'TIL DEATH DO US PART, an espionage thriller with a dash of sizzling romance thrown in. A CIA agent uses the wife of an escaped assassin to lure him out of hiding.
Available JULY 2003 in both e and paperback.
To late, Tania Holzknecht discovers her husband is an international assassin, known as The Wolf. In hiding for the past five years, she has always known that someday he would track her down to exact revenge. Someday is here. The Wolf has a new face. Now Tania is the CIA’s only hope of catching a killer. She agrees to be used as bait, but has her own plan for bringing down the man who taught her patience and control.
Excerpt
She opened her eyes, not sure what woke her. It was dark and there was a slight chill in the air, as if a window had been left cracked. A silly thought, since the weather didn't permit it. A glance toward the balcony doors revealed nothing, the only illumination in the room being the fluorescent red of the bedside clock, which proclaimed midnight.
She closed her eyes, dismissing the uneasiness that crept in on her as nervous tension. Maybe Bart was right. Maybe she would sleep better if he were in bed with her, or at least in the room. His presence seemed to have a strange calming effect on her.
Her eyes came open again a few minutes later, the brush of his hand against her blanketed hip telling her he was there. In the inky darkness of the room she could only see his silhouette standing beside the bed. "Bart?"
Cruel fingers suddenly clamped around her throat, cutting off her airway. Pain exploded in her brain. She was pinned to the bed, clawing frantically at the hand that threatened to choke the life from her.
He leaned forward, his raspy voice whispering in her ear, "Now you'll pay for laughing at me, you bitch."
Her mind screamed. She bucked wildly, becoming tangled in the bedcovers as she tried in vain to get loose from the killing hands.
He was going to crush her neck. Her own fingers pried at his, desperately seeking to wedge beneath and pull them away so she could suck in blessed air. Kicking and writhing, she tried to push the covers off so she could fight.
Her strength was failing. An odd numbness washed over her body. Air! Please! Oh God! Not this way! Margot, Tessa!
He put one knee on the bed and leaned harder against her to stop her struggles. "I killed your kids. You don't want to live without them, do you? No, of course you don't. It was so easy. Like leading lambs to the slaughter."
Nooooo! The pain exploded again in her brain. She renewed her struggles as the last vestiges of hate and fear and love flowed through her, giving her a burst of energy. Her throat was raw with the effort to suck in air, to breathe, to scream.
Her flailing hands connected with something, but the roaring in her ears kept her from knowing what it was. She couldn't reach his face. Her fists beat helplessly on any part of his body she could find.
Tessa! Margot!
Why live?
Professional Reviews
Run don't walk to order this book!
Review by: Shadoe Simmonshttp://www.geocities.com/shadoelore1/index.htmlAll About Murder Reviewshttp://www.geocities.com/murderlist/5 daggersTania Holzknecht is in dire straights. Her life and the lives of hertwo children, Tessa and Margot are hangingin the balance, and only one man can save them, the roguish, sexy C.I.A.agent, Bart Matthews.When Tania testified against her husband, Karl Holzknecht at histrial, and branded him as the mostwanted assassin alive, she knew she was signing her own death warrantshould Karl ever escape theMorrocan prison he was sent to.Karl had taught her with exacting patience and cruel skill howhelpless she could be against him, and howeasily he could extract his vengeance.Now, back in the states, under the protection of Interpol, Taniarealizes that payment time is here. Karl hasescaped, and the C.I.A. is now in charge of her and her daughterssafety.Tania will go along with them, but she knows that come the end ofthis charade, either she or Karl will haveto die, and Tania is determined it won't be her.Standing in her way is Bart Matthews, the C.I.A. agent ordered tobring him in alive. His attraction to Taniacould endanger all their lives, his respect for her courage and strengthcould endanger his heart.A faced paced, action suspense with a devilishly handsome agent, astrong heroine, and a sensualattraction between the two that raise your blood pressure should theresounding action allow it to lower. Theinterplay between the characters was exceptional. Barts rogue statuswithin the C.I.A. pits him against hisRolaid popping boss, Joe Harold in several more than amusing encountersas Joe fights to keep up with Bart,and keep hold of the quickly escaping reins that controls the hardheaded agent.Add to the mix a geeky computer agent, and a muscle bound bodyguardwhen Tania and Bart set outto create the illusion of a marriage to draw Karl out, and you have anamazingly well rounded, intriguing taleyou won't be able to lay down.'Til Death Do Us Part is one of the best books I've read this year,a definite 5 stars as the author asblended quality of writing, sensuality, suspenseful action and anamazing in-depth plot that keeps youguessing throughout the entire story, until the ending leaves yougasping, your hand at your throat in fear asTania finally faces the monster she betrayed.This is a story you don't want to miss. One you'll revisit time andagain just for the amazing quality of thein-depth emotion and excellent writing style the author has displayed.Run, don't walk to order this book to begin an adventure, a romance, a run into the treacherous watersof sensuality, deceit and deceptionthat will leave you gasping.--Read some great reviews of mysteries, thrillers and true crimes novels.http://www.geocities.com/murderlist/
Intriguing
The premise behind 'TIL DEATH DO US PART is an intriguing one that will hold the reader's interest.
