Ben Coverdale is a happy, successful young man. He has a business which is thriving, and is living with Mary Willson with whom he shared the purchase of the flat in Reading where they live. But his world is turned upside down when, on the fifth anniversary of their moving in together, Mary suddenly announces that she is leaving him to live with Donald, a man many years her senior. If that was not bad enough for Ben, within a few days of that announcement, Katie Forrester an outrageous, feisty, sexy blonde who has tried her best to have an affair with Ben for a long time, calls on him to tell him that she is about to marry Dave Atkinson, someone who Ben knows has always been a rather unsavoury character and who, unbeknown to either of them, is currently involved with a people smuggling gang. Ben realises that he is now in a position to fulfil a dream that he has had in his head for many years; to move to France and start a new life there - to put all this behind him and have a life of peace and tranquility. After searching, and eventually finding his dream cottage, he moves away from Reading hoping to leave the painful memories behind him. His peace is short lived. Katie is snatched by the gang that are looking for her husband. The first that Ben knows about it is when he receives a garbled message from Katie, which had been sent from an internet cafe in Frankfurt, saying that she has been kidnapped and needs his help. Ben cannot resist the challenge and sets off to find her. With a combination of trickery by Katie, and a trap set by the staff of the internet cafe, Ben manages to free her from her captors and take her back to his new home, La Sanctuaire. All this time, Ben is totally unaware that Mary's new relationship has not worked out the way she had hoped. She is perturbed by Donald's behaviour. He is acting more and more strangely, insisting that she change her hairstyle, buying strangely outrageous dresses for her, and doing his best to keep her away from her previous friends. As things deteriorate further, Mary and the baby are taken, with the help of an old friend, to meet up with Ben, only to find that her old adversary, Katie, is there before her. What readers are saying: For readers who long for descriptive books, this is the one for you. This is a great mystery/romance. Doesn't have a lot of graphic sex and the description of the French countryside makes me want to go there The storyline was unpredictable which is a refreshing change when it is suggested that a book is a 'good holiday read '. A great Holiday read, escapism, love, murder, intrigue, and a good jollop of red blooded passion I managed to read this book in 2 days as i couldn't put it down