Customer Reviews

Kiss And Kill

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

 

 

Anyone would envy the life of Anne Atwood at first glance. After two decades of marriage to Texas Senator Parker Atwood, most of them spent in DC, Anne has obtained an excellent reputation. However, the fifty-two years old political flunky, who is how she sees her role as a wife to a Congressman, hates her very existence. Worse yet, not only is her relationship with her spouse strained, her relationship with her teenage daughter Barry is falling apart.

Life abruptly changes when Parker's private plane vanishes in Montana. Accompanied by Barry, who blames Anne for her father's disappearance, reporters begin making inquiries. The worst news hound is Ian McKay, who is investigating alleged criminal activity by Parker. When an unknown blackmailer insists she continue her spouse's payments, a stunned Anne turns to Ian to uncover the truth behind the facade she lived with for twenty years.

KISS AND KILL is an exciting romantic intrigue that hard core suspense fans will enjoy. It is well written and never eases off the throttle but readers will sometimes question motives and relationships of the key characters when they don't gel. Karen Young is clearly a talented author as the novel retains a fun to read, suspense-laden quality, but the romantic elements seem inappropriate. Still, anyone who relishes a political thriller will gain pleasure from KISS AND KILL.

Harriet Klausner

.....however, since I've enjoyed each of Karen Young's novels, I went for it anyway. So glad I did because, as always, I totally lost myself in this book...even though it's a shade different then what I've come to expect of Ms. Young. She can't crank them out fast enough to suit me and I keep wondering after each one I finish....why isn't she a major best selling suspense/romance novelist? "The O'Connors" is one of the very best books I've read & should be a 'must read' on anyones list....but, I think barely heard of in the literary world. Such a shame!

Anyone that hasn't taken the time to read a Karen Young book....pick one up. Doesn't matter which one...they're all excellent. You'll become an instant fan of Young's....I promise!

The first third of this book I would have given a four but it went downhill after that!

Anne has been married to a US senator for 20 years. She had a degree and was a journalist but chucked it all to be Mrs. Parker Atwood. Parker never recognizes Anne's intelligence and her main use to him is as a political wife.

They adopted daughter Barry when she was a few days old and she's now 16. Barry thinks her father is the best thing since sliced bread, even though he sent her to a boarding school 1500 miles away and pays her very little attention. On the other hand she sees Anne as the enemy and treats her horrendously. She constantly insults her and refuses to recognize her authority even though Anne is just trying to keep her safe. Barry is a complete brat.

Ellen is Anne's best friend who went into rehab several years ago and is clean and a successful lawyer. She divorced Scott, her cop husband, when she found him in their bed with another woman (Ick!). They've been divorced for five years and he had been seeing Carole (the other woman) for six months before he and Ellen broke up. He just split with Carole six months ago and basically says he doesn't have any deep feelings for her. He had a relationship for five years and doesn't care about her? Scott never really explains his actions other than to say Ellen made more money than him and he was supposed to be the major bread winner, that's the way it should be. He never apologizes to her but that was the pattern of most of the characters. The majority of the interaction between Scott & Ellen happens "off canvas" so we never know why their relationship goes in the direction it does.

Anne has known Ian McKay most of her life and had a very brief relationship with him before she met Parker. Again, we never get a real explanation as to why he left Anne and like everyone else he never apologizes. Well, everyone except Anne who's always apologizing to someone even though she's rarely at fault.

After Parker dies in a plane crash Anne acquires a stalker. With Ian's help she also uncovers the fact that Parker had a complete other life. Now my question is this: How could she have lived with this man for 20 years and not even suspected any of this? This guy was a borderline monster and yet she never picked up on anything? Was she living on Fantasy Island?

The stalker was obvious, the end anti-climactic and left loose ends.

When Anne Atwood's husband of twenty years dies suddenly in plane crash, the widow learns that her husband was not the loving, respectable, husband, father, and United States Senator that she and the country thought he was. Anne discovers that Senator Ashwood's past held ugly secrets, incuding unsolved murders and their beloved daughter's origins. This fast paced mystery is relevant, questioning if we realy know those closest to us.

From the back cover:

Everybody knows her husband's name...

For twenty years, Anne Atwood has lived a storybook lifestyle in the glare of Washington's political spotlight. As the wife of a charismatic U.S. senator from Texas, she's one of the captial's premier hostesses, entertaining in their posh homes and raising their lovely daughter. Then comes the devastating plane crash that leaves her a widow--and brings a sinister stranger out of the shadows, bent on collecting an old debt...

Somebody knows his darkest secret...

Determined to uncover the stalker's identity and delve into her husband's past, a desperate Anne seeks the help of journalist Ian McKay, a man whose own reputation is tainted by tragedy and scandal. Unwilling to trust him, yet with nowhere else to turn, she fears for her life--and her sanity--because ever so slowly, the truth is coming out. And as her picture perfect life unravels, Anne realizes that for two decades of marriage, she has unwittingly lived a lie--one that might ultimately kill her...

And my review:

Ever since I read Karen Young's wonderful novella, IT TAKES A MIRACLE, found in Harlequin's Merry Christmas Baby! collection, I've hunted down her backlist. And while KISS AND KILL was not as good as IT TAKES A MIRACLE (partly because they are different genre books), KISS AND KILL was still an enjoyable read.

I admit, if this book had been written by anyone else, I might have passed on it, as I'm not a big fan of "political" intrigue books, or of romantic suspense as a whole. But this book didn't get too political--the characters were what drove the story.

But the characters were also what lost this book a star and a half. The reader has to be able to swallow that a woman could be ignorant of her husband's double life for 20 years. If you can't get past that, then you won't be able to enjoy this book. Also, the character of the hero was only sketched in. The reader never really got to see the fine details of what really made him unique. I never really felt like I got to know him well enough to cheer for the heroine to be with him.

Another reviewer has mentioned that the teenaged daughter, Barry, is a spoiled brat and that her behaviour is not believable. I concur that she is a brat, but I didn't find her behaviour unbelievable. Trust me, I personally know many teenagers who acted exactly as she did--in completely unbelieveable and stupid ways. Try to remember that a teenager is not an adult. They don't rationalize the way an adult does. Barry's hero worship of a father who pretty much ignores her may seem ridiculous to a full-grown adult, but trust me, it can be right on target for a sixteen-year-old girl.

One other reason why this book lost stars was that I felt that the romance was not properly developed. This is partly because I didn't feel like I knew the hero well enough. I didn't feel the "sparks" that make a memorable romance. It felt like the relationship was based mostly on sex, and not much else. Not that this was a lust-soaked book, because it wasn't, but I wanted to see more of a reason for them to be together, not just that they're great in bed. And the secondary romance was so briefly touched on that I think the author could have just left it out completely, and/or perhaps given it its own book. It wasn't developed enough to warrant its inclusion here. And yes, the hero in the secondary romance did not grovel enough for his infidelity to warrant being forgiven.

However, all my complaints aside, I felt that this flowed well. Though I guessed the villian pretty early on in the book, I didn't feel like it detracted from the story. Though I don't usually read romantic suspense, KISS AND KILL kept me eagerly turning the pages, and I never had to push to finish it. Not a keeper, but it was still an enjoyable read. However, I'd recommend trying to borrow this one, rather than buying it, as it's probably not a story you're going to want to reread.

This is the kind of book you pick up and cannot put down until the last page is turned. Ms. Young has written an outstanding tale of a politician's secret life. His widow discovers the lies he lived after his death, and her search for the truth makes for a compelling read. She is aided in her quest by an old friend who becomes her lover in a warm and believable love story.

Buy this book--you will not regret it!