ISBN: 037351414X
Publisher: Silhouette Bombshell
Release Date: July 2006
List Price: $4.99

Reviewed by Laura Clark

S

andra K. Moore has a knack for continually upping the level of suspense, and with Dead Reckoning, she delivers more than promised. I highly recommend Dead Reckoning.

Chris Hampton was used to bailing her younger sister out of tight spots, but discovering Natalie needed rescuing from her abusive, drug-smuggling husband was definitely new territory.

Reluctantly, Chris accepts help from DEA Special Agents “Smitty” and Connor. They set out on her 70-foot motor yacht, Obsession, to take advantage of a two-day window of opportunity before Natalie leaves her husband’s private, highly guarded, island. Chris has no room for navigational error.

The stakes go even higher when she finds strange equipment concealed onboard Obsession, and discovers that someone is stalking her, believing she’s hiding a stolen fortune.

Despite her best efforts to stay focused, Chris finds herself responding to the advances of both agents. But after an “accident” in the engine room nearly costs Chris her life and the discovery of a dead body in the salon, Chris realizes that someone on her boat will do anything to stop her.

Torn, Chris doesn’t know who to trust. She’s drawn to Connor, but fears he is trying to seduce her merely to distract her from her purpose. And is Smitty really suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as he claims, or is he pretending in order to further his own deadly agenda?

I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Reckoning. The flow was fast paced, and I was drawn in from page one. I was there with Chris, sharing her love of boating as she risks all to go after her sister. I suffered through her upheavals, doubts, and fears. And, I was there with her in the end when she is heart-wrenchingly forced to choose between the two things she loves most in the world.

Will Chris be able to survive and save her sister?

Laura Clark has been a member of RWA since 2004 and is currently working on a romantic comedy.