6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the "Family Secrets" series, May 30, 2004
This review is from: A Cry in the Dark (Family Secrets) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1299) (Mass Market Paperback)
A cry in the dark awakens the first generation of those people who were genetically altered during experiments in the sixties. They hear a child, but their own children are fine, yet they each know something is very wrong. At that very moment, six-year-old Alex is kidnapped. His mother, Danielle Caldwell, has gypsy blood and a gift for precognition. Once she made a mistake using her gift, which resulted in her child's father's death, and now she has turned her back on her gift and the family who would have her use it.
A string of clues brings Liam Brooks to Diana's door. After his wife's death, Liam has dedicated himself to bringing Titan down. Uncertain as to how, Liam is convinced that Titan is connected to Titan. He does not understand Diana's adamant refusal to accept his help or his own determination to offer it. Guarded and emotionally repressed, Liam is surprised at his reactions to Diana and his sudden need to bring her child home.
Author Jenna Mills pens a compelling and evocative kick off to the "Family Secrets: The Next Generation" series. A CRY IN THE DARK grabs the reader from the beginning and never lets up with its intense emotional stake and unexpected twists. The use of paranormal gifts is handled with finesse as Diana confronts her past and her abilities. Liam's pain haunts him, blocking him from any emotional connection to the present except the driving need to bring Titan down; that is, until he meets Diana. His powerful internal conflict adds just the right balance to Diana's struggle. A masterfully rendered tale, A CRY IN THE DARK comes very highly recommended.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mills shines once again...., May 23, 2004
This review is from: A Cry in the Dark (Family Secrets) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1299) (Mass Market Paperback)
Jenna Mills has to be one of the best writers rising in the Romance Genre today. She has a way of creating characters that come alive, she uses plots and emotions with razor edge precision, luring the reader to a breathless involvement without ever being manipulative. Good writers craft prose to push buttons in their readers. The truly talented ones do something more. They "See" their books like a movie in their head and use the prose, the magic of words, to gift the readers with the same experience. You don't read Mills' books you SEE the book inside your head. Jenna Mills dances in fire and invites the reader to join her. I won't give away a lot of the plot in this, since there are other books in the series, and you should discover the strong and unusual plotline yourself.
Danielle Caldwell, a working-mother raising her five-year-old son, hears words no mother wants to hear "your son has been kidnapped." After she receives the shattering news, she recalls the darkly handsome man in the lobby of the inn where she works, remembers one of the employees saying he was asking about her. Putting two and two together, she assumes the man has something to do with her missing son. Gutsy Danielle pulls a derringer on him and demands information, when he cannot deliver that and says he is FBI, she demands he leave her alone. The warning the kidnappers gave her was to keep the police out of it - or else.
Leaving her alone is the one thing he cannot do. Liam Brooks is a hunter, he has long been tracking a killer called Titan. It has cost him nearly everything, it cost him the life of his wife, because when Liam got too close to trapping Titan, the killer punished Liam. Now Liam is a man obsessed with vengeance. Only Titan's trail has grown cold, years cold. So when he received a tip about Danielle Caldwell, he defies his superiors and rushes after the trail of the ghostly Titan.
Danielle knows she should not trust FBI agent, a man with a too close relationship with the bottle, but she has no one else to turn to when the horror hits. Why would someone kidnap the son of a working woman, a woman of little importance? Titan wants something from her, but what? Reluctantly, she has little choice to trust Liam. Only, she is unprepared for the instant emotional bond, she sees this man has been deeply hurt. Worse, the sexual attraction is a complication she could well do without.
There is a "structured feel", because this is a series where the various writers must work with in a theme, however Mills takes the line and creates her own feel. That she can write within a preformed outline, only shows what strong a writer she is. It's easy to write a story that comes to your with the inspiration of a Muse. It is harder to take you talent and summer the magic to fit within another dictates. Mills crafts a dark, sinister tale, with strongly drawn characters that, once again, pull the reader along, make you care. It just does not get any better than this.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
another super tale from Jensen, June 16, 2004
This review is from: A Cry in the Dark (Family Secrets) (Silhouette Intimate Moments No. 1299) (Mass Market Paperback)
I prefer the tales where Jensen writes what she wants, rather than fitting into a "series" the publishers set. She shines best when she can fly by her own instincts. So this tale is a little "tight" feeling as if she is chafing at the bit to do it all her own. That said, she still shines is this tale of kidnapping and the hunt for a serial killer, showing Jensen, without doubt, is one of the best voices in series romance today.
Silhouette would just do better to stand back and let Jensen do what she wants!
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