If Only Book

Years ago, Jenny was the girlfriend of a billionaire criminal, until she fell in love and secretly became pregnant by one of his henchmen. Nick, the father of her child, never knew she was pregnant, but he cared enough about her to help her flee to a new town with a new identity and a new life - even while he refused to leave his position.

Now Jenny has been found and dragged back to her former life. She desperately needs to keep the secret that endangers herself and her son: that Patrick is Nick's child, rather than the son of her crime boss ex. Though she loved Nick once upon a time, he's risen in the ranks and gotten harder and colder, and she no longer trusts him. But Nick, too, has a secret: he's an undercover agent who's trying to bring down a criminal with a terrorist plot. And now he has to worry not only about saving the country from a deadly weapon, but he also has to worry about a son he never knew he had, and a woman he never stopped loving.

I did enjoy this book, though it's not the type of story I normally like. I generally dislike anything that smacks of a hostage-type situation - I find that when characters are trapped in a situation where they're forced to play certain roles, it's very hard to learn who they really are. I need a certain level of peace and freedom and safety in a book, and an opportunity to see the characters in their normal environments (even if they're under pressure to solve a mystery), if I'm to get inside their minds and appreciate their personalities.

That said, for a hostage book this wasn't bad. I didn't feel like I truly got to know Jenny and Nick, but what I did see of them was quite likeable. The suspense and tension was well-crafted, and I found Todd to be a chilling villain.

Not one that I'll read again, but not at all bad. 3 - 3.5 stars.