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Very often, romance writers spice up their "sizzlers" with a sprinkle of suspense and a modicum of mystery. Barbara Delinsky set out to accomplish this in 1988 when she wrote HEART OF THE NIGHT. Her fans will be delighted to learn that this novel has been reissued and is now available in hardcover.
Delinsky says, "
[In 1988] I was still writing category romances
but this book is different." She loosened the constraints of the genre to tell a deeper, more compelling and "hotter" story. In her reader's note she says, "My writing style has changed since I wrote this book, but the hearts and souls of my characters have not. The emotional intensity here is the very same that marks my current work".
Writers don't usually write the prιcis of their own books on the dust jacket, but this author did just that. In doing this, she tells readers how she feels about her main characters --- disc jockey Jared Snow; twins Savannah and Susan; Megan and her husband Will; and Sam the cop with the gold heart.
"His voice was heavenly. It flowed through her like a gentle wave, warming and stroking her into serenity. When she was under its spell, she had a friend, a lover in the night. With a low half-moan, Savannah Smith closed her eyes [and] listened to his slow tomcat drawl
"
[Susan] loved to "close her eyes and picture him there in the heart of the night, talking to her. She loved listening to him
if Jared Snow told her to jump off the [church steeple] she'd do it in a minute. His voice was that seductive."
Megan Vandermeer told herself, "At least that still work[s]"
each night he gentled her nerves, lulled her dispirited soul and cradled her in the timbre of his voice. "He was so calm, so smooth, so reassuring. He suggested the kind of deep inner peace Megan had always searched for but never found. Why was [her] life so difficult
"
Delinsky writers, "When I think of [this book] I think of one of the characters
late- night disc jockey Jared Snow. For me Jared Snow is [a] concept, the idea that a single voice on the radio is heard by many different people, with a different effect on each." His listeners feel safe fantasizing about the reclusive DJ and each reader can let her/his imagination roam while they decide exactly what his role, if any, is in the kidnapping.
Savannah, Susan and Megan met in high school. The twins were to the manor born and Megan came to the academy as a scholarship student. The three girls became good friends and remained so to the present day. Savannah is the Assistant to the Attorney General in the state of Rhode Island. Her fraternal twin, Susan, is a Newport society matron with time on her hands and a drinking problem. Megan is the wife of Will Vandermeer III, a businessman with a failing business.
When Megan is kidnapped, money and connections help push the investigation into high gear. The only clue the investigators have is a strangely worded ransom note: "NICE WIFE. KICK IN A COOL THREE MILLION TO GET HER BACK. DO NOT CONTACT POLICE OR SHE DIES. WILL BE IN TOUCH". The only words that strike a chord with the authorities are the "kick in a cool three million"; they sound chillingly like the "kick in" tag lines the disc jockeys use at Jared Snow's station.
HEART OF THE NIGHT is too predictable to work as a thriller and the characters too conventional for them to spice it up to the level of a steamy romance novel. The prose is too clumsy to add any believability to the events and too many stereotypes fill the major roles. Barbara Delinsky fans may have fun with this early work, but if you are seeking a suspenseful thriller or a "hot" romance novel, this tale does not work as either.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Gershenbaum
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