Beachcomber

Rating:
Summary: summer entertainment
Review: 'Beachcomber' is as its title suggests a truly entertaining beach book. Christy Petrino has had enough of the 'family' and when she learns that her fiance's law firm is just another front for illicit business she calls it quits. however uncle Vince convinces her that she must keep her mouth shut and do one more errand if she wants herself and her mother and sisters to stay safe. That's how she ends up in Ocracoke Island with a locked briefcase, a serial killer after her and a hot and handsome surfer for her neighbor. Christie is attracted to Luke but his intense interest and constant questions make her suspicious. But when events get 'hairy' and her life is at risk she knows she must turn to Luke for support. You'll enjoy this humorous and action filled suspense tale at the beach or pool this summer.

Rating:
Summary: Well written and entertaining
Review: Christy Petrino has been having a bad few weeks. First she finds that her job and fiance are both Mafia-connected. Then she learns that she's got to do a mob drop herself if she doesn't want her entire family killed. And now, in the North Carolina banks where she's come to drop off a package, she's being chased by a serial killer. The only good thing she finds is hunky neighbor Luke Rand. Except what Christy doesn't know is that Luke is an FBI agent assigned to monitor her. Luke is certain that Christy is dirty and he intends to take her down--no matter what he has to do and no matter what lies he needs to tell.

Things go wrong for Luke from the minute Christy spots him leaving her patio. His story about a missing cat partially convinces her, but he knows that he'll have to work fast if he's going to stay plausible. How many times can a man just run into a beautiful woman without her getting suspicious--especially when he needs to save her life so often. Because the serial killer is quite insistent and quite determined to make Christy very dead.

Author Karen Robards writes compelling romantic suspense. The 'Beachcomber' is a suitably nasty serial killer--and a real threat to both Christy and Luke. The Mafia threat hanging over them adds to the spice as does Luke's secret. The rising attraction between Luke and Christy is compelling. I enjoyed waiting for the inevitable moment when Christy would realize the truth about the man she was falling for.

There are a few major logic holes in BEACHCOMBER--especially the serial killer's motivation to kill Christy. For me, though, the story worked despite these flaws. Robard's skillful writing kept me glued to the book, fascinated despite myself.

Rating:
Summary: Another hit by Robards...
Review: Christy Petrino never knew how far she was in over her head until she learned that the law firm she worked for was a front for the mob and the man she was engaged to was a key player. She wanted out, but she soon learned that no one walks away from the mob. She is told she only has to do one more thing and then her and her family will be free from the mob forever.

Special Agent Luke Rand has been after Michael DePalma for years. He finally has a chance to get him through Christy, who he believes is in cahoots with who the FBI has nicknamed Donnie Jr. When Christy is targeted again and again by a violent killer, Luke urges her to confide in him even though she has no idea that he is anyone other than her next door neighbor.

Karen Robards delievers in this book which is full of suspense and romance. When a serial killer, dubbed the Beachcomber by police, singles out Christy, Luke knows that he will do anything to protect her. All though Christy has a penchant for screaming and shreiking, her fear jumps out at the reader and somehow isn't too annoying. Luke and his partner, Gary, are a laugh and a half, while Luke also has surprisingly emotional depths. I throughly enjoyed this new book by Robards!

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: Christy Petrino thought she had it all, a wonderful career as a lawyer, a great boss who was also her fiancé. But she had her eyes opened by a relative, her job is mob controlled and so is her fiancé. She dumps the fiancé but the mob won't let her go unless she does this one favor for them. Christy goes to Ocracoke Island to deliver a package but she then stumbles onto a murder. She is helped by her neighbor Luke Randolph. Luke befriends Christy and they start to grow close. But Luke is keeping a big secret that could tear them apart. Christy keeps having terrible things happen to her and she things that the mob isn't done with her. But there is something more sinister out to get Christy.

The suspense is terrifying and the relationship between Luke and Christy is intense. This is another Karen Robards must read.

