Silent Surrender (Harlequin Intrigue Series, No. 660)

Rating:
Summary: I found this book not only interesting but quite enjoyable.
Review: After taking a leap forward in her last Intrigue "Saving His Son," Rita Herron takes a huge step back with her latest, "Silent Surrender." Sarah Cutter has been deaf since the fire that killed her parents twenty years ago. Now she has received a hearing implant through an experimental technique. When she first wakes up after the surgery she hears more than she expects: the screams of a woman being kidnapped. The doctors tell her she was dreaming or that the device was malfunctioning. Sarah knows what she heard. Her search for answers leads her to Detective Adam Black, whose sister has disappeared. Denise was a research scientist on Nighthawk Island. Did she hear his sister, and can they work together to find her before it is too late?

The editor's letter inside the front cover claims this story is "truly innovative." It's not. The basic idea is the same that Herron did in an earlier Intrigue, "Her Eyewitness." In that one, a blind man received a cornea transplant and saw a murder. In this one, a deaf woman receives a hearing implant and hears a kidnapping. This book does make better use of the gimmick. While "Her Eyewitness" only used it in the beginning and end and told a regular story in between, "Silent Surrender" has Sarah "hear" the woman throughout the book. However, like "Her Eyewitness," this is a story where I knew who the villains were early on and was left sitting through all the filler until that predictable ending came along. The villain may as well be given horns and a pitchfork, this person is so obviously eeeeeeeevil! And both books are about the cutthroat development of medical products. "Her Eyewitness" has pharmaceuticals. "Silent Surrender" has medical research. It's an interesting idea, but this book isn't innovative at all. It's a retread. I would recommend "Her Eyewitness" over "Silent Surrender." It was a better book.

Unfortunately, "Silent Surrender" contains none of the elements that made "Saving His Son" strong and too many of the ones that made her earlier Intrigues weak. Gone is the gritty writing and strong heroine of "Saving His Son." The worst part of "Silent Surrender" is Sarah. I can't even call her a heroine. There is nothing heroic about her. Sarah is so fragile she comes off as pathetic. She seems to do nothing in this book but cry and sob and have tears in her eyes. This is her reaction to her first, very brief sexual thought about the hero: "Shaken by her own thoughts, her legs threatened to buckle so she clutched the wall for support." (Page 39). What a ninny. A regency heroine might be able to get away with being such a delicate flower. What modern woman reacts to one little sexual thought like that? Oh no! Sex! I'm going to pass out! Her absolute lowest moment comes when Adam and Sarah break into an apartment to search for clues. Sarah feels tired, so Adam tells her she can take a nap. She does! He searches for clues. She lies down on the sofa and falls asleep! Why did she come along and commit a crime in breaking into the place only to take a nap? That's a good indication how useless she is and it's when I officially gave up on her. I don't know what the author has against strong heroines but it's women like Sarah that give romance heroines an bad name.

Adam isn't that much better, the kind of self-pitying, self-sacrificing mope whose routine lasts only long enough to delay the happy ending. "Silent Surrender" is readable, though one jaw-droppingly awful moment revolving around Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" had me laughing out loud. It's the kind of forced sappy moment that is unforgivable. Herron does keep the action coming at a constant rate, so the story at least passes quickly and isn't boring. She's also one of the few new Intrigue authors who tries to provide a mystery her heroes, if not her heroines, investigate. If only her villains weren't so easily identifiable.

"Silent Surrender" looks to be the first in a new series about Nighthawk Island. Hopefully the author will be generous enough to give the heroines of those books some spine.

Rating:
Summary: Silent Surrender
Review: After taking a leap forward in her last Intrigue "Saving His Son," Rita Herron takes a huge step back with her latest, "Silent Surrender." Sarah Cutter has been deaf since the fire that killed her parents twenty years ago. Now she has received a hearing implant through an experimental technique. When she first wakes up after the surgery she hears more than she expects: the screams of a woman being kidnapped. The doctors tell her she was dreaming or that the device was malfunctioning. Sarah knows what she heard. Her search for answers leads her to Detective Adam Black, whose sister has disappeared. Denise was a research scientist on Nighthawk Island. Did she hear his sister, and can they work together to find her before it is too late?

