Despite some niggles (that's for KateMc:p), I'm giving SB's latest thriller 5 stars because it kept me up reading till 5am and I don't often finish a book in one sitting.

I agree with the other reviewers about the identity of the Bookkeeper. It was implausible for that person to have masterminded that huge operation without anyone discovering or even suspecting the Bookkeeper's identity. But I'm still not taking away a star!

I also hate kids in my books, especially my Romantic Suspense, because the author always uses the poor suckers to throw in the suspense bone and I, the other sucker, always fall for it. Coburn should have thrown Emily to the gators the first chance he got. Ok, so she stopped the situation from getting worse by waking him up but still, TOO EFFIN' LATE!

Coburn was fabulous. I liked that he was strong and didn't give in to Honor's protests, I liked that he was a true, hardened operative, unlike many of the romance heroes who are trained killers only because the book's blurb said so. This consistent handling of Coburn lasted all the way to the end and so while the ending left my mouth gaping open, it was the right one to give Coburn because it was Coburn's story all the way through. Very rarely does a hero steal the show for me because it depends so much on the woman he's chosen. If the author coupled him with a nitwit, I'd lose respect for him for falling for her but if the heroine is great, she can overshadow him. In Lethal's case, I could empathize with Honor but my sympathies, my support, my hopes, were all firmly attached to Lee Coburn.

For the first chapter or so, I found the pacing a little slow as Coburn went through Honor's home looking for that thing that he suspected got her husband killed. It's not long, however, that the story speeds up and gripped me from page to page and I found myself engaged, not just with the MCs but with Diego, a contract killer in love with what should have been his latest job, and also wondering whether Clint Hamilton, Coburn's superior, was a good guy or one of the villains.

Lethal definitely was a thrilling read for me but I have to just say I "hated" the way the book ended. Yes, I said it was the right way but the romance-lover in me wanted a bit more. Just one more freakin' line would have sufficed! Just "He braced himself for happiness like he’d never known in his entire life.
He watched the door they would come through. And saw them " (Bold Italics my suggested addition).

But no. When I got to the last page of my reader, my mouth dropped open. I was expecting at least 3/4 of a page of reading even though I saw it was the final page but all I saw on my reader was 'THE END'. Those were the only words on an otherwise blank page. Where's the big reunion? Where's the 'You came for me'? Where's the 'We (Emily and Honor) can't live without you.'?

W.T.F.!!! I just froze. Literally froze with my mouth open at 5am. Then I read the last 5 pages FIVE TIMES to drill it into me that Coburn got his HEA. Yea, yea, the suspense purists will say that was enough but my romance-lover buddies will know I'm not asking too much if they were to read this book. And if they enjoy romantic suspense, Ms Brown's latest is a Do Not Miss.

Anyway, after that I couldn't sleep and badly needed my romance fix even though my digital clock showed 5.15am. I needed something really predictable, formulaic and mushy. I chose G A Hauser's Two In, Two Out. Omigod. I should shoot myself:0