DEADLY SIGHT – Cindy Dees
Code X
Harlequin Romantic Suspense No. 1737
ISBN: 978-0-373-27807-7
January 2013
Romantic Suspense

Mapletop, Blue Ridge Mountains, West Virginia – Present Day

Grayson Pierce's friend, Jeff, asked him to help investigate a local cult leader, Proctor, who has a compound in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Sam Jessup arrives to work with Gray.  When he meets Sam's plane, Gray is surprised to see a beautiful woman instead of the man he expected.  He finds her tough and flamboyant in her black leather.  Sam doesn't know quite what to make of Gray with his empty eyes and controlling attitude.

Sam is part of Code X which consists of a group of scientists experimenting with stem-cell therapies and genetic engineering to enhance human abilities.  For her part, Sam has weird golden eyes and can read a newspaper at one hundred yards away in the dark.  Her eyes are sensitive to light so that she either wears dark glasses or special brown contacts in the bright light.  With no electronics that work in Mapletop, Gray and Sam must do their surveillance of Proctor without technology.

Gray and Sam drive to a cabin to contact a man who has been working undercover for Jeff, but they find the cabin deserted.  When they go inside, it looks like a struggle has occurred.  A dog comes running into the yard and leads them to his body.  They go to the police to report the vicious murder.  Deciding to pretend to be an engaged couple, they rent a small house in the area hoping to glean information from the neighbors to begin investigating the cult and its leader.

In DEADLY SIGHT, the protagonists are trying to discover what the cult is up to in the hills above Mapletop.  Why is the compound so heavily guarded, and why was a man murdered?  Although they are attracted to each other, Gray is not too sure he will be able to survive—he feels as if he has been living on borrowed time for several years.  Will his tragic past catch up to him?  Will Sam find her way out of living in the fast lane?  Both characters are likeable.  At first they don't seem suited even though attraction sizzles between them, but soon they begin to understand and appreciate each other.  Above all else, Gray wants to protect Sam, and Sam wants to heal Gray's pain.

In this interesting romantic suspense with its touch of science fiction, things get heated between the protagonists before the mystery comes to its conclusion.  Readers will find themselves sitting on the end of their chairs wondering what will happen next, and how Gray and Sam will save themselves from the evil Proctor and his men.  DEADLY SIGHT is an imaginative and entertaining story.

Marilyn Heyman