isn’t what he seems. That isn’t much of a surprise. After all, could you imagine a hero that really is a terrorist? Yeah, not so much. This book was different insofar as Killian was the one that had to overcome Isobel’s defenses b/c she refused to take another chance on him. You kind of can’t blame the woman. Finding out your lover drugged you and didn’t argue when his “co-workers” told him they were going to finish her off changes a girl.
I think this is my favorite in the Ice Series thus far. I’m highly anticipating Reno’s book, which should come out in April 2008.
4 out of 5.