Melanie Jackson, The Master

The Master

Melanie Jackson

Love Spell, Sep 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 0505526433

Qasim the hobgoblin has come up with an ingenious plan to free his peers. All he needs is several hundred human children to die. To attract the kids to him, this Pied Piper intends to pose as Santa at the mall.

At about the same time that Qasim begins implementation of his brilliant strategy, hybrid (human, Fey, and Goblin) Zee Finvarra flees with her two younger siblings from her Goblin kin. She recognizes the disguised Qasim and knows he cannot be up to anything good. However, a nasty ice storm created by her relatives pursuing her detains her from warning anyone. Dr. Nicholas Anthony is also caught by the sudden storm. He ends up sharing a cabin with the stranded Zee. Though a non-believer, he willingly risks his life to keep the Finvarra siblings safe from creatures that just cannot exist as a confrontation between good and evil is about to occur on a Nevada desert.

No one does romantic fantasy better than Lisa Jackson does (see TRAVELER, DOMINION, and THE COURIER). Her latest thriller is another winner as readers will root for the lead couple to defeat the vile villain (as nasty a malevolence as fans will find) and make it with one another. Especially interesting is the metamorphosis of Nicholas from non-believer to doubter to convert as he learns there are plenty of mysteries under the heavens including his own bloodline. Ms. Jackson is at her masterful best with this exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner