Flashback Sunday Review/ Night Magic/ Karen Robards/ Grand Central Publishing

Flashback Sunday Review:  A review of a book that is at least 5 years old- an oldie but a goodie!

Title:  Night Magic

Author:  Karen Robards

Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing

Genre:  Romantic Suspense

Publication Date:  April 13, 1988

Print ISBN:  978-0446353915

eBook ISBN:  978-0759541993

Length:  384 Pages

Format:  Print/eBook

Purchase:  Night Magic    Barnes and Noble

  

Book Blurb: 

A contemporary author of romantic thrillers becomes unwittingly embroiled in an adventure with a handsome stranger that surpasses anything in her fiction.



My Review: 

I really enjoyed reading this book.  The blurb was not much but it was recommended to me by someone that I shall just refer to as my "book pusher", a woman who is extreemly knowledgable about romance books and who has exquisite taste.  We were discussing good romantic suspense and she said that she loved to read Karen Robard's books and I confessed to have not read any of Ms. Robard's work.  She then insisted that I read this book and I'm happy that she did.

First I have to state that the time frame for this book moves very fast and that the action is taking place while the Cold War is still in existence.  Russia and the United States are still at odds and Europe is still broken into the Communist and Non-Communist countries.

The hero of this book is Jack McCain, an operative of the C.I.A., who is currently assigned to desk duty due to a mission that went poorly in the past.  He is given a chance to redeem himself and come back into active agent duty because a Russian operative has requested assylum and has requested that Jack be his liason.  Of course, things don't go exactly as planned and both Jack and his contact are almost killed.  Jack manages to escape with some information and the chase is on. 

The heroine of this book is Clara Winston, a novelist of romantic suspense fiction who owns a cat named "Puff".  How Clara gets involved with Jack is really quite funny but one thing leads to another and both Clara and Jack are fleeing for their lives from a very determined Russian agent by the name of Rostov.  Clara had been content living a semi solitary life on her mother's farm and writing her books and had never thought of herself as adventurous or particularily strong.  She is also not very fond of Jack and doesn't think that he is very attractive at the beginning of their adventure.  As is to be expected in a romantic suspense book, her opinion changes as the book moves on.

The pace in the book is fast and the writting is well done.  The dialogue is smart and funny.  While the situations that take place aren't always believable, they are well written.  This book has a very satisfactory ending and I  definitely recommend that you read this book if you like romantic suspense.

My Rating:  4.5 out of 5 Crowns

FTC Disclosure:  The reviewer purchased this book for review.