I was parked outside a tech startup in downtown Austin, waiting for a CEO who thinks corporate espionage involves drones and not his own weak passwords. It was 102 degrees in the shade, and I needed something to kill the time. Julie Garwood usually writes historicals—my wife Linda loves the ones with the kilts—but this is her taking a crack at modern FBI suspense.
Linda actually talked me into Gift last winter, which is firmly in Garwood's historical wheelhouse, so I came into this one already knowing what she's capable of when she's firing on all cylinders.TARGET PACKAGE: THE OPERATOR AND THE PRIEST
The setup is solid. We open in a confessional, but the guy kneeling isn't looking for forgiveness. He's bragging. "Bless me father, for I will sin." It's a theatrical hook, sure—real bad guys are usually more pathetic than poetic—but it grabs you. The target is Laurant Madden, the sister of an FBI agent's best friend. Enter Nick Buchanan.
Garwood writes Buchanan as the standard "elite unit" hero. He's hyper-competent, which is a nice change from the bumbling law enforcement you usually get in romance novels where the cops can't tie their own shoes without the heroine's help. He actually clears rooms properly. But let's be honest, this is a romance first. The investigation is the vehicle, not the destination. The cat-and-mouse game between Nick and the killer is decent, even if the villain feels a bit like a Hollywood caricature of a psychopath rather than the messy, disorganized dirtbags I used to track.
AUDIO INTEL: THE ACCENT SITUATION
Here's where the mission gets compromised. I checked the intel on this book before downloading, and the reviews were split on narrator Tanya Eby. Now I know why.
Laurant is supposed to be French. Doing a convincing French accent in English is a minefield for narrators. Eby tries, but it drifts. Sometimes Laurant sounds Parisian; other times, she sounds like a tourist from Ohio trying to order a croissant. Not a dealbreaker, but distracting. At 1.25x speed, the edges smooth out a bit, but if you're a stickler for dialect accuracy, your eye is going to twitch.
That said, Eby handles the emotional weight well. The early scene with Laurant and her dying father? Surprisingly effective. Actually caught me off guard while I was checking my mirrors. She nails the grief without turning it into a soap opera. Just a shame the accent work didn't match that emotional precision.
I ran into the same mixed bag with Eby on I Know a Secret—technically capable, genuinely moving in the right scenes, but the consistency isn't always there.WHO'S THIS OP FOR?
Romance readers who want some FBI action mixed with their love story—this is your lane. If you need airtight procedural accuracy or can't tolerate wobbly accents, skip it.
COOPER OUT
If you're looking for a gritty procedural like The Wire, this isn't it. This is "popcorn suspense"—high stakes, heavy romance, and a villain who loves to hear himself talk. It kept me entertained during a three-hour stakeout, which is really all I ask for. Just be prepared to forgive the accent.
