Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: Black Out
Author: Annie Solomon
Publisher: Warner Forever
ISBN: 0-446-61631-1
Release Date: April 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Romantic Suspense
Year/Setting: Current/Old Town & Georgetown (East Coast)
Overall rating: 5.0
Sexual content rating: Sexual (a couple of scenes are sexual)
Language (profanity) content rating: Mild
Violent content rating: Mild with hints of more
Annie's Website:
www.anniesolomon.com
Margo Scott wakes in a sweat and terror. She has to get out of her apartment and run. Her feet seem to know the path and her mind, still in the terror state, just follows. Along the path, she runs into Jake Wise, quite literally. Since she ran into him and he hurt his ankle, she does the responsible thing and helps him to his car. After all, she will never see him again, right?
Jake, however, is on a mission of sorts so the meeting was anything but a co-incidence. He was exactly where he was supposed to be but isn’t real sure how she came to be there. That is part of the mission he needs to find out.
While Jake’s mission is somewhat laid out, Margo is left to fend for herself. The next morning as she lets herself into the bookstore she owns and operates, mysterious events begin to unfold. The starting point appears to be she has mis-placed one month of her life (no small thing). Her best friend and business neighbor asks about her recent book selling trip and how her month off has been. Margo argued with her until she looked at the newspaper and realized Suzanne is right. As each event unfolds, Margo wonders more and more about her memory and just exactly what she did during that lost month.
Jake, meanwhile, wanders in and out of her life. Jake wants to know as much about that month as Margo does but he wants to do it without her suspecting his mission. So for Margo’s mindset, is Jake part of the solution or part of the problem? Along with figuring out that question there is also the question of whether or not he can be trusted not to mention how to stop her heart from reacting to him.
Is she losing her mind or regaining it??
Annie Solomon, my hat is off to you! This is a book destined to be a movie on the Lifetime channel and easily adaptable. There are stories out there meant to be books or movies but this one really should be both.
Annie’s words glide across the page and create the imagery in your mind without any hesitation on the part of the reader. Now, one word here is if you aren’t a mystery buff, your mind will struggle with some of the plot lines. If you enjoy a good who-done-it, however, ya gotta read this one.
The characters are strong and believable with the strength coming from within. Yes, Annie touches on what they look like and so forth but the interesting part is you quickly kind of forget that. The reader becomes so focused on the events unfolding and the plot line it doesn’t matter if Margo’s hair is blonde or purple or polka dotted. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t simplistic by any stretch of the means. The way the book was written is easily picked up by any level of reading ability and depends greatly on opening up your imagination.
I fully recognize that the events of Black Out wouldn’t ever happen in my life (oh man I hope not 
) so I can’t really put myself in Margo’s place. However, this is the kind of story that gave me the chance to step outside myself and let someone else control the path we took.
Really enjoyed this one!!
Lori
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