I found this quite a sad story - I suppose the love angle was
just too good to be true; yet the two protagonists love each other very much,
journalist Nick Mason and the charming lady, Mardi. Not that this is a love
story, with Chase it's a tough gritty story with plenty of violence. Yet what
could have been an endearing love angle is what sticks in the mind; and how it
goes horribly wrong at the end. The author presents the attraction between the
two and the unfolding romance very well; culminating in their getting married
and brief heady happiness. Then it is all taken away. The lady is not quite
what she seems to be; and somehow Nick's initial meeting/attraction to her
sticks in the mind: "She...was the kind of girl you'd take home to your ma
and not be nervous of starting a riot. She'd got a lot of soft brown hair and
her eyes were large and brown. Her mouth was large and generous and her nose
was small and cute.
- Paul Lothane