Tony Bromberg, Reviewer, Romantic Times Bookclub
5 Stars Mystery--Suspense
Why live?Tania asked herself this almost daily and her answer is always the same: Margot and Tessa. But it wasn't easy, always running, always a new town with new faces, and new names. Always the fear that this time he would find them. He, being her husband Karl Holzknecht know internationally as The Wolf was a cold blooded murderer and the father of the only thing that mattered anymore. It was Bart Matthews job to find him and Tania and the girls were his only lead and he was out there again, prowling so he had to find him before he killed again, there was that Russian Ambassordor scheduled to speak at the United Nations and they say he had plastic surgery on his face. "Now they were back to square one, finding The Wolf with only one witness who could ID him. Only this time, Jenny Carlisle or Alice Rayburn or Tania Holzknecht, whichever name she might be going by, wouldn't be able to pick Holzknecht out of a crowd. He would have to rely on what she remembered about other things; things she had probably pushed from her mind or simply forgotten after all these years on the run.""He doubted she would like him prying even deeper into her life. But he didn't have any choice. And neither did she. Not if she wanted to stay alive. And there was no way in hell he was giving her time to think about it. If she knew he was coming, she might decide to run."I found this book to be exciting very readable. I wondered how these two unlikely people could find any common ground to build the kind of relationship that lasted, to give another answer to the question Why live?
There are few things in a woman’s life more devastating to find out than thatyour husband has cheated on you. But when you find out that he has used you and your children as a cover for his career as an international hit man known as The Wolf and you find yourself being give a choice between testifying againsthim or spending the rest of your life in jail as an accomplice, you think life can’t get any worse. And then it does for Tania Holzknecht when, 5 years after testifying against her husband in Morocco and being moved with her twins from place to place by Interpol, she learns that not only does he know where she is,but he has escaped from jail. And to make matters worse, he has had plastic surgery so no one knows what he looks like. And so, with great misgivings, Tania agrees to leave her children with a female agent and go with CIA agent Bart Matthews to New York to try to help them catch her husband.And to add to the difficulty of catching him, they also are having to cope with a copy cat killer, a rogue FBI agent who wants the glory of catching The Wolf and Tania’s anger when she finds out that Interpol lied to her in order to get her to testify. The entire operation nearly blows up in their faces when Tania’s twins disappear and she herself is nearly killed by someone they think is The Wolf. Gray has once again created a heart-stopping thriller that will keep you up atnight for as long as it takes to finish it. Tania is an incredible woman who displays the courage to stand up to one of the most ruthless men in the world with all the ferocity of a mother lion protecting her cubs.
Kathy Thomason
Reviewer for Murder and Mayhem Bookclub
murderandmaybookclub.com
Tania Holzknect's life is literally a living nightmare. Her husband, an international terrorist, known as The Wolf, is in prison, yet still manages to terrorize her. Five years after his trial and conviction, Karl continues to stalk Tania and their eleven-year-old twin girls. No matter how many times they change their names, no matter how many times they run, no matter how many small towns and large cities they try to lose themselves in across the globe, he always, always tracks them down. Tania knows that he is coming to kill her; it is just a matter of time.
