Thin Ice

Hannon continues her Men of Valor series with Lance, another McGregor brother, leaving his Delta Force unit to become a rookie FBI agent in St. Louis. Christy Reed, a former competitive ice-skater, has lost her entire family; her parents in a car wreck, and her only sibling in a house fire. Out of nowhere Christy receives a note, in her sister's handwriting, which indicates Ginny may have met a bleaker fate. Despite a warning not to contact authorities, Christy calls the FBI and Lance fields the assignment. From their first meeting, Lance and Christy's mutual attraction threatens to distract them from finding the truth about Ginny. While Lance struggles with some misplaced personal guilt, the characters are notably one-dimensional. Lance is the perfect hero: kind, determined, and protective. Christy is the archetype of a damsel in distress: vulnerable, beautiful, and innocent. In contrast, the utterly unsympathetic antagonist is the epitome of sheer evil. While the romance is predictable, a few unforeseen turns maintain the suspense for most of the story. A standalone, Hannon also whets readers' appetites for the next book with a significant introduction to youngest brother Finn McGregor. (Jan.)