Customer Reviews

Enemy Mind (Silhouette, Family Secrets)

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

 

 

Dr. Maisy Dalton stopped treating patients one on one the day her husband confessed to having an affair with a patient. When he died, Maisy retreated into the world of research, publishing books that she hoped would help people since that was the only way she could do it now. When she receives a call from a seemingly distraught woman claiming her son needs Maisy's help, she finds that she can still be drawn to the hands on work that she so loved.

Zach Ingram tried to tell them that his name wasn't Jake, but they didn't believe him. Soon he realized that if they believed him, they would no longer have use for him. Asking him questions that he has no answers, and keeping him drugged, Zach is more than ready for the angel that arrives to help him. At first he thought she was one of them, but he soon realizes that she has been decieved too.

Together, Maisy and Zach come together in an isolated ranch house that holds many secrets. Maisy breaks her number one rule, getting involved with a patient. For there is something about Zach that touches her in places that she has never been touched, even by her husband. Zach only knows that he has to get them out alive. He may only be a professor at a college, but he can be a hero too!

Jake Ingram is a well-known economist who is aiding the FBI in their investigation of the World Bank Heist. The Ingrams adopted Jake at the age of twelve and there is nobody he is closer to than his adopted sibling Zach. Jake has no memories of his life before he was twelve and that problem is why Zach is in so much trouble. Somebody has kidnapped him as he was leaving Glen Laurel University thinking he was his brother, confined him in a deserted farmhouse and drugged him.

The kidnappers told psychiatrist and hypnotist Dr. Maisy Dalton that Jake was brainwashed after being in a cult for over a decade. When Maisy sees Zach for the first time he tries to tell her that he isn't Jake. After seeing how his "family" treats him, she finally believes him and they make their escape. When the kidnappers find them, a battle ensues and only one group will walk away from it alive.

Maggie Shayne always writes a riveting work of romantic suspense but she out does even herself in her latest work ENEMY MIND. The two protagonists are attracted to each other from their first meeting but because of some painful events in her past, she is afraid to act on her feelings. Zach, who always thought he was a wimp compared to Jake, shows that he is a true hero as he defends the woman he loves against those who seek to destroy her. ENEMY MIND is the first installment in what looks to be a great series.

Harriet Klausner

Overall, the book carried me through, I didn't put it down until I was finished. Heck, I didn't even peek at the end like I so often do with books. Some may even call that cheating, but it's a need to know type thing.

My big problem with the book was the whole 'suspension of belief' type thing. Plus it had some serious John Doe undertones and since it was published this year, I have to think that the author had to have been watching John Doe. Why did I feel this way? For starters, you have a guy who gets kidnapped by two old geezers and the typical large dumb guy. Well, the head of this ring is the old lady (hmmm, the first John Doe link). They take this guy off to a distant ranch out in the desert, then they invite a Psychiatrist to 'deprogram' him. They are trying to make him remember his past, but they've got the wrong guy. They really wanted his adopted brother who looks just like him, though they don't know this yet.

So far, this could just seem like an amateurish kidnapping attempt, but they keep alluding to something bigger. Something more organized. The problem with this is the fact that they leave the psychiatrist alone at the remote ranch with the big dumb guy. For one, if they were really a major organization they'd have their own deprogrammer and wouldn't lure someone unknown out to do the job. Second, they wouldn't leave the idiot whom they think will talk too much ALONE for days with the intelligent psychiatrist and the kidnap victim.

So many things just don't add up. And then at the end they have a scene where the plane chases them down and they shoot it down with hand guns. The cops arrive and they can't even find the old geezers that they tied up or the big dumb guy that they shot in the head... After I think all this through I begin to wonder why I read the entire book in one sitting. (I also wonder how an unconscious woman can ride a horse bareback for hours, but hey it's fiction - right?)

This book was the setup novel for the 'Family Secrets' series about the extraordinary five and a group called Medusa. So far, it has a lot of John Doe undertones and a lot of very stupid activities by this Medusa group. How organized can they be?

I've heard a lot of good things about Maggie Shayne's Vampire series - I just hope that it's more 'believable' than this story.

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Zach Ingram has been kidnapped... by mistake. His captors actually wanted his brother Jake, who is one of five genetically altered children who were adopted many years ago. The people who took him believing him to be Jake think he has information they need. Unlucky for them they grabbed the wrong brother.

Dr. Maisy Dalton is the best in her field. She is a brilliant psychiatrist, a master at deprogramming and hypnotherapy. When she is called in to work with "Jake" she expects it to be a run of the mill situation. She never expected that what she'd find would be highly dangerous to her life... and her heart.

This first full-length book in the Family Secrets series sets the stage for the books to follow. Mystery abounds as Maisy tries to get to the bottom of what has happened to Zach since he was kidnapped. Zach is weak from being drugged and feels helpless while she is risking life and limb to keep him safe. The love grows between them throughout all the adversity they face giving the readers faith that all will work out in the end.

This reviewer was a little disappointed in how little reference was made to the "Extraordinary Five," the now adult genetically superior people. The premise of this series is supposed to be about these five children who were altered to be superhuman. Only a few brief mentions were made to them, mainly by the kidnappers. It would have been preferred to have a little more information given in to the background of the five and what it was done to make them the "Extraordinary Five," which is what drew this reader to the series.

This book will appeal to readers who love to have a bit of suspense with their romance, so long as they don't expect to delve into the underlying theme of the Family Secrets series.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, August 2005. All rights reserved.