2.5 Stylistically well-written, but character development is told rather than shown, and the suspense isn't very suspenseful. And I really find it annoying when the surface gender ideology (our heroine is a smart, unconventional scientist) is at odds with the implicit gender ideology (our heroine is passive, worried, stuttering, fights her sexual attraction to the rakish hero then gives in to it for no good reason, and lets others make her decision for her). "But intriguingly enough, despite her protests, she hadn't been averse to his attentions. Indeed, her words had said one thing, but her body had said quite another" (49). Bait and switch -- yuck!