Book Review: What She Doesn't Know

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

What She Doesn't Know     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Tina Wainscott
Class/Genre:   Romance   Mystery   Romantic Suspense   Paranormal
St. Martin’s, 2004, 384 pages

French Quarter hotel manager Brian LaPorte and Boston based psychiatrist Rita Brooks meet over the Internet when he showed interest in a dagger she was selling. They exchanged email and started to talk about meeting as the two were falling in love, but Rita delayed this because of her fears of intimate relationships. Not long afterward a car purposely crashes into Rita’s vehicle; four days later she comes out of the coma.

Rita sends an email to Brian asking why he stopped communicating with her. Instead of a response, Brian’s estranged brother Christopher arrives to learn what Rita’s relationship was with his sibling, who apparently tried to kill himself by jumping off a ledge. Rita finds out that Brian is in a coma and believes he “visited” her when they both were comatose to warn her and to insist he was pushed. Rita goes to New Orleans with Mardi Gras just beginning to investigate Brian’s fall. Christopher joins up with her although he thinks she is lying; neither expected to fall in love nor anticipate the danger from a seemingly safe source.

This paranormal romantic suspense is a strong tale that hooks readers with the opening confrontation in “Xanadu” until the final climax. Readers know who pushed Brian and the threat to Rita from the beginning but that just adds tension as the audience worries about the stubborn courageous heroine who has no allies even Christopher although she falls in love with him. Readers will appreciate this dark terse thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner