Cain and Abel [Mass Market Paperback]

Michelle Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

In Los Angeles an unexpected pregnancy sparks a daring plan of escape for a brutally battered wife. Jessica Ramsey fakes her death and flees to Tennessee to build a new life for herself and her unborn son. But nobody fools Cole Ramsey twice. Five years later, a chance encounter has destroyed Jessica's carefully cultivated anonymity. She thought at first Cole had found her, but it was his twin, Alex, who unwittingly unmasked her charade. Now she must trust him to save her from Cole's wrath. But the twins are bound by blood. Will it prove stronger than the fragile relationship building between Alex and Jessica? Or will a third time be a deadly charm?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michelle Perry is a writer.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 326 pages
• Publisher: Medallion Press (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932815031
• ISBN-13: 978-1932815030
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,707,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars STORY WAS PRETTY GOOD, July 30, 2006

By 

B. Kaczmarek - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cain and Abel (Mass Market Paperback)

The only thing I didn't like about the story was that there wasn't enough romance. I was also dissapointed in the ending, I mainly read romance because I like happy endings, in this story I wasn't sure if it was happy or not, kind of left you hanging.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant Debut Effort!!!, February 11, 2005

By 

Kristi Ahlers (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cain and Abel (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms. Perry's debut effort is very good and will offer the reader a very different storyline as well as very compelling characters. The end result is a fast paced read that will offer the reader a "cliff-hanging" ending. I look forward to seeing what Ms. Perry comes up with next.

Jessica Ramsey is living a life of desperation. Jessica was an abused wife. Realizing that she needed to escape her husband Cole she took a very daring step...she faked her death. Although this should have left her free to live a normal life she is still desperate. Desperate to stay dead, desperate to provide for her little boy, and if she's honest with herself she is desperate to believe in happy endings. All of this is about to be put to the test. A chance meeting brings Jessica back to her past. She sees Cole in a diner and all of her fears are brought to the forefront. What she doesn't know is that Cole has a twin brother and the man she sees in the diner is Alex. The one man she got to know over the phone but never met, the one man that will change her life in ways she never expects.

Alex is estranged from his twin. An incident back during their childhood has caused a riff that Alex has never been able to cross. When he runs into Jessica by accident he has no idea that she is his brother's wife. He is shocked by what he sees once he realizes how scared Jessica is and by what length's she went to escape his brother. Now he is involved in keeping her and her son Joe safe. He didn't realize what he was doing when he contacted his brother to tell him that he had found Jessica alive and well. By doing so he has set into motion a series of events that even he couldn't imagine. Will he be able to keep Jessica safe and at the same time prove to her that although he and his brother may share the same face they don't share anything else in common and that he loves her and will be loyal to her?

This was a great story that brought into question so many different things. What would you do if your twin was evil? Could you love a person that shared the same face as your nightmare? Cole, Alex, and Jessica were compelling characters and even I found myself feeling sympathetic for the bad guy. Ms. Perry's debut effort is a worthy one and I look forward to reading her in the future.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars strong romantic suspense, May 4, 2005

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cain and Abel (Mass Market Paperback)

In Tennessee, the woman in Polly's Restaurant panics when she notices the patron dining there. She flees even as he notices her escape. She is hit by a car and rushed to a hospital, but not before perplexed private investigator Alex Ramsey wonders who Emily Jackson is, why she fled, and why when he reached her did she mumble his twin's name Cole.

Alex learns that Emily is actually his sister-in-law Jessica, who allegedly died five years ago. He also learns he has a nephew Joe. Deciding that Joe is in jeopardy from a crazed mother, Alex calls his estrange sibling to tell him his spouse lives, is crazy, and may prove harmful to the son that Cole never knew existed. However, Alex soon changes his mind when Jessica comments that Cole is going to kill her and spread her remains across the country; the same comment their father said to their mother when she fled with Alex while his sibling decided to stay behind. Alex realizes what he has done and vows to keep Jessica and his nephew safe from his brother.

Though Alex is too easily persuaded that initially his in-law is wacko and then his brother is the maniac fans will appreciate this strong romantic suspense. The comparison between the siblings makes the strong case that nurturing is more important than naturing as the varying environments the twins were raised in make them so different. The guilt that attacks Alex's soul for first leaving his twin behind and then when he comprehends what he has done to Jessica and worse little Joe makes Michelle Perry's tale of brothers an exhilarating chiller.

Harriet Klausner.