BEHIND THE SHADOWS - Patricia Potter
Berkley Sensation
ISBN: 978-0-425-22490-8
December 2008
Romantic Suspense

Atlanta, Georgia; the Present

Kira Douglas's mother is in the last stages of renal failure and will die...unless she gets a new kidney. Mother and daughter have always been close; Kira's father deserted them right after she was born, and they have no one else. Even though Katy Douglas refuses to accept one of Kira's kidneys, Kira goes ahead with all the tests. Not only is she not a good match for her mother, Kira is told she's not related to Katy by blood! Convinced her mother would never have lied to her even by omission if she were adopted, Katy comes to the only other conclusion: she was somehow switched with another baby. She enlists a good friend, ex Atlanta police lieutenant and now private investigator Chris Burke, to help her narrow down the list of baby girls born in the same hospital about the same time as she was thirty-two years ago. Katy was generous and caring to Chris's wife when she was dying, and he's glad for the chance to help; he begins the search right away. Of the two most likely possibilities he finds, one lives in Atlanta. Kira will do anything to find a kidney for her mother. . .

Leigh Howard still has nightmares about the car crash in which she was badly injured when she was six. She watched her parents die. Leigh was raised by her grandfather, a man impossible to please, one of those whose constant questions is, Can't you do anything right? Two years after his death, Leigh believes she is finally getting things right. She has a trained horse and a rescued donkey she loves and is planning a horse show and auction for charity. She grants an interview with a reporter from the Atlanta Observer, figuring a feature story would be good publicity for the event.

Leigh's grandfather left her a trust fund worth fifty-million dollars, but her only access to her money is through her grandfather's protégé, attorney Max Payton. Max recognizes Kira at Leigh's house, and he wonders why the Observer's political reporter is interviewing Leigh. When Kira later confronts Leigh with a mad story about Leigh's DNA proving the two of them were given to the wrong mothers, Leigh naturally suspects a con game.

BEHIND THE SHADOWS begins with a shocking disclosure that would turn any loving child's world upside down. Watch as Kira handles the crisis and wonder what you would do in a similar situation. Then follow along with three strong lead characters in Kira, Leigh, and Max, whose backgrounds and personalities are well plumbed. Chris is another sympathetic character, and then there is Katy, a wonderful woman and mother who valiantly clings to life. Minor characters, while given less print, are important in the primary plot that includes increasing danger to Kira. One or more of them may be a villain.

Though sharing a setting and "shadow" in the title with last March's CATCH A SHADOW, this novel stands alone with all new plot and players. Patricia Potter never wastes ink on filler or fluff. One is never tempted to skip over a line or paragraph in her well-crafted work, no matter the time or place this versatile writer sets her stories. Add BEHIND THE SHADOWS to your list of must-reads soon.

Jane Bowers