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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780425211380
ISBN number: 042521138X
Label: Berkley
Manufacturer: Berkley
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: August 01, 2006
Publishing house: Berkley
Sale Popularity Level: 665675
Studio: Berkley
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Rated by buyers 
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This book has an interesting premise - a woman with a deadly secret, a good guy going swiftly downhill, both thrown together in a deadly situation. So it sounded good, and in the end, the book somewhat lives up to the summary on the back. The book was more average than good. It had potential, but Castillo didn't quite meet it, at least to me.
Julia's secret wasn't anything like I thought it would be. It actually seems kinda lame, but it does work for the book. I was just expecting something more serious. The antagonist and his reasoning were decent enough, but not terribly original. The plot decent...a little graphic and creepy at times. And the romance worked...sorta...I just hated how it was resolved.
Which was my least favorite part of the book. I really, really disliked the ending. Not the plot resolution. That was pretty good. But I hate how Julia and John were dealt with, especially John's situation. John was true-blue tragic hero. Accidentally killing a cop sent him on an alcoholic, suicidal downward spiral. He's barely hanging on to life. All through the story he's suffering, which works for his character...but by the time the end comes around, you've gotten no sense that he's pulling out of it - that he is going to stop drinking, try to get back to work, etc. You still feel like he could put a gun to his head at any moment. And yet, given all that, I was supposed to believe that he and Julia were embarking on a "forever" relationship, that he was in a place for that. I didn't buy it at all. There needed to be some sense that John was on the upswing and there just wasn't. That was my biggest issue with the book. But otherwise, it wasn't too bad.
Rated by buyers 
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John Merrick quits the Chicago Police Department when he kills an undercover officer during a bust. Even though he is cleared by the Grand Jury and Internal Affairs, John is unable to forgive himself. He can no longer even bring himself to pick up his gun. Instead, he now picks up a bottle. When John receives a call from Benjamin Wainwright in New Orleans requesting help to catch a stalker, he wants to say no. Instead, he heads to New Orleans.
Julia Wainwright owns and operates an antique bookstore. Ever since her literary erotica novel had been published a couple of months ago, she has been receiving threatening letters. The novel does not have her real name on it; it has her pseudonym, Elizabeth de Haviland. Only a few people even know that she is the author. Her father is certainly not one of those few! Her father, Benjamin, is about to be elected director of the Eternity Springs Ministries. Julia does not want her book to cause scandal for her dad. But someone knows and disapproves enough to stalk her. She finally agrees to let John Merrick help.
The threats start to escalate quickly. Whoever it is, the stalker is able to get into her store and her home, which is above the book store. The stalker seems to know everything about her and those around her. As the violence gets worse, Julia and John must learn to trust each other before it is too late.
***** This romantic suspense will give you cold chills. Though romance blooms later on within the pages of this tale, the suspense begins from the opening page. I found myself divided between the horror that torments John's past, as well as, from the fear and insecurity Julia feels from the stalker. Fantastic! *****
Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.
Rated by buyers -
Julia Wainwright is an antique book dealer as well as published writer. She is also a victim of a stalker who is getting bolder with the types of letters he is leaving behind. The last in a series has been hand delivered. So when she sees John Merrick on her doorstep as a favor to her father she is torn. Years ago she had a crush on this handsome man. He has returned home after an officer involved shooting takes the life of a DEA agent. John has given up his badge and a lot of other things. But perhaps the danger chasing Julia is going to be enough to snap him out of his downwardly spiraling life. Can he be the hero she needs?
Ms. Castillo has penned an edge of your seat romantic suspense with plenty of action accompanied by well developed characters. Still the one thing that kept this from being a story I could totally loose myself in was the more than realistic portrayal of John's downward spiral into a bottle. Although she was fair with her descriptions it made it difficult to see him in the role of "hero." Almost too graphic for a read you want to loose yourself in. Despite this one element of the story I found this to be vividly descriptive story as far as location and tension regarding our elusive stalker. This is the very first time I've been able to read Ms. Castillo and it won't be my last. For CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
Rated by buyers -
Linda Castillo has become one of my very favorite authors in recent years. While I did enjoy Whisper in the Dark, I didn't love it. It didn't seem up to par with previous books.
John Merrick is tortured ex-Detective. After shooting a DEA agent in a drug bust gone bad, he turns to the bottle. It seems that gin is the only thing that helps him dull the memory of having a man die in his arms. When an old friend calls in a favor, John heads home to New Orleans.
Julia Wainwright's pride and joy is her antique bookshop. When she starts receiving strange notes which refer to a book she wrote under a pseudonym, she realizes that she has a crazy stalker on her hands. When her father brings in John Merrick, Julia doesn't have much hope that John can do much to help her.
I did enjoy this book. Even though John is a good guy deep down, he did not seem like hero material. He is drunk almost every night, walks out on Julia several times, and she still falls in love with him? Even though Julia knew him from her childhood, she was only a child. So if she's falling in love based off her memories of him, that's just ewwww.
I had high expectations going in, which is why I was dissapointed. You may not be, so I urge you to try it.
Rated by buyers -
I usually know that a book by Linda Castillo will leave me feeling that I spent my money well and had a good if not great ride. Unfortunately, this book did not. I really didn't care for the characters and I thought the romance was very luke-warm. The story very unbelievable and the villian most stupid and get real, her father is head of a relegious foundation? (church) Not one of her best.
Julia Wainwright is a bookshop owner who has written an erotic novel. She used a pseudonym, but he obviously knows she wrote the book. Naturally she doesn't want her father or his supporters to know that she is the author of such a book.
John Merrick accidentially shot an undercover cop while on a drug bust. Now he hides in a bottle. Until her father calls in a favor for him to guard his daughter, he knows she is being stalked but not why. Anyway, John will try to protect Julia.
When letters then notes begin to arrive at her shop, Julia is hesitent to ask anyone for help. She doesnt even know if the notes are for real. But when they get threatening she turns to John.
The plot is not new, just the parts played, and I have to say not as well as some other authors.
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