Awe-Struck Books (ebook), ISBN 1-928670-02-2

Canadian Callie Masters has just arrived in Miami for a Deaf Education Seminar. While searching the Miami airport (after 1 a.m.) for the courtesy car hired to take her and two friends to their hotel, she witnesses a brutal murder.  

With luck and quick thinking, Callie manages to hide from the murderers. She reports the murder the next day to sexy detective Jake Fowler. However, Lucas Mendez, the vicious crime lord who committed the murder, has an inside man on the police force. Will Jake discover the snitch and protect Callie from Lucas long enough for her to testify against the crime lord? 

Unfortunately, this reviewer found she didn't care. Slow pacing, predictable plot twists and stock romance characters mar this would-be thriller.  

Jake hides Callie on his very own island in his very own fabulous mansion, complete with loyal family servants. Wow! That's why Jake can dress so well on a policeman's salary.  

Seriously, just once, why can't a cop in a romantic thriller be dirt poor and live in a shabby apartment on the wrong side of town? Or would that interfere too much with the obligatory romantic interlude? 

At least there should be a more plausible reason why a man as rich as Jake isn't getting the full value of his wealth. Properly applied philanthropy makes a much bigger difference in a city than an entire career of murder investigations. 

Reading 10 Days Until Justice felt like "Ten Years to the End of the Book" -- a cardinal sin in suspense. No matter what else succeeds or fails in a suspense novel, no matter how much romance it contains, if it doesn't move, the book dies. Unfortunately, instead of racing along like Jake's speedboat, 10 Days Until Justice moves at a pace more appropriate to the sun setting over Miami. 

Teri Dohmen

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