Saturday, August 6, 2011

Dark Taste of Rapture-Gena Showalter

Dark Taste of Rapture
Gena Showalter
Pocket, Aug 23 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439175781

In New Chicago everyone at Alien Investigation and Removal (AIR) laugh at affluent Noelle Tremain who they assume is pathetically weak. However, the so-called spoiled joke Noelle shocks everyone at AIR boot camp training when she handles everything sent her way as her instructors want her eliminated as being too dumb and feeble to be an agent, but the resolute Noelle rejects their Pygmalion Effect.

AIR agent Hector Dean can kill with a feathery finger feels. Thus by default he is a deadly loner. When Nicole is assigned to work with him, he objects as he believes the brass want him to run her off. He is harder on her than the others though that is saying a lot as he roughs all the trainees; but she proves she can handle her 36 Cs as a weapon. Though she promised her BFF Ava that Agent “Mean” Dean was hers, Noelle wants him to see passed her façade while he simply wants her. As the pair team up on investigating the alien murder of Kneeler the businessman, their attraction ignites.

The latest Alien Huntress romantic urban fantasy (see Savor Me Slowly, Seduce the Darkness and Ecstasy in Darkness) is a terrific, perhaps the best entry in a strong series. Noelle makes the story line work as she kicks butt with a tough attitude that uses her feminine assets to win the day. As she and Hector fall in love, both are obstinate with she determined to make them a permanent pair and he determined to remain apart out of fear he will lose control and kill her. This is a character driven action investigative thriller.

Harriet Klausner

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