Assassin on the loose

When one of the CIA's top contract assassins turns rogue, she endangers the organization itself. And the man assigned to stop her is Lucas Swain, one of the CIA's best predators, in Linda Howard's edgy and exhilarating romantic thriller, Kiss Me While I Sleep. Lily Mansfield risks her own life to exact revenge on Salvatore Nervi and his family for the deaths of her close friends and their daughter. Lily and Lucas learn that poisoning Nervi doesn't stop the ominous project he's been sponsoring: the production of the deadly avian virus that caused her friends' deaths. Now, Lily and Lucas set out to finish their work by destroying the lab and the team that operates it. The romantic French setting is a foil to the virulent evil they fight against—the greed of unscrupulous people who create a virus so they can profit from the vaccine. And when Lily understands the time of reckoning with Lucas' assignment is at hand, the love they share drives her to accept her fate. As timely as cable news, Howard's thriller twists, turns and caroms with danger right up to the last page.

Sandy Huseby reviews from Fargo, North Dakota, and northern Minnesota.