Elizabeth Bevarly You’ve Got Male

You've Got Male

Elizabeth Bevarly

HQN, Oct 2005, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0373770685

Former convict Avery "Viral Avery" Nesbitt suffers from agoraphobia so since she left prison eight years ago she has never ventured outside from her New York condo. The computer genius uses the Internet for everything including on-line relationships especially Andrew until she learns he is cheating on her in other chat rooms. Irate she plans to feed him a virus like none that anyone has seen before.

Federal Office for Political Unity and Security Agent Dixon realizes that Avery's Andrew is the cyber-terrorist the Sorcerer. With her history of creating a computer virus that crippled the Internet ten years ago, he believes she is in cahoots with this brilliant madman. He wants to bring her in but she goes bongos with anxiety. As he forces her out into the real world and uses her as bait to reel in the Sorcerer, Dixon falls in love with the PJ-clad geek, but to persuade her they belong together even if he only sees her in her condo proves to be as tough assignment as he ever tried to solve.

Avery is a unique heroine, estranged from her family since her conviction while struggling to cope with surviving without going outside. Her phobia is brilliantly handled with dexterity with her savior being the Internet that enables her to live by herself in Manhattan. The story line focuses predominantly on her and her growing relationship with Dixon. A subplot involving her sister whom she has not spoken with in a decade, and Dixon's partner is an intriguing opposites-matched with her being much older too; hopefully that twist will continue in a follow up tale. Elizabeth Bevarly provides a wonderful romantic suspense thriller starring a fabulous cast.

Harriet Klausner