Karl has contacted Tania once again, but this time something is different. Something is terribly wrong; she can feel it. When Tania's contact at Interpol tells her that the CIA will be taking over her case and to expect an agent, her instincts warn her to bolt. But secret agent, Bart Matthews, is one step ahead of her. When he arrives at her home and confirms her suspicion that yes, The Wolf has escaped, Tania realizes that the end is near. For her children's sake, the time has come for her to confront her worst fear and finally end the nightmare, one way or another. But after so many years of depending only on herself, can she really trust in Agent Matthews to keep her girls safe, let alone herself? And can she really do as he suggests and pose as his wife to draw out The Wolf?
In Tania, Bart Matthews finds a complex woman, one that he is extremely drawn to, albeit reluctantly. As a former runway model she is still an attractive woman, and she is very vulnerable. But she is also strong, resilient and filled with determination. Unlike other witnesses he has protected, she disdains his help. He must constantly push her, trying to crack her composure and break through to emotions and memories she holds inside. Then perhaps she will stop fighting him, and in the process, become an asset to him in his pursuit of The Wolf. For what Tania does not realize is that Bart is the man who brought down the elusive assassin once before, and that the hunter has now become the hunted.
'TIL DEATH US DO PART is a psychological thriller not to be missed. It pulls the reader in from page one and does not let go until the very end. Ms. Gray has created a truly gripping story filled with unforgettable characters, from the chilling villain, The Wolf, to the supremely compelling hero, Bart Matthews, and of course the long suffering but tough Tania. And there are many, many more players, all of whom have important roles because Ms. Gray uses them all to propel the plot along. Particularly engaging are Tania's twin girls who recognize the gravity of the situation to a degree. But being children, they still romanticize it, as is evident by their code names of James Bond and Miss Moneypenny. The story volleys at super speed to and fro amongst all the characters. At times it is a bit confusing but not so bothersome as to detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
Bart and Tania are perhaps two of the most forceful characters I have ever read about. While he is the ultimate secret agent working for the U.S. government, he remains a maverick. He always gets the job done, usually by his own set of rules, and no matter what, his job always comes first. The confidence and power he exudes is very sexy and many women would willingly place themselves in his very capable hands. What also makes Bart so alluring, is knowing that if he ever devoted himself to a woman like he does his job, that woman would be the recipient of something powerfully intense and special. Tania is the perfect foil for Bart. Such a strong man needs a strong woman or he would crush her spirit in a heartbeat and in the process lose interest in her. I like the way that, until the bitter end, Tania wants to rely first and foremost on herself. And the reader knows that if the romance that springs up between the two does not make it, Tania will still go on, bruised perhaps, but never beaten. Meanwhile, The Wolf is very unnerving with his cold, calm, detached and methodical manner. And the reader quickly learns that when he kills for personal reasons rather than professional ones, he is even more frightening.
There are many other aspects of 'TIL DEATH US DO PART that make it is so satisfying. One lies in the fact that even with all the "spy stuff" going on, the plot still remains believable. Nothing is so over the top as to make the story lose credibility. This also holds true for the way the characters themselves behave in a situation. I appreciate that once the CIA enters Tania's life, she never tries to act like an agent herself, and neither does Bart treat her like one even as he uses her to get to The Wolf.
With its powerful story and memorable characters, 'TIL DEATH US DO PART is one book that I will not soon forget, and I highly recommend it.
Sandra Brill
Reviewer for Romance Reviews Today
romancereviewstoday.com
Sizzling. . ."Those who prefer their action nonstop with a minimum of introspection, emotion, and narrative will enjoy this classic damsel-in-distress suspense novel." Thalia S. Child, reviewer, RomanceFiction.about.com
Reviewed by Lisa Culver
1/5/2002
You just had to leave us hanging!
Very Good Tonyia......I can't wait to see what happens!
Love Lisa
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