A Kiss to Kill By-Nina Bruhns

A Kiss to Kill By
Nina Bruhns
Berkley, Apr 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425233832

In Manhattan, private protection firm Storm agents follow Dr. Gina Coppozi to keep her safe from al Sayika operatives especially her former lover CIA Black Ops ground Zero unit operative Greg Van Halen. She vows to kill him for selling her out to the terrorists. Gina also knows he is nearby watching her to obviously kidnap her for his handlers. Storm agents Alex Kane and Kick Jackson are part of the surveillance team, but are called off it to attend a meeting as NSA insists there is increased al Sayika chatter.

Alex loves CIA Special Agent Rebel Hayward and knows she loves him too, but he refuses to act on their mutual feelings as he feels unworthy of her. She is sent to Chesapeake Bay to investigate a threat posed by a yacht Allah’s Paradise and told by her boss she will work for Storm on this mission. Alex is assigned to join her.

In DC Metro Police detective Sarah McPhee leads the investigation of a dead woman Asha Mamoud. CIA agent Wade Montana calls Sarah to question her about Asha. Soon all will converge in DC as a diabolical traitor has set up everyone to take a deadly fall.

This is a great tale in which several subplots rotate nicely before blending together into a fast-paced romantic suspense thriller. The ensemble cast comes across as different and fully developed characters. Although A Kiss to Kill By can stand alone; it helps to have read the previous tales (see If Looks Could Chill and Shoot to Thrill) to better understand the references to the past. Still this is a terrific Storm entry.

Harriet Klausner