Customer Reviews

Dangerous To Touch (Silhouette Romantic Suspense)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I was really enjoying this most of the way through - thinking a good 4 stars. But then the author used two of my pet peeves which frustrated me and brought it down to 3 stars.

(1) After they have sex for the first time, they each think the other doesn't like them and therefore treat each other badly. She looked unhappy, so he felt rejected and acted cold to her. She in turn felt rejected and acted cold to him. The truth was she had a headache. All she had to do was say "I enjoyed sex with you but now I have a headache." I'm sorry, but I just don't like conflict based on vague communication. It's a cheap way to have conflict. Much better is basing it on actions, events, personality clashes, or other people.

(2) Heroine is extremely stupid at the end. She knows who the killer is and goes to his house alone. Of course something bad happens to her.

Other than the above, I enjoyed the characters and how their relationship developed. I enjoyed the scenes where her psychic ability allowed her to know things and caused some interesting interaction. The ending explanation of how the killer did what he did was odd. But this is fiction, so I'll go along with it. There were several sex scenes, not the hottest, but they were pretty good.

STORY BRIEF:
Sidney is psychic. When she touches someone she sees what they are thinking or their recent actions. A serial killer has killed two women. The dog of one of the victims comes to Sidney's home. She touches the dog and sees things related to the killing. She gives information to the police, which is how she meets Marc who is investigating the murders. At first she is a suspect. The newspaper prints an article about her helping the police as a psychic. The killer then breaks into her home and leaves a dead cat on her bed. Marc is trying to protect Sidney while he investigates. They are drawn to each other. A secondary story involves Sydney's sister who is going through a divorce.

DATA:
Story length: 205 pages. Swearing language: mild, including religious swear words. Sexual language: moderate. Number of sex scenes: 7. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 13. Setting: current day southern California. Copyright: 2008. Genre: romantic suspense.

First off, although I didn't care for Set the Dark on Fire by the same author, I absolutely loved Crash Into Me. The only thing I would have asked for was less secondary characters and more focus on the couple. That's exactly what she's done with this novel Dangerous to Touch, which turns out is actually her first. Although the storyline is predictable, it's told with such colorful characters and eroticism that I couldn't put it down.

Sidney Morrow has a psychic ability. Through touch, she can see images and events that have essentially turned her into a recluse. She cringes at the thought of touching people and has sheltered herself into her own world where she runs a Dog Kennel. One morning, she wakes up to the sound of a dog bark, but where she lives, she knows no one owns a dog. Perplexed, she heads into work, where low and behold, the dog from her dreams shows up. The problem is, the dog went missing with its owner in a kidnapping murder case. When she touches the dog to comfort him, she sees the events through the eyes of the dog and knows she needs to tell the police, but how does she do that without sharing her ability? Doing the right thing, she calls them in and tells them she found the dog and tries to drop additional hints without giving her secret away.

Following up on the case is Lieutenant Marc Cruz and his female partner detective Lacy, who happens to be a lesbian. When they hear Sidney's story, they know there are things that Sidney shouldn't know by simply finding a dog. She becomes their primary suspect and they stake out her place with hidden cameras in her home. This component is actually quite hilarious because we find that both Marc and Lacy are totally attracted to Sidney. Eventually they both come to discover her secret and don't really believe it, but Sidney ends up doing things that prove it to them in the most sensual and embarassing ways. Marc, of course, becomes obsessed with her and proceeds to do all the wrong things that not only makes headline news, but also gets him taken off the case. Because of the news, the killer now knows that there is the psychic Sidney involved in the case, so with forced vacation, Marc decides to glue himself to Sidney's side for protection.

The story in itself is very predictable and as soon as the character is introduced to the story, you can easily figure out who the killer is, however the journey getting there told by Ms. Sorenson is highly entertaining, erotic, sexy and fast paced. It's a very quick read and highly enjoyable.