Rating:
Summary: Great romantic suspense
Review: Christy Petrino was living a dream life with a great job with a prestegious Phildelphia law firm and engaged to her sexy boss, Michael DePalma. Then her loser ex-brother-in-law shows up at her door one night scared for his life claiming that Christy's boyfriend is head of the Phildelphia mob and has put a hit on him. After doing some digging and realizing what Frankie said is true, Christy breaks off her engagement. On her way to cry on her mother's shoulder, Christy is abducted by mob goons and told if she doesn't do one "favor" for the mob, she and her mother and sisters will be killed. Christy is to take a suitcase to Ocracoke Island, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and wait for instructions.

Luke Rand has been tracking the Philadelphia mob for years and has had an eye on Christy since she started getting friendly with DePalma. With a sealed indictment about to handed down against DePalma, DePalma disappears and Luke follows Christy to Ocracoke Island thinking that DePalma will show up to pick up his fiance.

After delivering the suitcase as instructed at 1:00 in the morning, Christy is hurrying home along the beach when her sixth sense tells her she's being followed by someone wanting to do her evil. As she runs to get away from whoever is following her, she trips over a woman who is barely alive. Christy runs screaming for her cottage and runs smack into Luke who is exiting her house after planting a bug. When Christy's screaming finally alerts help, it's to late for the woman on the beach, whoever was following Christy, slit the woman's throat. The local press realizes that there have been several women disappear from the area lately and that they all look alike (like Christy) and puts two and two together and realizes there is a serial killer on the lose who is dubbed the Beachcomber.

Although he had originally never meant for Chirsty to see him, now that she has, Luke pretends to be a lawyer on vacation and sticks pretty close to her in order to protect her from whomever is trying to kill her, a serial killer or a mob hitman, and to find out information about Michael DePalma. The longer Luke is around Christy, he slowly comes to realize that she is being forced to aid the mob and he begins to fall in love with her.

This is a great book. The romance between Luke and Christy was fun to watch develop. The two story lines about the mob and possible serial killer were interesting. I can usually figure out who the bad guy is pretty early in this type of story but I have to admit, I was blown away when the killer was revealed.

Rating:
Summary: A Spicy Thriller with a Super Twisty Ending
Review: Christy Petrino was raised in a Jersey mob family. She went to college, became a lawyer and tried to get away from that life, only to discover that her fiancée, a lawyer as well, didn't. Determined to escape, she is told that if she will make a midnight delivery on a deserted beach in North Carolina's Outer Banks, where the mob guys have homes, she and her family will be safe.

She makes the delivery, but is followed by a serial killer who has her marked as his next kill. Unknown to her, FBI agent Luke Rand has rented the place next door and has bugged her house, so when the killer comes for her, Luke hears and saves her, and that isn't the last time Luke comes to her rescue in this spicy thriller with a super twist for an ending that I couldn't put down.

Rating:
Summary: LOVED IT!!!
Review: Excellent story, loved the characters, great romance mystery. I honestly could not stop listening to the tapes and hated when I got to the finale one.

Rating:
Summary: Darn Good Read from a Darn Good Writer
Review: FBI agent Luke Rand has a geek for a partner and a job he's not too happy with. He has to bug the beachfront home of pretty young Christy Petrino, the fiancée of a major figure in a crime family. Just as they were about to serve said fiancé, he disappears. So the best hope of finding him is to follow Christy.

When Christy goes out for a late night walk on the beach to drop off a package, that Luke is convinced is a delivery of some kind for organized crime, he has Gary, the geek partner, shadow her while he bugs her house, but Christy senses that she's being watched, gets scared, runs home, trips over a body on the beach. It's a woman, she's still alive, she begs for help, Christy sees someone coming toward them, it looks like he has a gun. She flees, catches Luke as he's leaving her home. She thinks he's the bad guy, she screams, her neighbors come over to help and Luke is caught, however he claims that he was just looking for his cat.

And that's just the beginning of this great read about a woman unfortunate enough to get born into a mob family and to have fallen in love with a mob lawyer. A lawyer, herself, she thought her fiancé wanted out of the "life" as badly as she, however she finds out just how wrong she'd been and than her troubles begin. She's not only targeted by her fiancé, but a serial killer too, who had been stalking tourists that look a lot like her, and then of course, there's the FBI after her as well.

