Now You See Him by Stella Cameron (2005, Paperback, Reprint)

When it comes to reading books, I’m generally very easy to please. Give me a fascinating hero or heroine, a couple of additional interesting characters, a well-developed plot written with fingernail biting skill, along with a splash of romance, and we’re there. However, this supposedly romantic mystery thriller was very disappointing. So much in fact, that I only made it halfway through the book before giving up. I’m at the point where I don’t even care whether or not Ellie and Joe consummate their relationship, or why Ellie has intimacy issues, or who the bad guy is. The story jumps around a lot from scene to scene, but there is no building up of anticipation for what might come next. The dialogue between the characters is very stilted and doesn’t flow naturally, plus it’s hard to make a connection with any of them because there are so many people. Too many to have to deal with in one book as they stumble disjointedly through different conversations and scenarios.