"A suspenseful and involving character study."

When Navy SEAL lieutenant Tom Paoletti is badly injured during a rescue mission, he is told to take a month off to recuperate from his head injury. His doctors and superior officers suspect that there may be lasting effects from his injury that will make him unsuitable for duty. Tom decides to stop by his old home town in New England to visit with his great-uncle Joe and other members of his family whom he hasn't seen in a while. Tom begins to have doubts about his sanity when he spots a known terrorist, who happens to be deceased, in the airport and again in town.

That is the beginning of a story that is more about relationships than Navy SEALs or terrorists. There is the relationship between Tom and Kelly Ashton, the woman he hasn't seen in 15 years, but can't forget. Kelly is now a doctor, and has moved back home to care for her father Charles, who is very sick and doesn't have long to live. Her relationship with her father has always been cold and distant. Kelly is hoping for some kind of an emotional connection before he dies. Then there is the relationship between Charles and Joe that is told not only in the present but revealed in flashbacks to 1944; a time of war and the rivalry for the love of a special woman. Another relationship is the one between Tom's niece and her new friend, a young man who is nice but a definite geek.

During the course of the book Ms. Brockmann skillfully weaves the threads of all these characters' lives and their past and present links to each of the others. Through these stories we experience the myriad emotions felt by people who care very much but have been hurt by the actions and events that have brought them to where they are now. In most cases these people are searching for a way to connect emotionally and the threat of a terrorist act in their small town serves as a catalyst to bring them all together and force them to interact and deal with their feelings.

I recommend this book, but not necessarily as a romance. To me it had a much more mainstream 'feel' to it and should be begun with the anticipation of experiencing a suspenseful and involving character study rather than a traditional romance.

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted July 30, 2001