"Taut romantic suspense thriller"

Michael "Raptor" Sawyer tells his former boss that he no longer worked for OPUS as he has a nine years old son to raise and parent association meetings to attend. His superior informs Michael that you work for OPUS for life. Furthermore he is needed to deal with the Sorcerer, currently behaving as a model businessman in Indianapolis, but OPUS knows how dangerous this man is.

Michael takes Alex with him on his assignment as he has no choice. He enrolls his son in Emerson Academy, but rather quickly the precocious Alex is in trouble with stern headmistress Hannah Frost who lives up to her last name. Hannah calls in Michael to discuss his son's behavior and to her chagrin finds she is attracted to him although he does not fit her controlled lifestyle. Still as Michael works as an undercover secret agent, he and Hannah fall in love, but between the impacts on his son, the danger caused by the Sorcerer, and her stubbornness, the relationship between the Raptor and the educator appears doomed.

Though Hannah lives up to her surname for much of the first half of the novel, readers will accept her cold professional approach as an educational administrator and manager, but feel a bit disjointed that she behaves the same way in her personal life even as this rings true. Michael and Alex thaw her. The suspense adds tension as Michael finds he has two people to protect from his enemy and willingly risks all to keep them safe. Fans will enjoy this taut romantic suspense thriller starring three fine protagonists.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 20, 2004

Summary

He won't tell you about his feelings. He'll keep his secret life a secret. He'll turn on the sex appeal to light your fire, then leave you smoldering as he runs off to parts unknown ... Isn't that ... JUST LIKE A MAN? His imaginative nine-year-old son claims he's a spy, but for Hannah Frost, headmistress of the elite Emerson Academy, Michael Sawyer is just another wealthy single parent with a precious -- and precocious -- little darling. Oh, the man is certainly handsome and sexy enough to leave her both shaken and stirred -- hey, nobody does it better -- but a secret agent? Come on! Yet truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Turns out Michael is working undercover to unravel a web of intrigue and deception involving, of all things, her school! He reluctantly enlists her help, and as their liaison draws them closer together, Hannah is thrust into a world far more exciting -- and dangerous -- than any she's ever known. One where people aren't what they seem and where words, even ones of love, may not be true.