Shadow Rider

Feehan (Dark Promises) inflicts an aggressively sexist hero on her hapless heroine in this poorly rendered contemporary paranormal series opener. Set in an utterly generic and implausible rendering of Chicago, the story centers on Francesca Capello, a woman fleeing her tragic past, and Stefano Ferraro, the scion of a wealthy family with a secret—they can travel through shadows. Stefano recognizes that Francesca is also a shadow rider and proceeds to take control of her life. Frequently using the excuse that his control is for her safety, Stefano steamrolls Francesca’s weak protests and at one point goes so far as to kidnap her from her apartment and force her to move into his penthouse. The plot’s attempts to justify Stefano’s actions are flimsy, reverting to cartoonish violence so repetitive that the characters comment on it themselves. Even readers interested in an extreme fantasy rendering of a domination/submission relationship are likely to struggle with the unrelenting misogyny thinly cloaked as chivalry. [em]Agent: Steve Axelrod, Axelrod Agency. (June) [/em]