For this reader top thriller writers don't waste any time - they rope you in and tie you up with the opening pages. Andrea Kane (Twisted) does this so well with DRAWN IN BLOOD you're hooked by page 2.
Rosalyn Burbank is a mid fifties matron who lives with her retired art dealer husband, Matthew, in an apartment on New York's Upper East Side. She likes to leave work and arrive home before her husband to have a bit of time to unwind before he arrives. One evening she was surprised to find their door unlocked, and called to Matthew, "It's me. You forgot to close the door behind you again. No the smartest idea. One day, someone's going to... She never finished her sentence.
Mathews later arrives home to find his wife brutally beaten, gagged and tied, and their apartment ransacked. She didn't see her attackers, only knows that they spoke in a Chinese dialect. Matthew knows more about that than he has told her. But he is compelled to tell his daughter, FBI Special Agent Sloane, when he realizes that his entire family is in jeopardy.
Sloane has recently resumed her relationship with fellow agent Derek Parker. (Repeated consummations of their passion for each other are both wild and frequent). In fact, they've moved in together and have vowed to let nothing separate them again. However, Sloane has promised her father that she will tell Derek nothing about his confidence to her, yet she well knows she needs Derek's help.
Seems the threats to Matthew and several of his longtime friends are coming from Dragon Head, a malevolent Chinese crime boss. It's payback time for an almost 15 year old supposed offense. In parallel goings on museums across the world are being looted - their treasures stolen and dead guards left behind.
Kane interlaces all of these activities nicely with special emphasis on the FBI's Art Crime Team. If you like your crime spiced with coupling, Drawn In Blood is for you.
Awesome book! Though I didn't like this one quite as well as Twisted, this one amazed me just the same.
The amount of research that Ms. Kane puts into her books is fantastic. It really helps make the story believable because it has such a ring of truth to it. This book delves into the world of art theft. Not anything that I'm familiar with, nor anything that I've read about before. That in itself made this book stand out.
Sloane and Derek are interesting characters. Each strong in their own way, yet willing to bend each other's way to make a relationship work. I liked that there wasn't a whole bunch of drama centered around their relationship. Sometimes with the romantic/suspense books you get the whole break-up/get back together thing going. It wasn't necessary in this book, and I think it might have ruined it. They worked together to strengthen their relationship and to solve a case. I actually think it made their characters seem much more real.
The ending was perfect. Usually in books with characters that I enjoy, I find myself mad that the book is over and wanting more because I need something more from them. However, this book ended, then went to an epilogue that closed out the stories. While Kane could easily bring these characters back, she wouldn't have to. I really liked how the epilogue put the finishing touches on the whole story.
Overall, if this is your genre, you HAVE to read Kane. Whether it's this book, Twisted, or any others, she is a fantastic writer who has a new and devoted follower.
This is a convoluted tale of art thefts and murder that somehow involve Sloan Burbanks father and his close friends. Derek Parker, Sloane's FBI lover is on an Asian mafia task force which is targeting the suspected criminal in this art theft ring. The tension between Sloane - whose trying to protect her father - and Derek - whose trying to solve a case - is tremendous. The secrets and back stabbing is slowly tearing them apart. This is a another really good intense FBI mystery for Ms Kane.
