Heart of Fire

Archeologist Jillian Sherwood attributes her lackluster professional reputation to the fact that her late father, also an archeologist, was notorious for his supposedly crackpot theories, such as one about a lost city in the heart of the Amazon jungle that was home to a band of Amazon women warriors. Equipped with a map from her father's papers, Jillian is determined to find the lost city, thereby salvaging her father's reputation and her own. She is accompanied on the two-month expedition by Rick, her half-brother, who still resents her being daddy's favorite; Steven Kates, an unprincipled crook who has money to fund the venture and plans to steal anything valuable that turns up; Ramon Dutra, a jungle-wise thug; and Ben Lewis, an experienced guide who is more macho than any human being needs to be. Unfortunately, the more intense their adventures, the less realistic they appear because the characters have charmed lives. A pirate attack, an encounter with a jaguar and a hazardous walk along the side of a mountain give Howard's ( The Touch of Fire ) romance an adventure-yarn feel, but since Jillian seems to be virtually indestructible and Ben, as her only possible love interest, is inevitably guaranteed survival, the book lacks real suspense. (July)