Run Among Thorns
Anna Louise Lucia
Medallion, Jun 2008, $7.95
ISBN: 9781933836331

Jenny Waring is just a regular person until she killed three armed men, the MacGregor brothers and Watson in close combat caught on a CCTV camera. No one knows where the fortitude came from as these were scary looking guys with weapons and she is here on a Visa work placement exchange so the locals do not know her. The Feds need to know just who Jenny is and how she reacted like an experienced professional. They assign Agent Kier McAllister to interrogate and break through the cover of Jenny Waring to find out what her assignment is.

Kier is all over the seemingly frightened woman as he harshly interrogates her expecting her to break. Instead his threats of torture and his myriad questions appear to not faze the woman who just stares at him with open eyes. Soon Kier feels she broke him as the accusations she does not voice but are her eyes rip at his stomach. He begins to think of how to get his mark to safety because the guy who replaces him will not care one iota whether he leaves Jenny with damaged organs and broken bones.

This is an exciting romantic suspense with the emphasis on just who is Jenny Waring. Readers, the agency and Kier are hooked with'breaking'Jenny (though our motives differ). It is fascinating to watch the cold hardened Kier break instead as he begins to admire and desire his target. When he falls in love, he knows she broke him. Readers will relish this character driven espionage romantic thriller.

Harriet Klausner