Publishers Weekly
05/01/2017
When Democrat Kate Lee wins a second term as president in bestseller Woods’s slow-simmering 42nd Stone Barrington novel (after Fast & Loose), Stone’s old flame Holly Barker becomes secretary of state. Unfortunately for the debonair New York attorney, his rekindled relationship with Holly means unwanted publicity. In particular, he becomes the target of ambitious reporter Gloria Parsons, to whom he grants an interview for Just Folks magazine, a decision he soon comes to regret. Gloria later becomes seriously involved with New York governor Benton Blake, who resigns his post after he and his estranged wife reach a divorce settlement. Benton plans to run for the senate in two years, but Kate’s charismatic son, Peter Rule, is also planning a run for that seat. That Peter’s new wife once had a brief fling with Benton promises complications down the line. A late threat of violence against Stone adds the only real suspense, though its aftermath serves to bring him closer to Holly. Readers will look forward to seeing how Stone and Holly’s romance develops. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (June)
From the Publisher
Praise for Indecent Exposure
“Another entertaining episode in what has become a bit of a soap opera about the rich and famous...With the socially relevant backdrops of the president, privacy and the paparazzi, there is enough intrigue to connect the dots between the last book and the next one that's sure to come.”—Associated Press
“[An] irresistible, luxury-soaked soap opera.”—Publishers Weekly
More Praise for Stuart Woods
“Stuart Woods is a no-nonsense, slam-bang storyteller.”—Chicago Tribune
“A world-class mystery writer...I try to put Woods’s books down and I can’t.”—Houston Chronicle
“Mr. Woods, like his characters, has an appealing way of making things nice and clear.”—The New York Times
“Woods certainly knows how to keep the pages turning.”—Booklist
“Since 1981, readers have not been able to get their fill of Stuart Woods’ New York Times bestselling novels of suspense.”—Orlando Sentinel
“Woods’s Stone Barrington is a guilty pleasure...he’s also an addiction that’s harder to kick than heroin.”—Contra Costa Times (California)
Kirkus Reviews
2017-06-05
New York attorney Stone Barrington beds still another unsuitable partner and suffers the consequences—well, almost suffers.Considering what catnip Stone (Fast and Loose, 2017, etc.) is to the ladies, he doesn't always choose his conquests as wisely as he might, and when gossipy reporter Gloria Parsons, of the beguilingly named Just Folks, presses him for an interview about his relationship to Holly Barker, the new secretary of state and one of his long-term lovers, he can't resist her 6-foot frame and other assets. Soon they're making sweet music together, but remarkably soon after that, an admiringly smarmy description of him in her story sours it all, and Stone cuts her off. Gloria, not one to take rejection lying down, plots to reopen the murder case of Arrington Calder Barrington, the long-ago lover whose death left Stone filthy rich, so that she can smear Stone in the pages of Just Folks. When Stone finds an unexpectedly simple way to neutralize that threat, Gloria raises the stakes further, and so does Stone. As New York Gov. Benton Blake, the replacement lover Gloria seduced into commuting the sentence of her friend Danny Blaine when Stone declined to exercise his own influence on Danny's behalf, gets ready to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Stone manages to wreck his plans as well, and without even leaving his fingerprints on the wreckage. It's only a matter of time before Gloria's resentment boils over to inspire the ultimate threat of revenge, and it's the least convincing one of all. Woods, who's never been shy about recycling material from his hero's earlier adventures, here reprises the plot of Carnal Curiosity (2014) and manages to resurrect some much older matter as well. The fade-out, however, promises new developments that follow a predictably inflated curve.
