Now You See Her
Grade : C

I have to admit, I am pretty new to Linda Howard. Except for one short story in a Christmas anthology, I have never read anything by her. Judging from all the positive comments I have heard about her books over the years, starting with Now You See Her may have been a mistake. It wasn't a bad book; in fact I liked a lot of the pieces. But for me the pieces just didn't add up.

Paris Sweeney, who prefers to be called by her last name, is a somewhat successful artist living in New York City. For the last year, she has been experiencing disturbing psychic episodes; traffic lights turn green as she approaches, she knows the questions on Jeopardy! before they reveal the answers, and worst of all, she sees ghosts. To further complicate matters, she has begun to "sleep paint"; she wakes up in the middle of the night, paints a disturbing scene, and remembers nothing of it in the morning. She wakes up shivering, and can't seem to get warm.

Richard Worth is a small town southern boy who spent a few years in the army special forces, then struck it rich on the stock market. He is in the middle of a messy divorce, and his soon-to-be-ex, Candra, runs the gallery where Sweeney exhibits her paintings. Richard has always had his eye on Sweeney, but suddenly Sweeney notices him for the first time, and feels almost an electric attraction for him. He gives her a ride home from the gallery one day, and their relationship takes off from there. Soon she confides in him about the paintings she has been creating in her sleep. He helps comfort her and warm her up after the painting episodes, and their attraction mounts.

But a very disturbing painting begins to take shape. Sweeney paints a little bit of it every night, and soon it is clear that it is a murder scene. Will they find out who the victim and the killer are in time to save the victim and themselves? This is about where the book takes a wrong turn. I really liked the sleep painting idea, and I was really getting into the suspense of it all, when suddenly it occurred to me that there wasn't really any suspense. It is clear from the painting that a woman is killed, and there are only two other women in the book. It is obvious who will be killed and why. I would have liked there to be another possibility at least, so I could really wonder who was going to die. The killer's identity is not as obvious, which made the end suspenseful. Having the victim also be a mystery would have added to the eerie mood of this book.

I also had a problem with the love scenes. Before Sweeney and Richard slept together, the scenes between them had a sensuous quality to them that I enjoyed. But when they finally give in to their attraction, the language is just plain crude. This is definitely a personal preference, as I'm sure the language would not bother some readers. But for me the use of crude terminology can take the romance right out of a love scene, and, for me, this is what happened.

There are a lot of pieces of the plot that just made no sense to me, and I didn't feel that they were ever adequately explained. For instance, why did Sweeney suddenly become clairvoyant a year ago? Why wasn't she always that way? And what took her so long to notice Richard? Richard's almost-ex, Candra, is similarly perplexing. She is constantly crying about losing Richard, who is supposedly the only man she ever loved. Then why did she keep cheating on him when they were married? There is also another character who becomes an accessory to murder, with no apparent motivation. Helping a murderer isn't really something you do on a whim.

There were some things I did really like about Now You See Her, and the main one was the character of Richard. He is a wonderful guy. I love heroes who fall in love with the heroine right away and do everything they can to win her. Richard is just such a man. Yet even as he's determined to start a relationship with Sweeney, he is never nasty to Candra, even though she often provokes him. I liked Sweeney too, although not as much as Richard. The book also has a creepy sort of mood to it, which really keeps you turning the pages even if the plot doesn't always make sense.

Die-hard Linda Howard fans may find this one worth the hardcover price. It does have its moments. But if you are new to Linda Howard, or she's not your absolute favorite, I'd wait for the paperback. This one is just average.

Reviewed by Blythe Smith
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : September 28, 1998

Publication Date: 1998

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Blythe Smith

I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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