Catch a Shadow (Berkley) is the latest romantic suspense from Patricia Potter. This time out, paramedic Kirke Palmer takes on more than she should when she ignores a rule and promises an accident victim her help. The John Doe makes her promise to get an envelope to someone she's never met and isn't even sure how to find. But he finds her, only he isn't really Mitch Edwards. He's Jake Kelly, former Special Forces and current ex-con, thanks to his last operation. Only he knows he didn't do the horrible things he was sent to prison for, and he's got to prove it. That means violating his parole to meet a man he thought was dead. Only that man may as well be dead: he's Kirke's hit and run victim. But Jake is the man Kirke is supposed to find. He just has to persuade her he's not a bad guy. Of course, there are bad guys here, including another man Jake believed dead, a man who'll stop at nothing to make sure Jake and Kirke are both dead and out of his way. Kirke is an interesting heroine; she's got a menagerie of sorts, with her friend/neighbor/tenant Sam, and their assorted pets, and she's smart. Jake is desperate. Desperate to get his life back, to clear his name, and really desperate to keep Kirke safe from the man who's after them both. There are a lot of twists and turns along the way as they try to decipher the clue the John Doe gave Kirke, and Jake tries hard to keep anything more personal from developing between them, but Kirke doesn't have the same qualms and falls for him as they're dodging would-be murderers and piecing together Jake's past. As always, a fantastic tale from Ms. Potter. I hated to read the end of this one, because it meant their story was really over. I delayed reading the latter portion of this one for nearly two days, until I couldn't bear not to know. This one gets four of Cupid's five arrows. A definite keeper.
Until next time, happy reading!
