JAK has been a queen of romance for decades, and she still writes fantastic books!
One of the first books I read this year was THE VANISHING and it was (of course!) terrific. It was also a triumphant return to her popular supernatural elements, which she’d pretty much set aside for the past few years.
She’s done a fascinating job of world-building in Fogg Lake, and it will be really fun to see what happens in the next book. A foggy town with an extraordinary level of psychics and an even more remarkable level of secrecy. The enigmatic Foundation, where even internally the right hand doesn’t seem to know what the left hand is doing.
Yet when two best friends become the targets of mysterious enemies, it is a Foundation agent who helps them survive (falling in love with one of them along the way).
JAK will always be a monumental name in romance not only because she has written over a hundred books, but because they have spanned nearly every genre and subgenre on the spectrum. And she’s done it all with formidable talent and exceptional imagination.
The tone of her books has arguably changed, but is that surprising? The romance is rarely adversarial past the first few chapters anymore, but I don’t mind. There’s something comforting and valuable in writing characters who work together toward common goals, and understanding that they can depend on each other. There’s plenty of conflict and tension in her books. I’m okay with the characters generally getting along.
No matter what’s she’s writing (whether it’s under JAK, Jayne Castle or Amanda Quick!) I’m there for it. And this one was really, really good. Can’t wait for the next one!
Decades ago in the small town of Fogg Lake, The Incident occurred: an explosion in the cave system that released unknown gases. The residents slept for two days. When they woke up they discovered that things had changed—they had changed. Some started having visions. Others heard ominous voices. And then, scientists from a mysterious government agency arrived. Determined not to become research subjects of strange experiments, the residents of Fogg Lake blamed their “hallucinations” on food poisoning, and the story worked. But now it has become apparent that the eerie effects of The Incident are showing up in the descendants of Fogg Lake.…
Catalina Lark and Olivia LeClair, best friends and co-owners of an investigation firm in Seattle, use what they call their “other sight” to help solve cases. When Olivia suddenly vanishes one night, Cat frantically begins the search for her friend. No one takes the disappearance seriously except Slater Arganbright, an agent from a shadowy organization known only as the Foundation, who shows up at her firm with a cryptic warning.
A ruthless killer is hunting the only witnesses to a murder that occurred in the Fogg Lake caves fifteen years ago—Catalina and Olivia. And someone intends to make both women vanish.
Find THE VANISHING @Amazon
Find Jayne Ann Krentz @Amazon
(This review is part of Read-A-Romance Month. Hope you’ll come back every day to check out my book recommendations. You can find the calendar here. Also check out The Romance of Reading, a Facebook “book club” where we’ll have great authors guest hosting every week.)
