Skip to main content

Tailspin

Review

Tailspin

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sandra Brown has spent three decades building her suspenseful romantic thriller brand through 79 exciting and passion-filled novels, translated into numerous languages, with 80 million copies of her books in print worldwide. Her 80th novel is destined to continue enticing readers to escape through her riveting scenes and sizzling, page-turning chemistry.

TAILSPIN is a fast-paced thriller that showcases the author's expertise at storytelling. Romance does not dominate the story, but the kind of man she writes about is what keeps drawing readers to her novels: “His dark blond hair was thick and unruly and grazed the collar of his bomber jacket. No extra flesh softened his square and well-defined jaw, but it was dusted with scruff only slightly darker than his hair. She couldn’t tell the color of his eyes because the sockets were cast in shadow by the overhead light…. Indeed, if looks could kill.” This is why Sandra Brown is the reigning queen of suspenseful romance, and the covers of handsome chiseled men help sell her books.

"[Brown's] 80th novel is destined to continue enticing readers to escape through her riveting scenes and sizzling, page-turning chemistry."

Fearless pilot Rye Mallett is crazy and skilled enough to fly a mysterious black box, contents unknown to him, onto a small airfield at the foothills of a North Georgia town in the midst of a “biblical” fog on Thanksgiving weekend. He is to be met by a Dr. Lambert. At the last second, someone sabotages his approach and he crash lands. He is able to walk away from the plane with the box in hand, and the nonstop twists and turns of the plot over two days begin. Dr. Brynn O’Neal shows up at the crash location instead of Dr. Lambert, followed by two unsavory thugs with guns, and the controller is near death. Rye’s worst nightmare is involvement, and the black box and subsequent crash and events involve a small-town police investigation, a U.S. senator with a secret, and an attraction to Brynn that keeps Rye “waiting for any excuse to kiss her.”

On the run with the black box, Rye and Brynn barely stay just ahead of the police and the unrelenting thugs who work for the unscrupulous senator. Readers are on the edge of their seats as they are taken from one scene to the next. Rye’s background and reputation come to light, and another pilot is willing to help them reach the destination with the contents of the box. It’s a race against time. Brynn must reveal those contents to Rye for their safety and to develop a plan. The scenery throughout the book is dreary --- foggy nights, rainy weather, seedy hotel rooms --- but thankfully is lit up by the sparks that fly between Rye and Brynn when Brown gives readers a few long-awaited steamy sex scenes prior to them running again.

Two days is all it takes for Rye to learn that “involvement” would not send him into a tailspin, but provide him with an unexpected future.

Reviewed by Hillary Wagy on August 17, 2018

Tailspin
by Sandra Brown