Cause for Alarm

Spindler's latest romantic suspense (after Shocking Pink) moves fast and takes no prisoners. Kate and Richard Ryan, the perfect couple (money, good looks, successful power careers, great house on Lake Pontchartrain), adopt a baby girl to make their lives complete. Unbeknownst to them, the birth mother, Julianna, a young woman on the run from her ex-lover, CIA contract-killer John Powers, is more than a tad unhinged. Unable to tear herself from the beautiful lives of the Ryans, Julianna falls for Richard and becomes his mistress. Meanwhile, baby Emma fulfills Kate's life in a way material success never could. But Powers is closing in on all of them, vowing bloody revenge, and Kate finds herself turning to old boyfriend Luke Dallas, bestselling author of detective stories, for aid and comfort. Though marred by an occasionally clunky prose style, Spindler's newest is an intriguing look into the twisted mind of someone for whom murder is simply a business. (Mar.)