by SE Mathews

Created on: January 11, 2009   Last Updated: January 15, 2009

By the end of chapter one of Diana Palmer's "Fearless", the reader learns that Assistant DA Gloryanne Barnes is receiving death threats from a drug lord in retaliation for a case she handled; that she had a terrible, horrible, no good childhood but she has to move back to her hometown where said horrible childhood was lived; and she meets a gorgeous, elegant man.

Again, that all happens in the first chapter.

As a writer, Diana Palmer is about as subtle as an axe to the head in an H.P. Lovecraft story.

The gorgeous man turns out to be the manager of Glory's stepsiblings farm. To hide herself in plain sight, Glory takes on work as a plain housekeeper. The manager she meets has his own secrets as he is actually Rodrigo Ramirez (who was introduced in Palmer's 2006 book "Outsider), an agent for the DEA.

Just as in "Outsider", the hero and heroine do not know the real identity of the other. The names are real but the occupations are different. This does not stop them from being wildly attracted to each other even though Glory is concerned that Rodrigo may be mixed up with the drug lord who is threatening to kill her and he doesn't know what to make of the plain woman with the bad hip.

This is a romance so we know what the end result will be. As such, it is the journey that makes or breaks a romance story.

"Fearless" had potential early on. The chemistry between Rodrigo and Glory was palpable. Their love scenes are sensual without being tacky. Glory gets to show her wicked sense of humor and Rodrigo is likable.

Then something happens after the middle of the story that makes me wonder if Palmer was channeling Rosemary Rogers of the "Sweet Savage Love" years because Glory slowly melts down and Rodrigo just dissolves into a pure, contemptible jackass. Along with the mid-story devaluation of the characters, the plot itself becomes an exercise of "How much worse can it get?" for Glory.

Another annoyance is the constant refrain of Glory being "flawed" because of her limp. Since when is a limp considered a flaw? Is this the 1950s?

The happily ever after (or "HEA" as it is called in the romance writing world) is suitably delivered but I don't know if it saves the latter half of book. Palmer has established quirks in her writing that when she's good, she's very good, but when she's bad, it is irritatingly difficult to ignore.

The first half of "Fearless" is the good Palmer; but the second half, the most crucial part of the story, is classic bad Palmer.

Dedicated Palmer fans will enjoy "Fearless", but for those who have never read Palmer before, it may be better to skip this uneven offering and look for another one of her stories.

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