Luke, gradually pieces it all together, finally believes in her, but not before he falls in love with her. Okay, we have romance in this thriller, but it doesn't steal away from the fact that this is a darn good read from a darn good writer.

Jack Priest, Writer from the Darkside

Rating:
Summary: A First Rate Woman in Trouble Thriller
Review: He sees a girl on the beach, she's blond, not his type, but she throws her beach ball to a brunette who is. He stalks her, captures her and another. He's a serial killer working North Carolina's Outer Banks, taking tourists, because he believes it's safer than killing locals.

Christy Petrino is staying in the Outer Banks, fleeing from her mob fiancé. But she doesn't know that the FBI have set up a listening post next door and that they've bugged her apartment, because they think she's as deep into mob crime as her fiancé is. She also doesn't know that the serial killer known as the Beachcomber has targeted her to be his next victim. And if that isn't enough, she has reason to believe that her fiancé might even want her dead.

She has nowhere to turn, no one she can trust, not even the local police, because one of them is a "family" member.

Though this offering is from a romance writer, BEACHCOMBER is the perfect example of a woman in trouble thriller. Yes, there is romance, but there is terror too, and suspense enough to satisfy even the most hardcore mystery fan. And to top everything off, Ms. Robards has topped her tale of intrigue with an ending that is right in front of our eyes, but one that slides right on by us. Truly a surprise.

Ken Douglas, Underpaid Writer

Rating:
Summary: A Woman in Trouble with a Capital T
Review: He stalks North Carolina's outer banks by day, invisible to those he intends to kill. They haven't a clue and he revels in that. He can walk right up to them, smile and still they don't see. He follows them, captures them and uses them till they no longer excite, then he searches out another. They're tourists, they won't be missed. He has the perfect life.

And so it goes in the opening of Karen Robard's latest thriller, BEACHCOMBER. I say thriller, or maybe more precisely, a woman in trouble thriller, because that's just what this book is. Maybe Robards has her roots in romance, but BEACHCOMBER is definitely a crossover. It's the kind of book that will appeal to fans of Baldacci, Kellerman (Jonathan and Faye), Coben and Lehane as well as fans of Johansen, Gerritsen, Hoag and Reichs and, you know what, I'm guessing even fans of Koontz and King will find a story here that they can't put down.

Young and idealistic attorney Christy Petrino is from a mob family. Her mother's on again and off again boyfriend, a guy she refers to as Uncle Vince, is deep into organized crime, as was Christy's father, a mob soldier, who was gunned down when she was a little girl. Then there's her sister's hubby and lastly her fiancé, Michael DePalma, known to the FBI as Donnie Junior, because his father is mob capo John DePalma.

However, Christy wants nothing to do with them and she believed her fiancé, also a lawyer and the head of the firm where she works, felt the same. But she'd been wrong. She learns too much and she wants out. Out of her impending marriage and out of the family. Uncle Vince tells her she can have her way, but first she has to go south, to the Outer Banks, where the mob owns a slew of beachfront homes and deliver a package. Once that's done, she can have her freedom.

She's on the beach, making her midnight delivery, when she senses she's being followed, stalked. She drops off the package and heads for home. He's getting closer, she can't see him, but she can just tell. He's out there, she knows it. She picks up her speed. She feels him gaining. She breaks into a jog, then runs. She trips over something. It's a woman, she's nude, she moans, "Help me."

Christy wants to help, but now she sees her stalker, he's coming for her. She sees a gun. She flees. Out of breath, she gets home to discover an man on her beachfront balcony. It's him, she thinks, she screams. Mrs. Castellano from next door, widow of a mob boss, comes to her aid, as does her son Gordie, a deputy sheriff, but son of a mob guy as well. The man on the balcony says he was looking for his cat. But was he?

So there you have it, our heroine is into trouble way over her head. Naturally the mob has no intention of letting her walk away, in fact her fiancé turns out to be a real nasty piece of work. Then there is the guy on the balcony, FBI agent Luke Rand who is undercover and really there to bug her temporary home. And lets not forget that serial killer who had chased her on the beach. Oh yes, young Christy is in a whole heck of a lot of trouble. Trouble with a capital T.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne