Customer Reviews

When Night Draws Near (Harlequin Intrigue Series)

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Longtime American Romance author Lisa Bingham delivers her first Intrigue with "When Night Draws Near." There's not a baby, a cowboy, or a amnesia victim in sight, just 248 pages of emotion, romance, and taut, page-turning suspense. Press that "Buy Now" button immediately--they don't get more "must read" than this.

The last thing Elizabeth Boothe expected to find when she caught a last-minute flight was her ex-husband piloting the plane. Before she could even begin to absorb the shock, the plane crashed, trapping her, Seth, and a ragtag group of passengers in the Rocky Mountains. If she thought things couldn't get worse, she was wrong--a killer has targeted the group. And now her life's in as much risk as her heart.

Interested yet? That's only the setup for a story that sets off on a brisk pace and doesn't let up for a moment. With a wonderfully fresh premise and warm characters, Lisa Bingham could not have a delivered a more successful first Intrigue. Most remarkable, she delivers at least one twist that completely caught me off guard. A master of red herrings, she uses ones that may not be new, but which are employed in ways that completely fool you. An Intrigue from a few years back used one of the exact same red herrings, and the book was ruined because it could not have been more obvious. Here, it works. Best of all, it's just one of numerous surprises Ms. Bingham provides from start to finish in a book where nothing is what it seems to be. Anyone who wants to revel in lost-love found and sizzling action won't want to miss out on this one. And innovation-starved Intrigue readers can only hope Bingham will make an encore appearance sometime soon.

Elizabeth Boothe is on her way back to New York from Utah, but first she has to connect to Denver, Colorado, via a commuter plane. It's on this first flight that she accidentally reunites with her ex-husband (Seth Brody), who just happens to be the pilot. There's some definite tension and unresolved issues between the two--after all, she had left him three years ago because of his career change and the risks involved with it--, but there's also a glimmer of reconciliation.

However, before they have a chance to talk, the small airplane malfunctions and crashes into the snowy mountains below. Miraculously, almost all of the other eight passengers survive, except for one FBI agent who was chaperoning a serial killer on the trip. Now the killer has escaped into the woods, and the rest are just trying to stave off hunger, wounds, and the cold.

This is the first Harlequin book I have ever read, and being somewhat cautious of sappy romance novels, I had my doubts about starting this one. However, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. The romance wasn't excessive and mushy, plus the ending had a great twist. I do have a few complaints though. For starters, I was pretty disappointed when Elizabeth and Seth sneak off for a make-out session just mere seconds after being shot at by the serial killer. I mean, how did they know the killer wouldn't return and finish the job? Final flaw: after about the third death (and, believe me, there are more than three deaths), the rest were just anticlimactic page-fillers. I probably would have rated this book lower if the ending hadn't improved.

So, final thought: romance/suspense fans should definitely love this one. As for me, I was fairly impressed, but I haven't become a romance addict because of it.