Review - Trust No One

Trust No One
by Jayne Ann Krentz

Trust No One goes back to Krentz's straight contemporary romantic suspense roots and has all the charm of her earlier heroines and heroes, without all the dated claptrap of her earlier works. Granted, it is formulaic, so you can definitely kind of pick out the mish mash from earlier works, but as I have said before, this formula works for me. It is a little bit of: Dawn in Eclipse Bay, All Night Long, Sweet Fortune, and Deep Water, in my opinion. There are probably novels that would equally apply, but those are the ones that I immediately thought of (and that this book made me immediately want to go back and re-read). Others would probably have other books pop up into their heads. Personally, I think that is part of the charm though, because it makes the reader's connections to the main characters and setting instantaneous, so that it is just so comfortable slipping right into this world.

More specifically about this story, Grace Ellend is an eternal optimist, with a spunky way about her. She's a real sweetheart but she is definitely a woman who can handle herself. When she finds her boss murdered, this sets up a chain of events that leads her home. And of course, when you head home, people want to match make. Here she is trying to deal with current events, trying to find a new job, deal with some horrors in her past, and the mystery surrounding right now...so of course her oldest friends are setting her up on a blind date. I laugh, because it is true, no matter what is going on in your life, when you go home to a small town people are almost desperate to marry you off. Which brings us to Julius Arkwright, who might be the most awkward blind date ever, but at least he isn't boring or useless. He's got his own past shadows, a successful career, and more money than he needs, what he doesn't have is the slightest clue about what he actually wants or needs. He's bored.

I really liked them as a couple. They had their own personal angst and issues, but they weren't really angsty about each other. They were just kind of cute and the chemistry was there, but it wasn't as if they needed to save each other, they just bring the balance the other one needs. The suspense part was plenty twisty enough for my tastes with plausible red herrings and a conclusion that made sense. Altogether and fun an enjoyable read, but time will tell whether this one makes it to my re-read stack.

4 Stars