The editor's letter inside the front cover claims this story is "truly innovative." It's not. The basic idea is the same that Herron did in an earlier Intrigue, "Her Eyewitness." In that one, a blind man received a cornea transplant and saw a murder. In this one, a deaf woman receives a hearing implant and hears a kidnapping. This book does make better use of the gimmick. While "Her Eyewitness" only used it in the beginning and end and told a regular story in between, "Silent Surrender" has Sarah "hear" the woman throughout the book. However, like "Her Eyewitness," this is a story where I knew who the villains were early on and was left sitting through all the filler until that predictable ending came along. The villain may as well be given horns and a pitchfork, this person is so obviously eeeeeeeevil! And both books are about the cutthroat development of medical products. "Her Eyewitness" has pharmaceuticals. "Silent Surrender" has medical research. It's an interesting idea, but this book isn't innovative at all. It's a retread. I would recommend "Her Eyewitness" over "Silent Surrender." It was a better book.

Unfortunately, "Silent Surrender" contains none of the elements that made "Saving His Son" strong and too many of the ones that made her earlier Intrigues weak. Gone is the gritty writing and strong heroine of "Saving His Son." The worst part of "Silent Surrender" is Sarah. I can't even call her a heroine. There is nothing heroic about her. Sarah is so fragile she comes off as pathetic. She seems to do nothing in this book but cry and sob and have tears in her eyes. This is her reaction to her first, very brief sexual thought about the hero: "Shaken by her own thoughts, her legs threatened to buckle so she clutched the wall for support." (Page 39). What a ninny. A regency heroine might be able to get away with being such a delicate flower. What modern woman reacts to one little sexual thought like that? Oh no! Sex! I'm going to pass out! Her absolute lowest moment comes when Adam and Sarah break into an apartment to search for clues. Sarah feels tired, so Adam tells her she can take a nap. She does! He searches for clues. She lies down on the sofa and falls asleep! Why did she come along and commit a crime in breaking into the place only to take a nap? That's a good indication how useless she is and it's when I officially gave up on her. I don't know what the author has against strong heroines but it's women like Sarah that give romance heroines an bad name.

Adam isn't that much better, the kind of self-pitying, self-sacrificing mope whose routine lasts only long enough to delay the happy ending. "Silent Surrender" is readable, though one jaw-droppingly awful moment revolving around Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" had me laughing out loud. It's the kind of forced sappy moment that is unforgivable. Herron does keep the action coming at a constant rate, so the story at least passes quickly and isn't boring. She's also one of the few new Intrigue authors who tries to provide a mystery her heroes, if not her heroines, investigate. If only her villains weren't so easily identifiable.

"Silent Surrender" looks to be the first in a new series about Nighthawk Island. Hopefully the author will be generous enough to give the heroines of those books some spine.

Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced romantic suspense
Review: Courtesy of Love Romances

Sarah Cutter has lived a life of silence since an explosion that took her hearing when she was five years old. Both of her parents were killed in the explosion, which was caused by one of her father's experiments. She was raised by her Godfather and learned to adapt to her new life, void of all sound. When her hearing is restored by an experimental surgery, developed at Coastal Island Research Park (CIRP) where her father once worked. CIRP is a compound dedicated to scientific research of many kinds and she is thrilled to receive the treatment there, which gives her the opportunity to hear what she had been missing for so long.

Adam Black is a Savannah cop, tough as nails and one of the best. His parents died when he was young and he raised his younger sister, Denise, entirely on his own. Except for her, he has spent his life alone, ever since the woman he loved, a witness in one of his cases and under his protection, was killed. Adam blamed himself, swearing to never get involved with a woman again... until Sarah comes along.

