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| Plot Summary of Light In Shadow |
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Putnam, Jan 2003, 24.95, 384 pp.
ISBN 0399149384
She is an interior designer who incorporates the principles of feng shui and other New Age ideas when she redesigns a house. Zoe Luce is so popular in Whispering Springs that the wealthy Davis Mason hires her to redo his home. When she walks into the master bedroom she senses that somebody very recently was murdered there and she thinks it was Davis' missing wife. Not wanting to work for a killer, Zoe hires private investigator Ethan Truax to discover what happened to her client's wife. It doesn't take long for Ethan to discover that Davis did indeed murder his wife and he offers to protect Zoe before Davis kills her too. He gets there in time to incapacitate Davis.
Zoe and Ethan's relationship is far from over. Somebody knows that Zoe escaped from Candles Lake Manor after being wrongfully committed there by her dead husband's family. Zoe knows that she will somehow flush out the killer who destroyed her life and bring him to justice if Ethan can protect her from the blackmailers and those who will harm her.
Jayne Ann Krentz can always be counted on to write an excellent work of romantic suspense and she doesn't disappoint her audience in LIGHT IN SHADOW. The heroine and hero bumble along into a relationship that neither wants to let go of but one in which both are afraid to admit their true feelings. This endears them to the audience who will find them very likable and unpredictable as they jump from the frying pan into the fire as there are two distinct subplots linked by this attractive duo.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"Zoe Luce has gone to great lengths to appear as normal as possible. She changed her name and moved to Whispering Springs, AZ to make a fresh start and leave all who knew her behind. However, it is hard to appear normal when walls start screaming at her in her new client's bedroom. Zoe has always had sensitivity to rooms where great emotions were felt and she knows that something terrible happened in that room. She has a sinking suspicion that her new client killed his wife in that room. Zoe isn't sure what to do so she hires Ethan Truax, the new private investigator in town to find her client's wife, but Ethan is suspicious of Zoe and is determined to find out more about her.
Ethan knows that Zoe is not what she seems, especially after he finds her client's wife buried in the backyard, but he cannot seem to break through her shell - until Zoe gets a blackmail note. When Ethan finds out that Zoe was imprisoned in a mental hospital by her dead husband's family, he knows that he has to protect her. He is not sure why, but it is just something that he does. When his brother was murdered, he lost his career, his third wife, everything to bring his rich and powerful killers to justice - and it was worth it. Ethan, too, is starting over and he thinks that he has found the fresh start that he wants in Zoe. However, Zoe and Ethan are way too stubborn and afraid to share their hopes and dreams with each other. Will they admit their love before more lives are ruined?
I enjoyed this book more than I have enjoyed a Jayne Ann Krentz book in a while. I really felt that Krentz was making an effort to differentiate her characters from other books that she had written and not do the stereotypical quirky heroine with stoic, incommunicative hero. I really liked Zoe and found her to be quite normal (aside from the screaming walls thing) and Ethan was much more in tune with himself than most of the other heroes out there. My only complaint was that there were a lot of side plots going on in the book and Krentz didn't have time to follow up on all of them in a satisfactory fashion. I think that it would have been better for this book to have been split into two so that the characters and the plot could have been more developed. Still, if you enjoy Krentz, I think you will like this one and it is worth your time to check it out from the library or buy from a used bookstore.
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Debbie, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Light In Shadow |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of story
- Present (2000-2010)
Action/suspense subplot?
Yes
Action:
- chased by/chasing kidnapper/killer
Inner struggle subplot
Yes
Struggle with...
- feelings growing up with special abilities
Hidden Identity/Secret Motive
Yes
Is really...
- magical powers/identity
If one lover chases another...
- he chases after her
Main Male Character
Profession/status:
- private investigator
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
- somewhat promiscuious
How romantic is this person?
- somewhat romantic
Sex has good effect on him
Yes
Sex makes him
- confident
- less bitchy/arrogant
- blissful
- sensitive
- a better lover
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Female Character
Age/status:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- small businessman
- champion of justice
Has unusual powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- mind reading
- can read emotions
How sexual is this person?
- very picky
How romantic is this person?
- very romantic
- somewhat romantic
Sex has good effect on her
Yes
Effect of sexing
- confident
- blissful
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Misc setting
- Fancy Mansion
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
What % of story is romance related?
- 60%
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- descript of kissing
- actual description of sex
Focus of story
- equally on him and her
How much dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much sexing?
- 3-4 sex acts
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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