Finished the first of my Christmas books — Cold as Ice by Anne Stuart.

This is the second book in Stuart’s Ice romantic suspense series, featuring the men and women of the Committee — a group dedicated to stopping terrorists and the like. In this one, lawyer Genevieve Spenser is sent to get billionaire Harry Van Dorn to sign some documents. Of course, Genevieve has no idea Harry is a psychotic terrorist or that Committee agent Peter Jensen is under orders to kidnap and kill Harry. Genevieve being there messes up Peter’s perfect plan, but the operative (aka the Iceman) plans to follow through with his mission — no matter what.

I liked Peter a lot better than I did Bastien in Black Ice, and Genevieve was a much more wordly and stronger heroine than Chloe. But I can’t say that I liked the book as a whole more than Black Ice. Perhaps this was because I’d read Stuart before and knew what to expect. Also, some of the twists at the end struck me as bordering on the ridiculous and physically impossible, like Van Dorn escaping yet another Committee trap.

Still, there was a lot to like about this book. Stuart has a very fluid, easy-to-read style, and some of her descriptions are just wonderful. The dialogue between Genevieve and Peter was smart and snappy.

So, thumbs up.

Up next: Not sure yet. I really need to start working on my own stuff again. I’ve been playing hooky since mid-December, and it’s time to gear up and think about what I want to write next …