No Way Back

February 11, 2013
Early in this fevered stand-alone suspense novel from bestseller Gross (15 Seconds), Wendy Gould, a married woman with two stepchildren and literary ambitions, meets Curtis Kitchner, a handsome freelance journalist, in a Manhattan hotel bar. Against her better instincts, Wendy accompanies Curtis up to his room, where an intruder shoots Curtis dead. Wendy manages to kill the intruder in self-defense, but she goes on the run after a badge on the man’s body identifies him as a Homeland Security agent. Wendy’s fate becomes entwined with that of Lauritzia Velez, a pretty 24-year-old Mexican woman being hunted by vicious killers employed by drug cartel honcho Eduardo Cano as part of a vendetta against Lauritzia’s father. Wendy’s frantic attempts to avoid being captured or killed before she can discover a way to exonerate herself are somehow tied to the efforts to murder Lauritzia. Narrow escapes, tense situations, and false clues abound as Gross spins the action to an exciting, if improbable, ending. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House.

March 15, 2013
The latest from Gross (15 Seconds, 2012, etc.). After a spat with her husband, Wendy Gould goes to a hotel room with a man she met an hour before. She doesn't follow through with the sex, since she realizes the betrayal she's committing. But some unexpected things happen, and before long, there are two dead men, including a U.S. government agent. Now she is on the run because she's falsely pegged for murder, while another agent wants her dead at all costs. But why? And what will happen when she fesses up to her husband? Another thread follows Lauritzia, a Mexican woman who's also running for her life. The story moves along at an edge-of-the-seat pace. But a bit of tightening would have helped. If a man holds a gun to another's head, he's probably not wise to give a long speech before pulling the trigger, since tables get turned that way. Will appeal to thriller fans.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.