Without a Word

I have read practically everything EC Sheedy has published and she has always kept me entertained. This book went a little astray of her usual, but I thought that the premise was handled well. What would a man do when his deceased wife leaves custody of his stepdaughter to someone else. Add into the mix the grandfather and stepgandmother who is a litte off and you get a story. Although I love Sheedy's sex scenes, I thought it was brought into this story a little quickly without enough story before it. Good story and enough action to keep you busy. I judge every book by one standard, would I read it again and this is one I kept for my permanent library.

At the start of this book, neither the female nor the male protagonist is very likeable and I thought to myself that a real redemption was going to have to take place for this book to work. Ultimately, the suspense was such that I could give myself over to the story without caring for the individual characters. Camryin Bruce is obssessed with having a child. Her obsession leads to the demise of her marriage as her husband becomes more of a fertility experiment than a partner. Camryn acknowledges she is at fault and while she lets her husband go, her dream of being a mother is not diminished. Dan Lambert married Holly Grantman, a spoiled rich girl, in a weak moment. Holly's playgirl status doesn't end just because he put a ring on her finger. She's cheated and cheating on him, but he loves his stepdaughter Kylie and needs to repair his relationship with Holly or lose the one thing that matters. Dan and Camryn's problems are solved when Holly is killed while out jogging. Cam is named the guardian in Holly's will and Dan baldly tells Cam that he'll do anything to remain close to Kylie. Dan and Cam appear devoted to Kylie and eventually work together to try to solve the mystery of Holly's murder in order to prevent another murder from happening. Dan's character grew more sympathetic upon the revelations of his marriage to Holly and his clear devotion to his child. There are several suspects in the story and the real killer of Holly Grantman is a shocker. This is a suspense book whose ending is truly a surprise. There is more than one villian in the story and each villian's motivations actually made twisted sense. The romance aspect of the story was fairly weak. While I believed that Cam and Dan could be sexually attracted to each other, I doubted that they were really in love at the close of the book. I also felt that the issue of Cam's obsession with being a mother was conveniently solved by Kylie. Cam had never once considered adoption and therefore, her fanatical desire was more with carrying the child than being a mother. The strong suspense, however, made up for those flaws and this is a definite read for those who love a good thriller in the vein of Sandra Brown or Karen Robards. This is my first Sheedy but it won't be my last. B.

Though he knows he made a mistake when he married Holly, Dan Lambert loves her little daughter Kylie who calls him "daddy" as is if he sired her. He plans to keep the child safe as he does not want to lose another one; and he is determined she be raised by a mother and father who do not cheat on one another. Craig Bruce informs his wife Camryn that he is leaving her as she is too obsessed with becoming pregnant though the doctors have told her chances are less than zero; he tells her he will no longer be a sperm donor and nothing else in her life. She helps him pack. Holly's father Paul Grantman calls Dan with the news that someone killed Holly while she was jogging in the woods. To the shock of Holly's parents and Dan, Cam is named as Kylie's guardian. Dan is outraged even more than the kid's grandparents as he plans to raise her in safe environs unlike what happened to his Billie years ago. As someone tries to take Kylie anyway from her using any means possible including attempted murder, Cam finds herself attracted to Dan, but she wonders if she loves a psychopathic killer. Romantic suspense readers will enjoy this powerful thriller that centers on a tug of war with a little girl as the rope being yanked in three obvious directions and a few other pulls. The cast makes the tale believable as the Grantmans demand blood rules over wills and Dan has an inner demon that insists he is the one while Cam always wanted to raise a child. Though the climax seems abrupt E.C. Sheedy will keep her fans reading this book in one tense sitting because they need to know who killed Holly and why and how that relates to an innocent little girl caught in an adult power struggle. Harriet Klausner