SHADOW WOMAN – Linda Howard
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 978-0-345-50693-1
January 2013
Romantic Suspense/Thriller

In and Around Washington, D.C., the Present

It starts out as an ordinary workaday morning for Lizette Henry as she starts the coffee and takes a shower. It isn't until the steamy bathroom mirror clears that her world turns upside down…the face in the mirror isn't hers!! Her brain has trouble processing what she sees; the face is hers but it's not. Something is terribly wrong. The odd thoughts that pop into her consciousness produce an excruciating head ache and nausea. The more she tries to make sense of things and the more memories she draws forth, the worse she feels. Eventually, she calls to say she's not coming in to work, and she's told to go ahead and take the time off; “…it's the first she's taken in three years”. This sets Lizette to wondering about her life. She has no memory of when she began working at Becker Investments or when she bought the house she's living in. By starting at her earliest memories, she only gets as far as five years ago. The two years from then until the start of the last three are completely blank. Lizette doesn't know what to do, just that it hurts to try to think of that time, and she dares not do anything that would let them know. She has no idea who they are or why they are dangerous.

People are watching Lizzie, several theys . Her every moment is monitored and any deviation in her behavior noted. There are those who would see her dead rather than recover her memories. One of the watchers has her interests at heart; in fact, he also monitors the other watchers. He is Xavier, a man from her past, a dangerous man, but not to her.

SHADOW WOMAN is a novel that will glue readers' eyes to the pages as Lizette evolves more and more into the Lizzie of her past. Enough emerges to make her realize she must run. When she meets—and subsequently dreams of—the man she can only think of as X, she hesitates to give him her trust. Is he one of the good guys or the bad? She's not even sure she's not one of the bad.

A riveting tale commences of a woman on the run with electronic eyes and ears trying to keep up with her. There is a conspiracy at high levels, but I'll say no more of that. Just know that SHADOW WOMAN is chock full of suspense, adventure, passion, and danger…a novel not to be missed by an excellent and versatile author.

Jane Bowers