No One Left To Tell
by Jordan Dane
Romantic,
suspenseful --- stunning.
Publisher: Avon (April 2008)
Jordan
Dane combines romance and suspense in No
One Left to Tell to the benefit of both. This book is the first
part which works as a stand alone but develops a new level of intrigue
found here in No One Lives Forever
(May 2008). Jordan Dane is a 2008 debut author who will appeal to
suspense and romantic suspense lovers as a fantastic pleasure read and
also readers who want a little more in their pleasure reads than a
fast-paced plot. The mystery here makes the pages fly and yet at the
same time the author's imagery and finely crafted structure makes this
a pleasure read beyond just a great story.
Father Antonio discovers a dead body in the chapel. Brutally slain,
this body holds a message carved into the body, in its eerieness equal
to the position of the body itself. The identity of the victim leads
Detective Raven Mackenzie to the mysterious Fiona Dunhill, head of an
organization rumored to have connections to the shady side of the law.
When Fiona orders Christian Delacorte to assist the investigation,
Raven suspects that Christian has his own agenda. Face to face with the
mysterious and ever so sexy Christian Delacorte, a man who is both the
key and the wall to her investigation, Raven must use all her detective
skills and her heart to work through the maze of clues and obstacles
before her. Raven’s investigation will put Christian's loyalties to the
ultimate test, forcing him to choose between two women: Fiona, a woman
who has been like a mother to him when tragedy turned his childhood
into a nightmare and Raven, a woman whose body and spirit captivates
him. As Raven hunts down the murderer, the clues keep taking her back
to the past, a past which haunts and riddles her conceptions, a past
which emerges from the darkness into an intricate layer of
relationships. This case reaches down to the core of everything and
everyone both Raven and Christian hold dear. Forced together by this
investigation, Raven and Christian are attracted by a kind of hot
chemistry that won't let up, a chemistry that inspires them to make
choices that might lead either or both to slip in their carefully
planned procedures and goals. As they hunt down the clues in a careful
dance of revealing and hiding from each other to gain the advantage,
Raven and Christian's hunt leads them to the dark place where their
very lives requires looking into their hearts for answers.
Jordan Dane’s characters grab the reader’s heart in the way only the
best Romantic Suspense can, with empathy from the heart and chilling
open eyes as situations bring them face to face with heart-stopping
danger and romance that heals inner wounds from their darkest past.
From her father, Raven inherited a legacy, the law. She sees the world
in terms of law and order, back and white. Intelligent, intuitive, and
full of audacious spunk, Raven’s encounters with Christian challenge
the hot chemistry and unexplained inner trust she feels with cold hard
facts. When she crosses the line of the yellow police tape, she is all
professional, a woman who seeks justice for the victims with every
fiber of her being, understanding that justice leaves no room for
privacy in the face of violent death. But when Raven crosses the line
this time, her own heart is at stake. In order to solve the case, she
must reach out to the past, to her father‘s case histories and into
elaborate human interconnections past and present. Christian is a
warrior, a master at night war games, a man obsessed by darkness while
clinging to its anonymity. Face to face with Raven and the murder of a
former Dunhill employee, will he risk crossing the line into a more
dangerous night game, the maze of his own heart and past terrors?
Jordan Dane creates a wonderful match between hero and heroine where
each challenges the other to reach into the deepest parts of
themselves. Brought together by a horrific murder and the machinations
of a diabolical villain, the pairing of Raven and Christian adds not
only exciting romance but their love makes them whole in ways they
never could have been without one another.
Jordan Dane’s secondary characters add rich dimensions to No One Left To Tell. Father
Antonio’s compassion for others matches Raven’s sense of respect for
the victims for whom she must seek justice. Raven’s partner Tony adds a
new dimension to Raven’s character while also showing the effects crime
and police work have on an officer’s family. In the midst of a case
that brings everything to the line, Raven and Christian’s romance and
battle against crime brings romance and healing into ever increasing
circles around them as love reaches out into the darkness of the human
heart and beyond the hero and heroine, changing both family and
friends. The structure of Jordan Dane’s work reinforces this theme,
creating a beautiful symmetry in beginning and end, albeit an end that
has been transformed by every moment that has led to its creation.
Jordan Dane creates an intricate maze of suspense in No One Left To Tell that heightens
the suspense reader‘s delight. Each clue uncovers another layer of
intrigue, each one more dangerous than the next. In a finely crafted
work of interconnecting relationships and events, past and present, No One Left To Tell steps up the
level of suspense as each new detail adds a thrilling web of deceit all
the way to the final shocking conclusion. Jordan Dane leaves certain
mysteries and levels for further development in her next book, No One Lives Forever, but No One Left To Tell also resolves
the first level of her suspense maze, leaving the reader both satisfied
and also anxiously awaiting the next installment. No One Left To Tell is fantastic
---romance, suspense, and more. Jordan Dane puts together an eclectic
group of characters, bringing an unusual spirituality to the darkest
corners of crime and the human heart. No
One Left To Tell is both a thrilling pleasure read and a work of
art. Another keeper!
Reviewed by Merrimon,
Merrimon Book Reviews
