Twist of Fate, by Jayne Ann Krentz

I really thought I had all Jayne Ann Krentz's single titles and that all I had left to buy were old categories, so I was surprised when my copy of Twist of Fate arrived and I saw it was about 400 pages long.

HANNAH HAD BEEN CONTENT WITH HER QUIET LIFE. SUDDENLY SHE WAS THE CENTER OF A CORPORATE BATTLE, A SCIENTIFIC MYSTERY AND THE TARGET FOR MURDER!

Cloistered as a faculty member at a small college, beautiful Hannah Jessett could almost forget her family heritage. Few knew she was the niece of the legendary Elizabeth Nord, the brilliant anthropologist who stunned the world with her revolutionary work.

When her aunt died, leaving Hannah in sole possession of her priceless unpublished journals, Hannah was too concerned with other matters to pay much attention. Her brother's company was about to be destroyed by Gideon Cage, the wealthy entrepreneur with a notorious reputation in the boardroom...and the bedroom.

But when she confronted Gideon, all she saw was a powerful man with a fast smile and soft eyes. Before she could catch her breath and really understand this puzzle of a man, her whole world was suddenly threatened: her brother, her aunt's legacy, her heart - and her life!

I'm afraid I wasn't really too crazy about this one, mostly because I thought it was a little schizophrenic. A B.

I thought the first part of the book, and the type of conflict set up there was pretty good. Gideon (strange that JAK seems to like that name so much!) was a familiar character. JAK used a very graphic description: he's like an unbeatable gunslinger who's getting old and knows that sooner or later a younger, quicker guy is going to come along, and still, even though he knows it's just a matter of time before he experiences defeat, he can't figure out a way to stop fighting.

So, it seemed that the book was going to be mostly about this, about a guy trapped in a lifestyle he's actually never enjoyed but felt compelled to keep living, and how he falls in love with a woman who makes him see this.

However, about halfway through the book the focus shifts to Hannah, and I'm sorry to say she was a much less interesting character, at least to me. Plus, her conflict became boooring after a time, and to me, it was just much ado about nothing. I didn't understand how Hannah had become so convinced that, for instance, being a strong, independent woman meant being alone in life and not being able to care about anyone. Way too much introspection, too.

Good grade for an interesting first half, lowered for a disappointing ending.