Book Review: Kiss and Kill

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Kiss and Kill     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Karen Young
Class/Genre:   Romance   Romantic Suspense   Political Intrigue
Zebra, Aug 2000, $5.99, 384 pp.

Anyone would envy the life of Anne Atwood at first glance. After two decades of marriage to Texas Senator Parker Atwood, most of them spent in DC, Anne has obtained an excellent reputation. However, the fifty-two years old political flunky, who is how she sees her role as a wife to a Congressman, hates her very existence. Worse yet, not only is her relationship with her spouse strained, her relationship with her teenage daughter Barry is falling apart.

Life abruptly changes when Parker’s private plane vanishes in Montana. Accompanied by Barry, who blames Anne for her father’s disappearance, reporters begin making inquiries. The worst news hound is Ian McKay, who is investigating alleged criminal activity by Parker. When an unknown blackmailer insists she continue her spouse’s payments, a stunned Anne turns to Ian to uncover the truth behind the facade she lived with for twenty years.

KISS AND KILL is an exciting romantic intrigue that hard core suspense fans will enjoy. It is well written and never eases off the throttle but readers will sometimes question motives and relationships of the key characters when they don’t gel. Karen Young is clearly a talented author as the novel retains a fun to read, suspense-laden quality, but the romantic elements seem inappropriate. Still, anyone who relishes a political thriller will gain pleasure from KISS AND KILL.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner