Fade To Red begins in the head of a woman who is about to be killed. I was immediately drawn into the book and read it in over the course of two nights. The book has a gripping story, a wounded heroine, a tortured hero and lots of suspense – it’s a wonder my fingernails are intact.

Lindsey Metcalf’s childhood was a nightmare. Her stepfather regularly molested her, and she had no one to turn to. As soon as she could she left for college – that’s when her stepfather began molesting her sister Traci. Traci ran away from home at fourteen and never recovered; she lives a wild and troubling life. Lindsey owns a catering business in the midwest and keeps in touch with her sister by phone. She believes Traci lives in Seattle and works as a waitress. That all changes when Lindsey gets a disturbing call from Traci which leads her to think her sister is in big trouble. So she leaves and goes to Seattle.

Once there, Lindsey discovers that she doesn’t really know her sister. Apparently Traci works at a strip joint, the Clue Tribecca, and has an outstanding arrest warrant for heroin possession. Then Lindsey disvovers DVDs of porn movies starring Traci. Clearly her sister swims in deep waters and needs help, so Lindsey hires P.I. Michael Stryker.

Stryker is an ex-cop who snapped after his partner was kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered. He heard it all through his cell phone and when he went by the interrogation room he lost it and beat the perp so badly he put the man in a coma. Stryker faces jail for assault and works as a private investigator to earn some money. He and Lindsey are attracted to each other, but both are wary. As they investigate, they discover the Club Tribecca is the focus of something beyond horrible, something that may cost Lindsey her life.

Fade To Red is not for the faint of heart. The villains in the book range from the smooth businessman who doesn’t want to dirty his hands to sadistic psychopaths who love to kill. There is a lot of violence in the story and the characters experience it both secondhand and up close and way too personal. It’s not gratuitious though – all the book’s violence serves to advance the plot.

Lindsey is an appealing character. She lived through a hellish childhood with nobody to stand up for her. All she wanted was to get away from home and she did after winning a scholarship to Ohio State. She built a successful business and outwardly, her life is good. But she is tortured by guilt over having left her sister to be molested and her own past leaves her wary of intimacy. She blames herself for Traci’s fate, she is falling for Stryker and, unbeknownst to her, she is in deep danger herself.

Stryker is a prime example of a wounded hero. He and his former partner had been lovers very briefly but were firm friends. He liked her, he respected her, and her brutal death scarred him deeply and cost him his job. He is bruised and battered, both in body and soul and begins as a care-for-no-one kind of man. But as the story progresses he begins to thaw and really care about Lindsey. He admires her bravery and opens up to her as he has not been able to in the past.

The last romantic suspense novel I read was quite tepid. This one is not. It moves swiftly, racheting up suspense as it goes and I really felt the characters were in danger. The villains in this book are vicious, and not caricatured eeevil either. They prey on vulnerable young women to make money. And if some of those women die, that’s business. I like romantic suspense that’s dark and dangerous but doesn’t wallow in sensation. Fade to Red fit my requirements to a T.