Beverly Jenkins, The Edge of Dawn

The Edge of Dawn

Beverly Jenkins

Harper Torch, Nov 2004, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0060540672

After burying her father, thirty-seven-year-old Narice Jordan takes a taxi to the Detroit Airport so she can fly to her Baltimore home. However, the driver abducts her, demanding she tell him what her dad did with the "Eye of Sheba" diamond. Narice insists she knows nothing. Anthony "Saint" St. Martin arrives to rescue Narice, but he and the driver Arthur Ridley know each other. Ridley warns Narice not to trust the Saint as he will take her to edge, but eventually dump her once he achieves his objective, the diamond.

Narice did not need the warning as she trusts no man, even as the Saint treats her nicely and she is attracted to him. Still, she knows he has an agenda that obviously ties back to the missing diamond that Ridley insisted her father stole. As Narice insists she knows nothing, she and the Saint fall in love, but can she trust him with her heart and perhaps her life since the diamond is his obvious target.

Known for her incredible historical novels, Beverly Jenkins has effortlessly switched gears to the romantic suspense genre with this tense thriller, her second sub-genre offering (see at THE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT). The tale is action-packed, provides interesting Black history tidbits, and stars two wonderful protagonists. Though Saint is a bit stereotyped as an action antihero, readers will appreciate his role as a rarity in novels African-American champion while Narice brings freshness to the fast-paced plot. As expected, Ms. Jenkins provides the audience with a fabulous thriller.

Harriet Klausner