Trusting someone you have just talked to over the phone is hard to do. In Jaci Burton's Midnight Velvet, that is what happens in this romantic suspense/thriller. Jaci is better known for her sexy contemporaries and paranormals, but she has done a remarkable job in her first suspense thriller.

Nevada James, code name "Velvet," is an NCA data analyst who works behind the scenes taking codes from other field agents. Her dream is to join the others out in the field; she did not realize how soon her dream was going to come true. After getting a desperate call from the very man whose voice has haunted her fantasies, she finds that she's dragged right in to the middle of his case. Now she has to trust someone she has only talked to on the phone.

Tyler Call, code name "Midnight," is an NCA field agent who has run into trouble and hopes Velvet is as good as everyone says. With the drug cartel on their heels, he must find a safe haven for both of them. Now he finds that not only does he have to shelter her, he also has to be her trainer. However, the problem is that now his feelings for the mysterious Velvet are getting in the way, and that could get them killed.

They have to learn to trust each other while finding the hidden mole inside the NCA agency and bringing down the drug cartel before they wind up dead. For this to be Jaci's first suspense thriller, she has done a remarkable job. She keeps you guessing the whole way through. Midnight Velvet is full of laughs and mystery that make it hard to put down.

Reviewed by Tammy Adams
© March 2005