For fans of Linda Lael Miller and Danielle Steel

I’ve been a Janet Dailey fan since the 70’s when she and her husband led a nomadic life in an RV across the United States and used those travels for the setting in some wonderful stories. It was easy to predict this talented author was destined for great things.

A lot time has passed since then, none of which changes the fact Janet Dailey is still a talented author. It was with great anticipation and glee that I requested to review her new release, The Bannon Brothers: TRUST. This is the first of a trilogy following the lives and loves of the three Bannon Brothers.

The first novel introduces RJ Bannon, a cop who takes on a twenty five year old cold case involving the abduction of a three year old girl from a local prominent family. During the process he meets Erin Randall, a beautiful, talented artist with mysterious ties to the missing child. As the mutual attraction builds, so does a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an unknown assailant.

Ms. Dailey has a history of creating thrilling, sweeping sagas featuring full bodied characters. Her books typically start off with a bang and maintain a dramatic pace to the last page.

I didn’t feel that happened with Trust.  It unraveled slowly, layering history and back story with a budding relationship between Erin and RJ. It introduced a significant number of secondary characters. But what it didn’t do was offer anything to sink my teeth into until page 90. That’s a long time to wait for some action.

So by this point I decided the emphasis would be on romance. It wasn’t. To have spent so much time building the relationship between the main characters, Ms. Dailey delivers very little physical romance. I was hoping for a little more sizzle and it left me confused. Was this a straight across the board thriller or a romantic suspense?

Still…this is Janet Dailey. I know it’s going to get better. And it does  -  but not enough to justify the sluggish opening chapters. There was too much dialogue where the only purpose seemed to be filling a page with mindless chit chat. As a reader, I knew where the story was headed. However, if the back cover blurb had not prepared me for the intrigue popping up in later chapters, I might have lost patience and put the book aside.

Good novels need to hook a reader from the beginning. Scenes should move the story forward and build momentum. I think Trust could have benefitted from more emphasis on each of those points.

That being said, Trust is a good novel albeit a bit predictable. Ms. Daily has not lost her touch for creating multi-faceted, robust heroes, or heroines who beg for saving. She can still weave a strong tale around contemporary, relevant issues and leave the reader satisfied at the end.

It will be interesting to see if the next two books in this series can recreate the spellbinding style of the Janet Dailey I read and love.

~ Deb Sanders