Drawn in Blood-Andrea Kane

Drawn in Blood
Andrea Kane
Morrow, Sep 8 2009, $24.99
ISBN 9780061236808

A decade ago, Matthew Burbank and his business partners witnessed the murder of Cai Wen, a crime that has come back to haunt him and his family. The FBI Special Agent Williams has questioned Matthew and his partners who tell little out of fear for their loved ones. The chief of a Chinese triad, Dragon Head, has a long memory and feels the time to kill the witnesses and their family is now. They assault Matthew’s wife Rosalyn in their apartment and leave behind a fortune cookie note threatening retribution if he fails to remain silent.

At the same time, Mathew’s daughter Sloane’s former partner and current lover FBI Special Agent Derek Parker leads inquiries into Dragon Head and his cohorts. Following the Burbank apartment “robbery” in which nothing except their mental solace is taken, Matthew asks his daughter for help. She pleads with him to let her bring Derek in on their situation, but he says no fearing for his wife and daughter. Thus he places Sloane in the awkward situation of concealing what she knows about Dragon Head and his associates from her lover who also hides information from her.

The first third of this fast-paced FBI romantic suspense sequel (see TWISTED) focuses on Matthew and Rosalyn, but smoothly switches leads to Sloane and Derek. The story line is action-packed and the spin of who stars is logical and never decelerates the speed of the enjoyable story line. The audience knows just about all during the parents’ lead which takes away somewhat from the suspense; much of what happens to the younger pair is ironically caused by each hiding instead of sharing information. Fans will enjoy their trysts in between their bickering over trust and who is concealing more though the investigation takes a somewhat back seat to the relationship.

Harriet Klausner