Touch of Darkness continues the story of the cursed shape-changing Varinski family (first encountered in Scent of Darkness). I thought the premise of the book was quite intriguing, but the execution left me vastly underwhelmed. I know that paranormals are hot right now, but not every author should jump on the wagon.

Centuries ago, one of the Varinskis sold his soul (and the souls of all his descendents) to the Devil in return for the ability to shape shift into the form of a predatory animal. Over the centuries the Varinskis have looted, pillaged, and raped their way into vast wealth. One fateful evening, Konstantine Varinski broke the rules. He saw Zorana in a gypsy camp, fell in love with her at first sight, and she reciprocated his feelings. Evidently, the Varinskis can pillage and rape everyone but gypsies – who are verboten. Konstantine and Zorana changed their name to Wilder and fled to America where they had four children. But their past pursues them. Their families have sworn revenge, and there’s still the matter of that deal with the Devil. They can’t do much about their angry relatives except watch their backs, but there is a way out of the devilish deal – if the Wilders can find the four pieces of an icon of the Madonna, they can lift the curse on the family.

Rurik Wilder is the second son – a former Air Force pilot who is now an archaeologist. As the book opens, the press has descended on his latest dig in Scotland drawn by rumors that he has discovered a vast golden treasure that would make King Tut’s look paltry. One of the photographers is Tasya Hunnicutt. Evidently she and Rurik have had a past relationship, but in true romance novel fashion, they are now cool toward each other.

Changing his name hasn’t protected him. The Varinskis continue to stalk Rurik. Several of the clan have tracked him to Scotland and wired the digging site with explosives. Rurik and Tasya are caught in the explosion, but before everything goes boom, they find a clue to the location of the icon that Rurik seeks. Away they go, closely followed by the Varinski family goons. Propinquity has its way with them and soon Tasya and Rurik are beginning to warm up to each other, but in true romance novel fashion, they both have Secrets. Rurik never told Tasya about his real heritage and she has major Issues with the Varinski family (they killed her parents). Tasya is planning on publishing a major expose on the Varinski family, but she has no idea just how powerful they are.

I love novels and movies that feature a couple on the run. Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone are two of my all time favorites ever and I hoped that Dodd’s latest would capture some of the magic of those stories. It did – but only fitfully. I found the book to be very disjointed; it simply didn’t flow like it should have and there were several awkward sentences that jerked me right out of the story. For example: “…she writhed in the stream like a beached salmon…” How can a salmon in a stream be beached? At one point Tasya tells Rurik that she is the last member of the royal family of Dimitru, and the next chapter opens with her talking to a nun. Huh? What was his reaction? We don’t find out.

Rurik and Tasya never really come alive as a couple or as individuals. When I read a book and can’t picture the characters, even though the author gives a good description, I know I will have no chance of connecting with them. This is what happened with Rurik and Tasya – I simply never was interested in them or their plight at all.

There was one thing I did like in the book, though. Rurik has the ability to transform into a hawk and when Dodd describes his feelings in his hawk form, those passages are very powerful. If only the rest of the book had been so.

I’ll chalk Touch of Darkness down as a disappointing read. I had high hopes for it, but it let me down. I think I’ll watch Raiders of the Lost Ark for my lovers in peril fix.