John D’Ambrosia spent one night with a beautiful mystery woman before she disappeared. He has not been able to get her out of his mind so he’s quite surprised when she reappears… on the arm of the criminal John is investigating. He is even more surprised to find out she is the sister of one of his former coworkers from the police force.

Saura Robichaud is suffering, has been suffering, ever since she lost her fiancé at the hands of New Orleans Crime Lord Nathan Lambert. Former private investigator, Saura went into hiding and has just now reappeared, sworn to find out everything she can about Nathan’s activities. When the stranger she spent one unforgettable night with shows up at Nathan’s home, she needs to get to the bottom of things.

Upon the realization that John is one of the good guys, Saura reluctantly agrees to work with him on the case. Their passion still lingers and makes both Saura and John long to give in to their desires. But their stakes in bringing Nathan down are far too steep. Dangers lurks around every corner and grows even stronger when they fear one or both of their covers have been blown. Can they outwit the enemy and find the love they both long for?

Saura and John are perfect for each other. Both have their inner wounds from past experiences they carry around with them. In spite of that, both are very strong individuals who know how important their respective missions are and won't let anything stop them. This added some great tension and conflict since John is all alpha male who will protect his woman at any costs. Saura is no shrinking violet though and won't let him call the shots. One of the best things about Saura’s character is that we don’t really know why she feels so strongly about taking Nathan down. It initially seems like she has a death wish, just as her brother Cain believes. However, as the story progresses, we learn there is much more to Saura and we see her true motivation shine through.

The Perfect Stranger is a pulse pounding and suspenseful adventure sure to keep readers fascinated until the very last page is turned and the mystery solved. I will admit, I found myself somewhat confused a few times where it was obvious there was a lot of back story not explained in this book. However, this didn’t influence my understanding of the plot itself. It just affected my deeper perception of our characters’ motivations and personalities. Once I realized there was a book preceding this one, Killing Me Softly, I tried not to worry as much about everyone’s behavior, assuming it would be explained fully enough in this book for me to follow, as it was. And now I have a good excuse to move Killing Me Softly up on my reading list.

Jenna Mills proves she is a master of suspense with The Perfect Stranger. She kept me guessing throughout the novel with several twists and turns in the plot and even tossed in a few zingers that totally surprised me. One I later realized I should have seen coming but had missed all the clues. The other surprise I never in a million years would have guessed.

There is a nice secondary story with another strong mystery involving Saura’s cousin Camille as well. This is obviously going to come into play in future books in the Midnight Secrets miniseries. I found this one as fascinating as the primary story surrounding Nathan Lambert’s crime syndicate and can’t wait to see how it will be resolved.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, April 2007. All rights reserved.