Title: No Way Out
Author: Andrea Kane
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: November 24, 2012
Publisher: Pocket Books
ASIN: B000FC0SCI
Something is wrong with teacher Julia Talbot's favorite second-grader, the mayor's son Brian. Seeing the outgoing little boy become increasingly anxious and withdrawn, she suspects problems at home, inside the mansion of a high-profile political family. But even Julia doesn't know the real truth. Venture capitalist Connor Stratford, the boy's powerful uncle, does.
Intrigued by Julia, Connor plans a campaign of seduction designed to keep her from snooping—and to get her into his bed. Yet Julia has already learned too much. As danger bears down on her like a runaway freight train, Brian vanishes, and a desperate hunt to find him draws Julia deeper into a family's secrets and an irresistible passion—and closer to a place where a child's future, and her own fate, hang in the balance.
My rating:
Julia Talbot has noticed the sudden change in one of her pupil's behavior. Little Brian Stratford is completely different from the whirlwind boy she knows and loves. He's withdrawn, quiet, and yes, a little depressed, and Julia knows it has something to do with his home life. Especially now, that his father, the mayor, is running for state senator.
Julia is right, but even she doesn't know the extent of trouble, that's plaguing the Stratford family. And Brian's uncle, venture capitalist, Connor Stratford, is willing to do pretty much anything to stop her from snooping any further. Yet, he never counted with the chemistry between them, or the fact, she is the only one outside the immediate family, he'd be willing to tell the whole truth, and trust her with keeping the family's secrets.
This book is a perfect example of time making the heart grow fonder, because I appreciated this book much, much more than six years ago when I first read it. I have no idea why I thought the heroine annoying back then, or why I thought the initial premise of the little boy and his behavioral changes dragged on too long, slowing down the pace.
What was the matter with me in 2011?
This was a great story. True, the pacing was slow at first, but it was a deceptive slowness, really. It was more like a train leaving the station...First, it goes slow, but it keeps building speed and momentum, until it's hurtling through the countryside. This story was just like that. Slow to begin, but the tension and intensity slowly, yet inexorably, built, the pace picking up speed, until the plot, the action, and the suspense hurtled toward the finishing line at a breakneck speed.
The suspense was great, with the mystery deepening, the different, somewhat contrasting clues, keeping the true villain and his motives a secret until almost the very end. The suspects were many and varied, and the tension and suspense top-notch.
The romance was nicely blended into the story, creating a lovely contrast to the suspense element, and at the same time providing additional clues, and even the final resolution. Still, I feel the romance could've been expanded a little more, making it a little more believable. With everything else going on taking center stage, I felt the romance was a bit rushed, and didn't progress in an organic way.
The story was also a good little insight into the life in the public eye and the pressures parents, and such a life, put on the children—and the result of that pressure on children not strong enough to handle it.
Most of the conflict in this book could've been solved with an honest talk, yet everybody kept a tight lid on the truth, creating rather unnecessary tension and friction among characters.
So, it could've been better, yet it still was leagues ahead of most romantic suspense novels out there.
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