Soft Focus

Jayne Ann Krentz is acclaimed for creating strong, independent characters and she sticks to this proven formula with businesswoman Elizabeth Cabot, a gal who knows how to run a company and her life. Forced to work with a former lover, Jack Fairfax, she is put to the test when a lab is reduced to rubble, a technician is murdered, and valuable crystal that could revolutionize an industry disappears. The pairing of readers Hill and Breck is brilliant as they treat listeners to simmering romance and a suspenseful tale.

Writing yet another review may be redundant at this stage but I was so amazed at the number of poor reviews I just could not help myself!I admit, I am a complete JAK fan, to the extent of having read, I believe, everything she has ever written under whatever alias...and I agree some of the later stuff has been a bit less than her best - but this one is vintage, surely?!!!The dialogue is just crackling with spark, wit, zingy repartee - and more delicious one liners than you can shake a stick at.Unlike some reviewers I was not put off by the fact the language was a little gritty in places - I think strong emotion tends to cause a deterioration in one's vocabulary in real life and it is perfectly appropriate to reflect that in a romance. Admittedly I do not like books where the heroes routinely use terms that belittle women - that happens in real life too but hey, as romance readers we can be picky! Anyway that is not the case here.What I really liked was the fact that the hero seemed emotionally committed to the heroine, right from the start - even during the fiery opening scene. Both Jack and Elizabeth were likeable, strong characters with a perfectly reasonable conflict to work through before they could get to the inevitable happy ending.I found the balance between the background mystery and the romance to be just right - I read JAK for the romance and not the mystery storyline after all.Do I want a hero who is not a corporate shark? Mmmm...well yes, I think a non business world novel might be kind of interesting...mind you that is a comment that could apply to many more authors than JAK - in contemporaries there is the businessman/tycoon, the sports star, the bad boy (usually made good), the ex-con, the Navy Seal and/or sundry military types,the rancher/cowboy, the private eye and the spy - off-hand I'd find it hard to think of many exceptions to the above categories - maybe the musician turned stripper in Michelle Jerrot's "Absolute Trouble", or the ex-academic drifter in JAK's "Gift of Gold and "Gift of Fire". Oh yes, there was a vet in Lori Foster's "Jordan".Anyway, corporate setting or no, this particular JAK rates right up there as a keeper in my book - give it a try, you won't be disappointed!

This book opens with one of the best opening scenes Jayne's ever given us, and the action never lets up from there. The dialogue in this book just crackles with humor and intelligence. The characters of Jack and Elizabeth are likeable people who never quite fool themselves into believing they aren't crazy about each other, offering and accepting all kinds of lame excuses to keep hanging out together. The mystery that sends them off to share a cozy mountain lodge at a small film noir festival is engaging, but it also gives the the time alone to figure out their relationship (which had exploded back in that first scene). Krentz's skill with dialogue just keeps getting sharper and this book has some of the best zingers I've read--laugh out loud funny at times. I smiled my way through this one and literally never put it down from first page to last.

Soft Focus is exactly what I read Jayne Krentz for--the amusing banter between the Nick and Nora-like characters, a fast-moving plotline and a little bit of mystery. With its wonderful references to old films, the great banter, sex, and the fast pacing, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be entertained. Great!