I listened to the unabridged version of Bait over a nice long drive to Burgess Falls in Tennessee. The drive was long, but this book was longer and even after a 300+ mile trip, it still took a couple of short trips to listen to it all. This is the most descriptive book I have ever “read,” and I am not paying it a compliment.

Maddie Fitzgerald owns the Creative Partners advertising agency. While she and one of her employees are in New Orleans ready to pitch a proposal to a dog food agency, she is almost killed in her hotel room, escaping only when she stabs the man with a pencil. That night, the killer murdered another woman also named Maddie Fitzgerald, and the killings seem to be connected to a case being worked on by FBI Agent Sam McCabe.

Sam is positive that the killer who tried to kill Maddie is the one he is trying to find and he persuades her to be the bait. He and several other agents act as her bodyguards, she has a bulletproof vest, and she is watched over more carefully than the gold at Fort Knox. But Maddie has a Really Big Secret in her past that could compromise the FBI’s case and shatter the increasing attraction between her and Sam.

I like to know what people look like and what they wear, but honestly – this book was so over the top with descriptions that I constantly fast-forwarded the tape. One of the female agents always wears black and her every black outfit is described whenever she appears. It’s the same for all the characters. Every time one of them – whether they play a large or small role in the story – appears we get a description of they are wearing. One of the minor characters, E.P. Wynn, is heavyset with curly blond hair and chews grape bubble gum in an effort to quit smoking. By the nth time I was reminded of this, I had developed a hatred of grape bubblegum.

As for Maddie and Sam, we were privy to every twitch of every muscle in every part of their bodies, every time they showed up. Compared to some of Robards’ other characters, especially Summer McAfee and Steve Calhoun from Walking After Midnight, these two didn’t have much connection. Also, Maddie kept her Big Secret from us as well as Sam for so long that it made some of her actions during the course of the book seem stupid.

I think Karen Robards does better when her hero and heroine are together and on the run from danger. In this one, they had to wait for the bad guys to strike and while they were waiting, they smouldered, glowered and fell in love. But I never cared at all about them.