Smoke Screen: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Sandra Brown (Author)
Key Phrases: maroon sedan, police station fire, Jay Burgess, Suzi Monroe, Britt Shelley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
At the start of this scorching if somewhat formulaic thriller from bestseller Brown (Play Dirty), Charleston, S.C., TV reporter Britt Shelley wakes up in bed next to the dead body of police detective Jay Burgess. While Jay had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, the authorities suspect foul play. Jay's former best friend, ex-fireman Raley Gannon, suffered a similar shock five years earlier, waking up next to party girl Suzi Monroe's naked corpse after a party at Jay's home. Raley had been investigating a fire at a local police station that took seven lives, despite the heroic efforts of Jay and several other cops, one of whom is now South Carolina's attorney general. Cleared of Suzi's death, Raley eventually teams with Britt to look into a nasty arson coverup. Brown laces her dependable romantic fireworks with a solid action-filled plot, though readers should be prepared for a few stereotypes, including a limp-wristed gay, a macho skinhead and a power-mad female politician. (Aug.)
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Review
"Sensational...a bang-up tale of corruption, betrayal, revenge, and reversal." -- Liz Smith, New York Post

"Excellent indeed." -- The Dallas Morning News

"GRIPPING AND ELEGANTLY STRUCTURED... A TRUE MASTER OF SUSPENSE." -- THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL (RI) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Doubleday Large Print Home Library Edition edition (August 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416563067
• ISBN-13: 978-1416563068
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,179 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best one in a while, August 15, 2008

By	Elaine C McTyer "avid reader" (Dawson, GA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I got SMOKE SCREEN in the morning from Amazon and I sat right down and read it. I could not put it down. The story is amazing and the characters are great. Sandra Brown has been one of my favorite authors for a while. I have all her books and they are mostly keepers. This one is definitely a keeper.

Britt Shelley is a news reporter for a TV station in Charleston. She made her first big break on a story about the Charleston PD and Fire Dept. An arson specialist with the Fire Dept was found in bed with a dead woman at Jay Burgess's apartment. That was five yrs ago and she and Jay had a short liasion. Jay's friend who was found in bed with the dead woman left town and has not been heard from in all that time. She is not surprised when Jay calls and invites her out for drinks. He has been one of her informants in the PD since the day she met him. She knows he is a player but now they just are friends.

She meets Jay and has a drink while he tells her he has a big story to tell her. He also tells her he has cancer and only a few weeks to live. They go to his apt for some privacy to talk, and imagine her horror to wake up in bed with Jay and he is dead.

Raley Gannon was the friend of Jay's who was found with the dead woman. He not only was disgraced and lost his job he lost his fiance. He has not forgotten the experience. When he hears about Britt's experience it sounds alot like his, because he does not remember anything about how he wound up in bed with the dead woman, when he went to a party at Jay's. He was engaged at the time and very much in love with his fiance. Britt is insisting she has no memories of going to bed with Jay.

Raley kidnaps her and interrogates her about Jay. Finally he tells her what really happened to him. Jay had convinced him to not mention anything about drugs because the dead woman had OD'd on coke. But now Raley is sure he was set up and so was Britt. They join forces when the autopsey says Jay was smothered.

From here on out this is a major ride and I loved it. There are some quaint characters and the roller coaster ride is chilling. How can they prove anything while she is wanted for murder and he is still thought of as a looser. Do not miss this one.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lack of character development but an interesting plot, September 29, 2008

By	Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Reporter Britt Shelley awakens next to the corpse of a police detective with no memory of the night before. Accused of murdering Jay Burgess, a decorated police officer cited for bravery after rescuing several people from a deadly fire at the Charleston police station five years earlier, Britt takes to the airwaves and professes that she must have been slipped a date rape drug. Listening to the newscast is former arson investigator Raley Gannon, who while working on the investigation into the police station fire attended a party at Burgesses home and also work up with a corpse with no memory of events. The similarities are chilling. Britt's reporting of the events surrounding the party girl's death resulted in the destruction of Gannon's career. Now with two of the four heroes dead, and Raley and Britt joining forces, a new conspiracy might be brewing, one with a mastermind who is not above murder to cover up the past.

While this is a huge step up from the last novel by Brown, I am still on the fence from an overall standpoint and felt like she phoned this one in. I liked the suspense and the way the rest of the plot unfolded. Although well written, her once signature formula for romance was sadly missing and never really developed; these two started off disliking each other, then suddenly disrobed. I never got the feeling that there was a connection between the characters. As surprised as I was by the revelation of the culprit, I hate the plot device of a killer unveiling their master scheme as they prepare kill someone - after telling why they did what they did, unsuccessfully killing their prey and getting caught, I expected them to say "and I would have gotten away with it had it not been for you meddlesome kids" like the Scooby gang always heard when they caught their baddie.

© Tracy Vest, September 2008

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent , August 13, 2008

By	Book Worm (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

I wish that I could write half as well as Sandra Brown so that my review could give this book and all her other books the write up they deserve. As usual Sandra Brown doesn't disappoint. All of her books have awesome storylines and characters that are always so real that they stay with you long after the novel ends. A truly gifted writer has the ability to completely immerse their readers in the story that the reader forgets that they are even reading at all. That is what the majority of the books written by Sandra Brown do for me. Many of my favorite author's new releases I seldom get excited about because their new books as of late just aren't up to par anymore. Not so with Sandra Brown and Smoke Screen, this author and book does not disappoint.