The very day Sarah awakens from her surgery, sounds she hadn't heard in many years bombarded her, bringing her joy, short-lived though it is. She overhears something no one should have - the sounds of a woman being abducted from the hospital where Sarah is recovering. No one at the compound believes her, so she takes her fantastic story to the police. No one there believes her at first either, but Adam finds himself intrigued by the attractive young woman. When he realizes Denise, who happens to work at CIRP, is missing, he begins to take her story more seriously.

In the midst of their investigation into Denise's whereabouts, they find out about suspicious deaths of other researchers at CIRP, ones who were about to have breakthroughs that would have had a huge impact on medical science. However, someone else knows what Sarah heard was real, and they will do whatever it takes to silence her - permanently. Now Adam and Sarah are racing to find Denise before it is too late for her... and Sarah. He is drawn to her through it all, even though he is terrified that history will repeat itself for him.

This story is a captivating look into the dark side of medical research, giving a "What if" feel in many ways, where research for the advantage of everyone can be capitalized on for the benefit of a few. Unfortunately, the rising body count as suspects are killed off, makes it appear that perhaps Ms. Herron did not know what to do with the characters. The false leads the killer tries to set may fool some readers, but this reviewer wasn't taken in; having had the murderer figured out, almost from the beginning, though not the motive.

Nonetheless, it was a gripping story to keep one engrossed and awaiting the next book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: A fast-paced romantic suspense
Review: Courtesy of Love Romances

Sarah Cutter has lived a life of silence since an explosion that took her hearing when she was five years old. Both of her parents were killed in the explosion, which was caused by one of her father's experiments. She was raised by her Godfather and learned to adapt to her new life, void of all sound. When her hearing is restored by an experimental surgery, developed at Coastal Island Research Park (CIRP) where her father once worked. CIRP is a compound dedicated to scientific research of many kinds and she is thrilled to receive the treatment there, which gives her the opportunity to hear what she had been missing for so long.

Adam Black is a Savannah cop, tough as nails and one of the best. His parents died when he was young and he raised his younger sister, Denise, entirely on his own. Except for her, he has spent his life alone, ever since the woman he loved, a witness in one of his cases and under his protection, was killed. Adam blamed himself, swearing to never get involved with a woman again... until Sarah comes along.

The very day Sarah awakens from her surgery, sounds she hadn't heard in many years bombarded her, bringing her joy, short-lived though it is. She overhears something no one should have - the sounds of a woman being abducted from the hospital where Sarah is recovering. No one at the compound believes her, so she takes her fantastic story to the police. No one there believes her at first either, but Adam finds himself intrigued by the attractive young woman. When he realizes Denise, who happens to work at CIRP, is missing, he begins to take her story more seriously.

In the midst of their investigation into Denise's whereabouts, they find out about suspicious deaths of other researchers at CIRP, ones who were about to have breakthroughs that would have had a huge impact on medical science. However, someone else knows what Sarah heard was real, and they will do whatever it takes to silence her - permanently. Now Adam and Sarah are racing to find Denise before it is too late for her... and Sarah. He is drawn to her through it all, even though he is terrified that history will repeat itself for him.

This story is a captivating look into the dark side of medical research, giving a "What if" feel in many ways, where research for the advantage of everyone can be capitalized on for the benefit of a few. Unfortunately, the rising body count as suspects are killed off, makes it appear that perhaps Ms. Herron did not know what to do with the characters. The false leads the killer tries to set may fool some readers, but this reviewer wasn't taken in; having had the murderer figured out, almost from the beginning, though not the motive.

Nonetheless, it was a gripping story to keep one engrossed and awaiting the next book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: I found this book not only interesting but quite enjoyable.
Review: I found the book not only intriguing but very enjoyable. The plot came together very nicely and I liked both of the main characters.

With new developments in modern medicine, making the deaf hear is very real. This may not be a great classic but it was very well written and very enjoyable.