Review–In the Dark by Sally Eggert

              Published January 28th 2014 by Loveswept - ebook, 365 pages

Tossing her career as an agent for a covert government agency for the anonymity of a bartender’s life is Josie Nielsen’s answer to almost losing her life to guard national secrets. The fact that her lover/co-worker could have saved her but chose to keep his mouth closed has further eroded Josie’s faith in mankind. What Josie wants now is a lot physical and NO emotional ties.

Enter barfly Johnny Boyer. Handsome in a sleazy, low level thuggish way, he is perfect for Josie. She can even turn a blind eye to his obviously illegal activities as long as they don’t effect her. This should be every guy’s dream, right? Sex on demand with no strings. The perfect booty call. So why does Johnny keep hinting for more? And why is Johnny on her old agency’s radar?

*sigh* Sometimes I really hate the fact that I hold heroines to a much higher standard than their male counterparts. I know it’s not fair, but I can’t change what works for me anymore than I can change my fingerprints. It is what it is. And what this is, is the fact that I found Josie to be a huge affront to what I look for in a heroine. Now under certain circumstances, this can be a problem that can be worked around, however in the case of In The Dark, while not written in first person (thank the good lord), it is still almost one hundred percent told from Josie’s POV. Eeeks.

Now I know from having read the book and from the title In The Dark, that one hand has to be oblivious to what the other hand is doing. For that to work however, you can’t want to chop the main hand off and throw it in the microwave. This is not a matter of lack of talent or poor editing. This is simply a matter of personal taste. I enjoyed the story, the hero, the twists and turns (and there were quite a few) in fact in every other aspect, it was truly an excellently crafted book. Except for Josie.

Now, I don’t intend to say, I just didn’t like her so there… bleh. I have very specific reasons. My first feeling of trepidation came when she broke under the pressures of her job and left it all behind. Girly to the max. The fact that she lost it because her boyfriend wouldn’t spill state secrets to save her, well what good agent expects that???? Even if he had spilled his guts, without divine intervention and good back up, you were done for anyway. So this is what left her traumatized and with no moral compass. Then she turns around and basically agrees to rat out her lover for the good of God and country?? Hypocrite, much? Too harsh? Maybe, but this really chapped my hide. I know that Josie had her reasons and agent boyfriend was really a douche, but women have to be able to take those punches and not break, especially in romantic fiction, a predominantly feminine genre.  I sincerely apologize to Sally Eggert and her unimpeachable writing skills. You can not hope to appeal to every taste on the market and  Josie just happened to touch one of my nerves.