Killer Secrets by Lora Leigh

Buy this book and read it. Although it's not very good. But good enough. Satisfied? tee hee.

Now I will micro-criticize it...

Why is the novel called 'Killer Secrets?' Nothing is secret. Ian's SEAL buddies know he is not a traitor; Ian knows that Diego is a DHS asset and that Kira is there to protect him. There is no explanation of how these things come to be known. Which is a shame really. Seeing how SUCH A BIG EFFING DEAL IS MADE OF THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ALL SUPPOSED TO BE SECRET AT THE START OF THE BOOK!!!

The heroine, Kira, is a thousand times better written than that criminally forgetful witless brat Emily from Hidden Agendas. She's a useless agent though. Seeing how the first time she sees any action she gets caught by the baddie and faints. I also didn't like the fact that she kept sympathising with evil drug baron Diego. A man who had annihilated most of his family in addition to building up his blood-drenched business. The fact is Diego had no conscience or moral compass. Authors who've had a relatively easy life should stay away from writing about this kind of dilemma.

Basically this book is about a bunch of nobodies thinking they are somebodies because they can name drop an alphabet soup of american agencies. FBI, DHS, DEA...SEALs. The setting is the latest sleazy isle of choice, Aruba. There is absolutely no tension whatsoever in the whole of the story. Which is probably why, despite the fact that is is only 350 pages long, sometimes I thought it would never ever end. What there is is pages and pages of love scenes. To give the author credit, there is quite a bit of variety in those scenes. My own favorite is the one where the hero and heroine were feeling up their own naked bodies in front of one another. Plus. For about a second it seemed the heroine might be giving the hero some anal. But that seems to be a variation too far even for the e-rotic market. I grew tired of the innumerable screaming orgasms. He grunts, she screams. Over and over again. (Yawn)

I kept losing sight of the plot. Ian agreed to become a drug baron like his Dad to prevent the dug cartel from being taken over by a terrorist called Sorrell. And to identify a spy within one of the agencies who is compromising the missions of his SEAL buddies. By the end of the story Sorrell is dead. But what about the spy? Or were Sorrell and the spy the same person? No idea really.

Another fundamental problem for me as a reader. The hero Ian has been a drug baron for a year. He sanctions the vicious torture of rivals. I don't care how often or how deeply he agonizes about his career. He's crossed the line. The author should have made him suffer a lot more. Believing Kira might have been killed at one point would have helped. Instead he got oodles of nookie with a beautiful knowledgeable woman, dressed nice and lived in luxury. Also too often, Ian stomped around the story banking his anger. Cool, calm and collected were not in his repertoire. Kira also had trouble holding onto her beliefs. One minute she's an agent for the DHS looking to betray Ian and keep Diego alive. The next minute she rationalizes that she's only a contract agent and Ian is her priority.

But the biggest mistake in the story is the sudden appearance of Teyha. Sorrell's lost daughter. Without her the novel would have gone on forever without a resolution. But she appeared out of nowhere. Not one mention of her character in the first two-thirds of the story. And unfortunately she had more guts and bravado than Kira.

Diego should have died...killed by a stray bullet in the final shootout. Which by the way was pathetic. Guns going off in a small enclosed space and no-one is injured!

This type of story is terribly ageing. I suppose somewhere along the line the publishers decided that the drugs business is exciting and romantic...for younger readers. Yuk. However I loved the way the characters speak. The author uses some big words too. Imperative...and perpetuate when she probably meant perpetrate. But I enjoyed the fact that she made the effort. Poorly proof-read though. Particularly for the last third of the novel.

Still. I'm quite interested in how Nathan's story will develop. Be nice to read a Lora novel where the hero already has a wife that he loves. (August is 3 months away)