By KaREN ROBARDS
Gripping . . . mostly!
If I don’t know the author, it can take me a long time to settle on a thriller. As I searched for an Audible listen to keep me alert on an all-nighter to our Arkansas getaway, Robards’ work came highly recommended. Shannan and I gave it a shot and were not disappointed.
Bianca St. Ives has the skills of Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, and a past just as curious. Like Bourne, Bianca lives in the present with few memories and few glances in the rear view mirror of life . . . until . . .
The publisher’s promo says, “Thief. Manipulator. Con artist. Call it what you will - Bianca St. Ives is the best in the business.”
Is she? What happens when her proficiency falls prey to momentary passion? New York Times best-selling author Karen Robards delivers a thriller that kept me engaged and alert (except for Bianca’s romantic and humorous run-in with her would-be pursuer — that was far-fetched).
Interesting protagonist
Is the “bad girl” a “good girl”?
Interesting characters
Engaging story
Part romance novel?
Plot: Bianca runs a legitimate security firm as a cover for her undercover work as a thief. Trained by her ever-vigilant father, Richard St. Ives, her life is humming along nicely until a $200-million heist goes haywire. Now her father is dead. Her cover is blown. And Bianca finds herself hunted even as she is on the hunt for “the truth.”
Engagement: This is not an “unputdownable” story, but at its best it kept me hanging on with a tight grip.
Question: Why am I/we cheering on a thief? I think that is an important question, the answer of which reveals both our humanity and glimmers of God’s creation and redemption.
