IN TOO DEEP

Author: Tina Wainscott ISBN: 0312933711 10/2005 SUSPENSE Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS

SOMEONE HAS ENTERED HER HOME… Society writer Winslow Talbot feels she is living a lie: She is beautiful, but her face has been cleverly constructed by plastic surgeons after an automobile crash. She is rich, but the wealth belongs to her doting stepfather who’s funded a life she finds increasingly shallow. So when she learns of a hit-and-run boating accident that leaves a young Cuban girl terribly disfigured, Winslow sees the opportunity to make a real difference and decides to help the injured child. SOMEONE KNOWS ALL HER SECRETS… She begins an investigation that leads her to Alex Diaz, editor of a Miami newspaper. But Alex warns Winslow against snooping in Florida’s exile community where passions often explode with deadly consequences. SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL HER… Ignoring the warning, Winslow continues probing for answers even as it pits her against her family, her boss, and the Miami police as a killer waits patiently in the shadows to see her die...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Tina Wainscott definitely does not lead a reader down a garden path.

In fact, Ms. Wainscott does not lead a reader down a straight and narrow path. The suspense aspect of IN TOO DEEP is fairly brilliant with more twists and turns than a mountain road. Nothing is what it seems in this edge-of-your-seat, often gritty thriller.

Time after time, just as I believed I had figured out some puzzle in this story, Ms. Wainscott delivered a bomb that blew all my assumptions to smithereens. Ms. Wainscott certainly leads a reader on a merry chase down a crooked path.

The suspense is the highlight of IN TOO DEEP. The characters, with the exception of Jayce Bishop (whose chilling portrayal could give Uncle Charlie in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of A Doubt a run for his money), are about as shallow as their lifestyles. I never really warmed to the heroine, Winslow Talbott, a society writer turned amateur sleuth, whose actions, at times, border on TSTL.

Winslow's stepfather Grant Talbot, however, is the character I really had trouble with. For a smart, savvy multimillionaire businessman who moves in the upper echelons of Miami society, Grant comes across as wishy-washy, befuddled and easily manipulated—in the extreme. Winslow's step-sister, Ashlyn, is an annoying brat who is also easily manipulated ... it must be a family trait.

IN TOO DEEP's romance is pretty superficial, too. Winslow's love story with Latino Alex Diaz had a lot of potential, but Ms. Wainscott didn't do much with this aspect of the story. For one, the pair didn't spend a lot of time together. And Alex, who had the makings of a dynamic character, didn't get much time in IN TOO DEEP. I really missed not getting to know this character better.

All in all, though,IN TOO DEEP is a terrific, fast moving thriller. The characters and the romance might be sort of limp, but the suspense aspect of this story is extremely well-done.

Debbie Jett