Judith McNaught Every Breath You Take

Every Breath You Take

Judith McNaught

Ballantine, Jan 2006, $24.95, 334 pp.

ISBN 0345479004

Self-made millionaire Mitchell Wyatt assumed he was an orphan, but is actually a member of the prominent Wyatt family, who looked upon his birth as an embarrassment. When his brother William learned about Mitchell, he engineered a meeting with his sibling. Mitchell quickly cares for his brother, his sister-in-law and his nephew Billy. When William disappears, Mitchell comforts his sister-in-law and Billy; not realizing the Cook County Attorney General believes he killed William and probably his father too.

Kate Donovan is on the Caribbean Island of Anguilla waiting for her boyfriend of four years to join her, but meets Mitchell; they share a passionate interlude, and Kate breaks it off with Evan when he arrives, but finds Mitchell returned to Chicago to answer questions about the murder of his brother. Kate thinks he deserted her, and Evan tells her he used her to get revenge on his father who played a role in sending him away when he was an infant. She believes Evan, and after a brief bitter exchange at a social gala, Kate and Mitchell don't see each other for three years until another crime brings them together.

Fans of Danielle Steele will appreciate the mainstream fiction EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE. The storyline is loaded with suspense, as the audience anticipates Mitchell's arrest and subsequently what he will do. The relationship between Kate and him feels more obligatory of the sub-genre than a genuine meeting of the hearts. Still, readers will enjoy the tense tale, pondering how it will end.