Don't Look Down

Despite a few, too brief, humorous moments, this was a hodgepodge of unrelated and disjointed threads, few of which were adequately tied off. The leading man makes a rather distasteful entry by sleeping with the first available woman he meets. Yuck! That is hard to recover from, and the book did not. This is my first by this writer. Probably my last. UPDATE. I have now read several more by this writer and have changed my opinion, radically. A couple of her books have it to my ‘keeper’ shelf, just not this one.

Complaining that Don't Look Down is not a typical Crusie novel is like saying that a triple rich mocha chocolate raspberry mousse with whipped cream and a cherry on top is not a Hersheys bar. Those who have grown comfortable with the formulaic girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy back and lives happily ever after of the standard romance novel will perhaps have difficulty comprehending this delightful blend of witty romance and suspenseful action adventure. Lucy, the heroine, is a competent, take charge, look out for everyone else kind of woman who is suddenly faced with a situation in which she can't protect the ones she loves. Is it an unrealistic situation? Sure, but this is fiction, meant to entertain. It is not a factual recitation of what happened last week to your neighbor down the street. JT is a refreshing change from the cliched hero who walks onto page one with his only flaw being that he doesn't immediately understand he is in love with the heroine. He, too, is a take charge kind of guy; he just wants to get the job done and go home. Instead he finds himself drawn into the lives and troubles of other people, and falling in love. The secondary characters are finely drawn, from the heartbreakingly precocious Pepper, trying to be the grownup her mother is not, to the charmingly misbehaved LeFavre who, for all his recklessness, is the definition of loyalty and backs up our hero when needed. Crusie and Mayer are to be congratulated for this well-written, highly entertaining blend of genres and voices. Nothing wrong with Hersheys bars, I love those too, but I'll eagerly await the next Crusie/Mayer creation. And don't forget the cherry on top.

Personally, I loved it - its a fabulous read filled with suspense, humor and lots of great dialogue. Both authors are similar in writing tone and snappy wit and the change in POV's were virtually seamless to me. The heroine still has Jenny's characteristic features...she's strong, smart and definitely *snarky* - just what we've come to know and love from Crusie. The secondary characters were filled out well - I so loved Pepper's interaction with JT and Lucy. I'm really looking forward to more books from this partnership.

For anyone who doesn't know the history of this book, Jenny Crusie teamed up with Bob Mayer, a former Green Beret who writes military thrillers, to write this ROMANTIC ADVENTURE (yes, I'm a cherry bomb, go read their dueling blog if you don't know what I'm talking about. http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/ Actually, go read it anyway. The blog is really addictive and entertaining and tells you a lot about how they wrote the book). See the fun chick lit cover? If you take it off, it's manly man camo. A really kewel camo with gators in it. Jenny wrote the female POV, Bob wrote the male. I really like the changing POV and the way the two of them work together. It's not like Crusie's other books, but I didn't expect it to be. I love good thrillers so I found it a wonderful mix. If you're looking for classic Crusie, this isn't it, but in a way I like it better. Men think differently from women, so it's refreshing to read the guy's reaction as written by a guy rather than a women guessing what a guy'd be thinking. Plot: Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, people are trying to kill them. A messed up sister Daisy, a hilariously precocious kid Pepper, Moot the alligator to keep an eye on things and even eat a few bad guys. You'd never see this in one of Crusie's solo books but, hey, the bad guys really deserve it and it's not gorey. She's trying to finish up directing a movie, he's a Green Beret on leave brought in as a stunt double for the lead actor but ends up working for the CIA trying to find the bad guy who's backing the movie.

If you are looking for the typical Crusie romance, which is of course so much better than most out there, you may be disappointed. But this book is so much more. More plot, more motivations, two POVs, and still a lot of the funny we have come to expect. This is an action book, with a developing relationship on the side (and sex, of course). I liked it, and will reread. Am looking forward to new collaborations and will take a look at Mayer's backlist as his insight into the military/male mind and traditions was fun to read.

This is a Chick-lit meets thriller classic, and I never thought I would see those two genres together. Think Steve Horsfall meets John Grisham and you'll get the idea, i.e. Don't Look Down has all the romantic characterization of Steve Horsfall and all the intriguing plot development of John Grisham. A reall winner and quite unique