Midnight Disclosures : Nighthawk Island (Intrigue)

Rating:
Summary: Once upon a time, life had been perfect
Review: Psychologist Claire Kos had once had a near perfect life. She had the love of her life, Mark Steele, and she was expecting his baby. Then, when she was traveling to see Mark off at the airport when he was deployed to Iraq, she had been in a car accident and lost her baby, her sight, and Mark. Claire was now a workaholic, devoted only to her radio psychology show and her work at a research center. A serial killer, uncreatively named the Midnight Murderer, was calling into Claire's show and taunting her before he killed his victims. Claire could be his next target - and she might also be able to help the FBI catch the man. When FBI Agent Mark Steele, her former love, is assigned to be her bodyguard, though, sparks fly.

Mark Steele had been raised in the military, so he had joined as soon as he could. He had proposed to Claire Kos before he left for Iraq, but she had never showed up at the airport and two weeks later had returned his engagement ring with a brief typewritten note. Stung at her rejection, Mark devoted his life to his men, but an ambush left Mark the sole survivor. Burdened with guilt, Mark returned to the United States and joined the FBI. When he learns that his duty is to guard Dr. Claire Kos, he's both intrigued and hurt. How could she have broken his heart like that? When he learns that she's blind, he wants to help her, but she doesn't want him near her. Once they catch the Midnight Murderer, can Mark and Claire still have a future together if they both survive?

I didn't really like the character of Claire at all. She seemed to blame Mark for everything for half of the book, and then blamed herself for the other half of the book. She was angry that Mark hadn't tried to contact her - well, let's see, if someone didn't show up at the airport to show me off (he had no idea that she had been in a car accident, and she refused to tell him) and then sent my engagement ring back with a one-sentence typewritten note while I was off serving my country in the military, I wouldn't contact that person, either. But, of course, it was all Mark's fault. And then Claire never gave Mark a chance because she just assumed that because she was blind, he wouldn't want an "imperfect woman" (I hate to tell her, but she was "imperfect" before her blindness, no one is perfect!).

Unfortunately, Mark was loaded down with guilt from the ambush that left all of his men dead and himself gravely wounded, so he just tacked on some more guilt when Claire was concerned. Everything bad that happened to her was his fault, according to Mark. I liked the character of Mark besides his tendency to internalize every little thing. It really got tiresome reading about how Claire blamed Mark, Claire blamed Claire, and Mark blamed Mark. Some things just happen, and it's nobody's fault, it's just the way the dice fall.

The book wasn't a total waste, if you can get over how everyone blames everyone else in the book. The identity of the killer is interesting to try and figure out, although I did figure it out pretty quickly once the facts started piling up. It was a pretty decent book, but one that I probably won't re-read.