The Perfect Lie

There's no place to hide from the truth….CIA agent Jonah Slade is back from deadly undercover work in the jungles of South America, battered, bloodied, but successful in putting a notorious drug czar behind bars. But, he discovers, the war has just begun.He learns the woman he loved and lost years ago has been killed in cold blood, her fifteen-year-old son kidnapped. Her sister, Macie Blaine, turns to Jonah for help, and gives him no chance to refuse when she tells him the boy is his son.Stunned and enraged by the discovery, Jonah wants to lash out. Until he makes the connection between the kidnapping and the drug lord, who is solely focused on avenging the death of his own son—the man Jonah killed. It's come down to a battle as old as time itself. An eye for an eye. A son for a son.Yet for Jonah, it's also much more than that. He knows what he is, a hardened and cynical man. But he also knows what he wants. Everything he's been denied: his son—and Macie Blaine's love.From Publishers WeeklyThe latest romantic thriller from McCall (after White Mountain) opens with a dramatic flourish as frivolous Felicity Blaine confronts her lover, Jonah Slade, to tell him she aborted their child. This "perfect lie" costs Felicity her relationship, but in return, she gets to keep her baby and remain under her wealthy father's wing. Convinced of Felicity's perfidy, Slade shuts down emotionally and becomes an undercover CIA agent. He doesn't learn the truth until 15 years later when Macie, Felicity's sister, approaches him with the news that Felicity has been murdered and his son, Evan, kidnapped. The mastermind behind the madness is a sinister drug lord named Calderone, whose own son was killed during a drug bust orchestrated by Jonah. McCall (aka Sharon Sala, Amber by Night) does a fine job developing her strong, haunted hero. In contrast, Macie lacks complexity and is a weak foil for Jonah. Their interest in each other evolves swiftly into love, but with a rescue in the works and a traitor lurking in the background, readers will hardly notice the abruptness of their relationship. Despite awkward dialogue ("Carl, you sorry so and so, where in the blazes have you been?") and over-the-top characters like Calderone, McCall's mild tale still manages to entertain. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.