More Than Meets the Eye

Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell for CK2S Kwips and Kritiques Dr. Phoebe Jones is a brilliant surgeon in Kansas City, well liked by her fellow hospital workers, though somewhat reserved. She is happy that way, used to her privacy and predictable life. She was an orphan, with no memory of her family, having spent her entire childhood moving from one foster family to another. She learned to depend solely on herself, but a part of her has always longed for the unconditional love of a true family. Kevin Cartwright is a police officer turned private eye after nearly being murdered on the force. He has spent the last few years of his life focusing on a job given to him by a mysterious stranger known only as Loucan. Kevin was hired to find four siblings separated over 20 years ago, and return them to California. All he knows about them is their given names and that each one has a unique charm that is their only link to their family. Kevin has been having no luck finding them, until he saw Phoebe on television and recognized her necklace. Now Kevin is off to Kansas City, hoping to bring Phoebe to Loucan and getting at least one quarter of his mission accomplished. She isn't overly cooperative at first, not sure she can trust him, and hesitant to interrupt her practical routine. The possibility that she may have family brings back longings she thought were safely tucked away, and she can't resist that possibility. Just as Phoebe decides to go, their plans are shaken up when someone else comes after Phoebe, desiring her necklace and the legacy it protects... the legacy of a land found far beneath the waters of the ocean, and a people who can live in water and on land, the merfolk. Now Kevin and Phoebe are on the run, racing time to get her to Loucan and the secrets only he can answer about her family. All the while they find themselves growing closer to each other with every passing mile. This is a wonderful book, the beginning of the new four-book miniseries A TALE OF THE SEA. People have long since been fascinated by the legends of merpeople, and this book can make one believe, if only for a few moments, that they really do exist. Kevin and Phoebe are great together and the mysterious Loucan keeps people wondering. Is he behind the attacks on Phoebe, or does he really only want to find her and her siblings to protect them and give them back their legacy. By the end of this story, that mystery is solved and the reader will be looking forward to learning more about Phoebe's family. Readers will be eagerly awaiting the next book in the series, an August 2002 release.