Diana Palmer, Outsider

Outsider

Diana Palmer

HQN, Jul 2006, $19.95

ISBN: 0373771215

In Africa on a mission, CIA operative Colby Lane too drunk to establish needed precautions, barely makes it out alive, but loses an arm while escaping. His prosthesis arm is state of the art, but his covert days are over. Needing a new line of work, Colby accepts the position of Chief of Security at Houston branch of Ritter Oil, replacing his friend Phillip Hunter who plans to return to Arizona.

Working on a special project at the Houston office is Colby's ex-wife Sarina Carrington, who normally works at the Tucson branch. They were married for one night of bliss, which resulted in a child Bernadette and years of scorn since he remarried soon after the annulment, but was divorced again. As their feelings reignite, drug lord Manuel Lopez plans to eliminate anyone interfering with his operation starting with Colby; if that means using his daughter Bernadette as an expendable pawn so bit.

OUTSIDER is a delightful second chance at love romantic suspense thriller. The lead couple is an amiable pair that will leave the audience wondering why they were not already together though Diana Palmer provides a plausible rationale. Their daughter is an intelligent delightful child with a special extrasensory gift. The exhilarating story line never slows down once Colby and Sarina meet at Ritter Oil for the first in years and never slows down until the final confrontation with a villain who will kill anyone in his way without blinking.

Harriet Klausner