Strong, Sleek and Sinful [Mass Market Paperback]

Lorie O'Clare (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2010

Special Agent Kylie Donovan knows the evil that men do.  After her sister’s murder went unsolved, she decided to work undercover for the FBI. Now, posing as a college student, she hopes to track down an Internet predator who is murdering teenage girls.  Using herself as bait, Kylie is sure she can lure the killer out of the shadows…until her fascination with a drop-dead gorgeous cop threatens to blow her whole case.

With a rock hard body and seductive smile, Lieutenant Perry Flynn is a hard man to ignore.  He makes it very clear that Kylie’s fierce attraction is mutual.  But Kylie can’t afford to let Perry cloud her judgment, especially when she begins to suspect that his dark obsession with the case runs deeper than it should.  Then, when disturbing new evidence points to a cop, Kylie wonders if her sinful thoughts about Perry have thrust her into the strong, sleek arms of a killer…

Editorial Reviews

Review

TALL, DARK, AND DEADLY  

“The best book I’ve read this year!”—New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh

“O'Clare writes edgy suspense with tough-as-nails characters who endure more than most can imagine and they come out stronger on the other side.”—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“A gripping novel.”—A Romance Review

“Ms. O’Clare has written a gritty, dangerous and sexy story. The action starts on the first page and doesn’t let up until the last. Tall, Dark and Deadly is a page turner packed with sensuality and suspense. You won’t want to miss this one.”—Fallen Angel Reviews

Praise for Lorie O’Clare’s previous novels…

“O’Clare [writes] page-turners filled with well-developed characters, and sparkling, sharp-witted dialogue…and attraction so strong you can feel it!”—Romantic Times BOOKreviews

“Intriguing [and] highly stimulating…a fantastic blend of mystery and suspense.”—All About Murder

 “The passion and steamy sensuality are great, as are the action and emotion.”—Romance Reviews Today

 

From the Back Cover

In this taut, sexy thriller from award-winning author Lorie O’Clare, sexual tension simmers between a beautiful FBI agent and a cop who may be moonlighting as a killer…

SOMETIMES THE ONLY MAN YOU WANT…

Special Agent Kylie Donovan knows the evil that men do.  After her sister’s murder went unsolved, she decided to work undercover for the FBI. Now, posing as a college student, she hopes to track down an Internet predator who is murdering teenage girls.  Using herself as bait, Kylie is sure she can lure the killer out of the shadows…until her fascination with a drop-dead gorgeous cop threatens to blow her whole case.

…IS THE ONE YOU SHOULDN’T TRUST.

With a rock hard body and seductive smile, Lieutenant Perry Flynn is a hard man to ignore.  He makes it very clear that Kylie’s fierce attraction is mutual.  But Kylie can’t afford to let Perry cloud her judgment, especially when she begins to suspect that his dark obsession with the case runs deeper than it should.  Then, when disturbing new evidence points to a cop, Kylie wonders if her sinful thoughts about Perry have thrust her into the strong, sleek arms of a killer…

“Gritty, dangerous, and sexy…a page-turner packed with sensuality and suspense.”

—*Fallen Angel Reviews (on Tall, Dark, and Deadly)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (March 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031294344X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312943448
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #756,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lorie O'Clare was born in 1965 in San Diego, CA. She's the oldest of three children and for the first part of her life traveled with her family, living in many Midwestern states, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and finally Kansas. She graduated from high school in 1983 as a junior and began her college life at age 17. She received a double major in English and Political Science in 1991. Although her original intentions were to go on to law school, and she went as far as taking the LSAT, being a lawyer wasn't in the writing for Ms. O'Clare.

The same year she graduated from the Univ. of KS. she also married. Ten months later she gave birth to her first son. Her second son was born in 1994 and her third son in 1996. Although she wanted a daughter, this was also a plan of hers that would never happen. Six months after her third son was born she had a hysterectomy.

Her marriage lasted ten years with an amiable parting. During those years, Lorie began reading every romance she could get her hands on. Times were hard and she went through every romance novel her library had, then found very cheap book clubs and received new romance novels in the mail each month. The Internet also entered Lorie's life during this time and she made on line friends with similar interests to hers.

Lorie continued with her passion for reading, merging into other genres when she was convinced she'd read every published romance novel out there. While reading she often experienced the sensation that she could have made the story better. She began writing, purely for her own satisfaction. In those early years, when her boys were young and she was newly divorced, Lorie wrote eight full length novels. All but one of those novels would later be published.

In 1998, Lorie took the push from her on line friends and tried publishing her first novel, a children's story called Dolls Of Tashan. She printed manuscripts on her word processor and mailed them out as often as she could afford the postage. The rejection letters were painful but she kept every one of them, first in one spiral notebook, then eventually adding another, and finally a third. In 2003, Lorie published her first book with a very small epublisher called Amber Quill Press. The book wasn't her children's story but a romance novel. To this day she has not published Dolls of Tashan, the first book she ever wrote.

Later that same year, a good friend encouraged Lorie to try writing erotic romance. Lorie had a completed novel ready to submit. Instead of sending it to her current epublisher, she submitted it to a larger epublisher called Ellora's Cave. Although this was an erotic romance publisher and Lorie's novel was a simple romance, with little more than a chaste kiss, Ellora's Cave contracted the book and assigned an editor who taught Lorie how to write erotic romance. The book contracted was In Her Blood, a werewolf novel. Her new editor suggested she write a short story and turn the werewolves into a series. Lorie did this and her first book published with Ellora's Cave was Pack Law in October, 2003.

Today Lorie O'Clare has published over 60 books. She still writes for Ellora's Cave. In 2008 she sold her first book to St. Martins, which took her name into mass market publishing. Today Lorie has two books out with St. Martins with six more scheduled to release over the next couple of years. She also sold a book to Kensington Press in 2008. Currently she has two books out with Kensington and plans to continue writing for them as well.

Lorie writes full time, lives with her teenage boys, her two dogs, Dude, her Boston Terrier, and Lady, her Beagle. She also has two American Short hair cats, Ernie and Tigger. She plans on writing until she dies. "There is nothing more fulfilling than creating a new world and walking through it with the people who live there," she says, as her fingernails tap away at the keyboard.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars sooo much better, April 1, 2010

By 

C. Stone "Reese" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strong, Sleek and Sinful (Mass Market Paperback)

Lori O'Clare nails it with Strong, Sleek and Sinful. FBI agent Kylie Donovan is undercover to catch an online child predator. Because of her youthful appearance, she is able to pretend to be a college student doing a thesis on teen behavior. Perry Flynn is a police detective that knows there is a connection between the teens popping up missing or murdered in his town but for some reason his chief is blocking him from fully investigating this.

Perry is a dedicated hero and he will do anything to prevent his nieces from ending up a victim. In the age of twitter,blogs and other social websites,he knows his four nieces are vulnerable to the sexual predators who use the internet to lure out young females. He is immediately suspicious of Kylie a college student from Kansas who has befriended Dani, his most rebellious niece.

The story was really interesting as Kylie tries to keep her identity a secret from Perry since the killer could very well be an officer on the force. Perry and Kylie's relationship didnt have any of the funky weirdness from her previous two FBI novels and for that I was grateful. The portrayal of Perry's nieces was very realistic even while their behavior was occasionally foolish. The teen fights, name callling and pout sessions brought back many a childish memory of my own. The plot was strong enough that I was sucked in and thoroughly enjoyed this.

spoilers for a few cons******




Ok there were a few tiny things that bugged me. Perry's chief behaved in a manner that was guaranteed to put his men on alert while he tried not to let them know that the FBI suspected a police as being the killer. He was so over the top visiting them late at night and checking there computers which could have put the FBI's case in jeopardy. Didnt seem like realistic behavior for a veteran officer on the force. Kylie insisted longer than necessary in her head that Perry could turn up as the killer when it was clear from their first meeting that his nieces were important to him and that he was going to put away the killer when he found him. Lastly when they noticed the black surbaban with fake tags and followed it to the potential killers house they basically did nothing. Kinda ran around like chickens instead of Kylie contacting her people to plan a way to catch the killer. Instead this is explained away by saying they cant check a police officers house without being extra careful but they never got a warrant or checked the house and computers officially which I think could have been done since the tags matched car that had been after Kylie . They snuck around themselves instead which was a waste. Oh well, still much better put together and a much more solid read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars plot holes, April 17, 2010

By 

bag (Baltimore MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strong, Sleek and Sinful (Mass Market Paperback)

The characters are great. The tension between them exciting.
But the plot holes. You could drive a 747 thru them. Everyone decides early that a local cop is involved in the disappearances. The heroine is stalked by someone in a Sururban. How hard is it to get a list of all local cops owning a Surburban. How hard is it for real FBI cyber expert to eliminate some of the cops in the local group. After all, this is a local precinct, not the entire Chicago police department. Then there are the teens. Teenage girls are not this stupid. Savvy teens with a cop for an uncle, finding out that girls are being lured to meeting from someone they met on the internet, deliberately agreeing to meet someone from the internet. No way. If they were playing Nancy Drew Maybe, but Nancy always came with a pack of helpers.

Spoilers
Also how did the killers hook up? Never explained. (or else that was in the parts I skipped.)
And the end. Problem solved, and the heroine goes off to Central America for 2 months without resolving her issues.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exciting police procedural, April 1, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strong, Sleek and Sinful (Mass Market Paperback)

In Mission Hills, two female high school students have disappeared in the last year. One remains missing; the other is dead. Police Lieutenant Perry Flynn strongly believes a sexual serial killer using the Internet is on the loose stalking teenage girls; having four cherished teen nieces who he is helping raise he vows to end the predator's reign of terror.

FBI agent Kylie Donovan goes undercover as a college student investigating the same case. Kylie and Perry meet with each attracted to one another but each suspicious of the other. Kylie fears the psychopath is a cop while he wonders if there is a sinister deadly reason she befriends his nieces. As Kylie concludes someone is setting up Perry for the fall, she vows to keep him and his family safe.

This is an exciting police procedural that focuses on some of the modern day dangers with Internet enticements and stalking. Fast-paced from the moment Perry confronts his boss with evidence that the perp lives in Mission Hills, readers will enjoy the tango between the two law enforcement officials although he can be brutally nasty protecting his family from the woman he loves.

Harriet Klausner