White Mountain, Dinah McCall’s latest romantic suspense novel, isn’t bad, boring, or even all that annoying. It’s simply mediocre and yet another forgettable tale from a writer who, once upon a time, had the ability to create characters who moved me to tears.

Isabella Abbott’s mother died in childbirth and, as a result, she grew up surrounded by the love of her father and his six colleagues (her “uncles”) at the White Mountain Fertility Clinic in Braden, Montana. Their love has always been constant and, though she leads a somewhat sheltered and isolated life running her father’s inn, she’s never felt the need for anything more. When her father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack and her “Uncle” Frank’s murdered body is subsequently discovered in New York, her safe, sheltered world begins to come undone. Why would Frank leave Montana to travel to the city where he met his death? And, equally puzzling, why would someone want to murder her aging uncle?

Those questions and many more plague the NYPD. When “Uncle” Frank’s fingerprints turn out to be those of a long dead Russian scientist, the FBI becomes involved and sends agent Jack Dolan to Montana (under cover, of course) to have a look-see. Jack, posing as a writer doing research, gets himself a room at the Abbott family inn in order to discover the secrets these old men are hiding. In the process, he ends up tracking down a bad guy and falling in love. Not too shabby for a few weeks worth of work, eh?

At the heart of White Mountain is a big, mysterious secret that remains mysterious for all of 84 pages. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? If you’re a super sleuth, you’ll no doubt catch on even faster than I did. Personally, I enjoy a little suspense in my thrillers and I soon became amused when yet another painfully obvious clue banged me over the head. The other obstacle was the lack of palpable tension, both sexual and otherwise. The reader is told the villain is a very dangerous and evil guy, but you’d never know it from his thought patterns. Though he does pose a threat and is very sneaky, he basically comes across as simply old and longing for retirement from villianhood. Tell me, what self-respecting foul villain longs for his own bed and the comfort of his friends? This guy just doesn’t have what it takes to come across as threatening or creepy and he isn’t the type of villain who inspires readers to turn on all the lights. If you’re picking up this story in the hopes of finding spine-tingling suspense or if you’re planning on figuring out a clever little mystery, you’re likely to be very disappointed.

Enough about the villain already. The romance is always more important to me, anyway. The relationship that grows between Isabella and Jack is certainly sweet and tender but, unfortunately, it’s not emotionally involving. Isabella, devastated over the two major losses she’s experienced, feels like her life is unraveling when Jack makes his appearance. She’s weepy (understandably) and a little emotionally fragile, but she’s also immediately attracted to Jack and realizes that it’s time to break free from her protected life. And what better way to do that than by giving love a chance?

Jack, a sensitive, take charge kind of guy, is perfect for Isabella. He’s comforting, protective, gives great hugs and has a marvelous set of shoulders on which she can cry (and does she ever indulge). Though their relationship develops over what seemed like a small number of days, it was believable to me. They are both pleasant people and seemed to fit together well. But the relationship lacked spark and, despite all of the tears shed, I was left unmoved. Guess I’d better add unremarkable and forgettable to the description above.

White Mountain is a decent enough way to pass the time – if you have a lot of free time on your hands, that is – but it’s not a book I’d go out of my way to recommend. It wasn’t nearly as suspenseful as the back blurb suggested, nor were the characters as emotionally involving as they could have been. Instead, I’d rather point you to two of my favorite Sharon Sala titles: Annie and The Outlaw and Sweet Baby. Both were written years before Sala (aka Dinah McCall) jumped wholeheartedly onto the romantic suspense bandwagon and pack the emotional punch her last few releases lack.