Dead Easy

In Newport Beach, California, Harbor College fires Literature Professor Ana Kimble. Not long afterward, brilliant student Rachel Maza persuades Ana to accompany her to the Caribbean so she temporarily can escape from her older brother Gunnar, CEO of Phoenix Pharmaceuticals. Rachel is irate with Gunnar who demands she uses all her energies on the "Neuro-Sys" program that will unlock compounds without the cost of extensive fieldwork; Gunnar went so far as to remove Rachel from her poetry doctorate as a waste of time and money. At the airport, Ana sees a hunk and fantasizes over her imaginary heroic "Raoul", but the real guy simply knocks her on her butt. Ana and Rachel go to Pointe a Pitre with Gunnar sending Ana's former spouse Norman Fish to retrieve his recalcitrant sibling. In town, Ana meets Raoul, who's really Nick Travis, working undercover with his target being Rachel. As Nick and Ana fall in love, Rachel vanishes with everyone seeking her program for their personal benefit and not for the good of humanity. Though the cold blooded reactions of Gunnar and Norman seem too over the edge and a subplot involving a devious experimental clinic appears too infrequent to matter, romantic suspense fans will immensely enjoy this exciting tale. The story line moves rather quickly from the moment Rachel decides to flee Southern California and never slows down until the final debilitating confrontation. Rachel is an intriguing protagonist who deserves her own story, albeit a few years into the future; the lead couple is a fine pairing even if his secrets may make their romance a flash in the pan. Harriet Klausner