After 30 years, Sloan Reynolds is about to meet the father she never knew. Claiming that his ill health has led him to attempt reconciliation, Carter Reynolds invites Sloan to meet him and his other daughter, Paris, in the glamorous world of Palm Beach, Florida. With all the sense and courage that her job as a cop requires, Sloan refuses the invitation, convinced that nothing good could come from meeting her absentee father. But when FBI agent Paul Richardson intervenes and explains that Reynolds is under suspicion, she agrees to enter the world of the social elite in order to help investigate her father.

Prepared to hate Palm Beach and all its inhabitants, Sloan is surprised to find herself drawn towards Paris, her cranky great-grandmother, and Paris's neighbors, the Maitland family--particularly Noah Maitland. Noah has all the characteristics of Mr. Perfect, which is exactly what scares Sloan. How could someone so sophisticated, smart, and handsome be attracted to her?

But just as the two begin to explore their attraction, Sloan's hopes for her new family and friends crumble. Paul closes in on the dark truth about Carter Reynolds and his suspicions expand to include Noah. Soon, Sloan is an unwilling accomplice in the investigation against Noah, and when a horrible murder occurs, she just may be the next victim.

Bestselling author Judith McNaught has all the ingredients for a great romantic thriller in Night Whispers: the handsome and not-quite-aboveboard hero, the optimistic lady-cop, a handful of exotic and unreadable socialites, and all in all she delivers the goods. Even so, the fact that nearly everyone couples off at the end feels slightly trite, and the motivations of the true killer are somewhat unconvincing. Apart from these minor flaws, Night Whispers remains an entertaining and certainly worthwhile read. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien


From Library Journal
McNaught follows up eight New York Times best sellers with this story of a policewoman, raised apart from her wealthy family, who joins in an FBI investigation of her father?and falls for the wrong man along the way.Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Judith McNaught is one of the finest writers of popular fiction, let alone romance novels. She's come up through the ranks of storytellers by penning fine novels vividly imagined with full-blooded characters in extraordinary circumstances. Her ranking as one of the top bestselling writers is no accident — McNaught's talent shone through early with such books as Whitney My Love and Something Wonderful — and in the past few years her fictional sense has become more refined and her stories more powerful. McNaught is at her peak with her new book, Night Whispers, a romantic suspense story that sizzles under the Palm Beach sun. Never miss a McNaught!

Sloan Reynolds is beautiful, but don't let her looks fool you. Inside, she's still the same little girl who once refused to let her mother beg for money from Sloan's father, who had abandoned them both. As a kid, Sloan had a rough life as she tried to keep her emotionally fragile mother from having to humiliate herself before her ex; even now, Sloan manages to hold her own emotional life at arm's length in order to more fully give herself to others. While Sloan is a bit of a hero in the small city of Bell Harbor, along the eastern edge of Florida, she's spent as much time as possible avoiding the spotlight. A cop who really believes in truth, justice, and the law, Sloan has managed to put her ideals before her own needs, and she feels stronger for it. Her mother, Kimberly, has always been more of the child than Sloan herself, and even Sloan's best friend, Sara, has always looked to Sloan for adviceandprotection.

But now, Sloan may be in danger.

A man has been watching her — stalking her — as she goes about her duties, whether it be getting a kid's kite down from a tree, teaching a class in self-defense, or rescuing a child from a deadly fall. Sloan becomes dimly aware of his presence, although she can't seem to pinpoint his exact whereabouts. It's as if portents of doom are on the horizon — the worst of them being that her father, Carter Reynolds, has called for the first time in 20 years to invite her to meet him and her sister, Paris, in Palm Beach. Carter Reynolds is a multimillionaire who left Sloan's mom way back when, taking their daughter Paris with him, leaving Sloan to raise her own mother up from the ashes of a bad marriage and a family tragedy. Now Carter wants back in Sloan's life? Too little, too late, in Sloan's opinion. And then, there's that stalker — Sloan finally corners him and demands that he identify himself. Loaded to the hilt with guns and ammo, he looks like a psycho drug dealer, but it turns out he's FBI.

And Sloan's life takes a turn that will change her forever.

Paul Richardson is on the track of something far more dangerous than anything Sloan has encountered before as a cop in Bell Harbor. He's the FBI agent who's been following Carter Reynolds and his possibly shady dealings for a long while — and he needs someone to get him on the inside of Carter's life. Sloan Reynolds may just be the ticket.

As Sloan discovers that family often has darker secrets than she could ever have previously imagined, the magic of Judith McNaught takes off, and Night Whispers heads like the Titanic toward its iceberg of a climax — with shocking revelations for Sloan.

Judith McNaught has written her most stunning work of fiction to date with Night Whispers. Sexy, smart, and page-turning, this is a must-read. — —Jessi Rose Lucas

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The heady social whirl of San Francisco and Palm Beach are utterly foreign to Sloan Reynolds. A dedicated policewoman in a small-town Florida community, she values her investigative work more than a Dior dress. As a child, Sloan was aware that the life she shared with her divorced mother was a long way from the world of privilege inhabited by her socialite father and her elegant sister. Yet, instead of resenting them, Sloan dreams of being reunited with the family she's never known. Now Sloan is about to come face-to-face with these strangers -- and a sinister plot that points to her father.

SYNOPSIS

Judith McNaught is one of the finest writers of popular fiction, let alone romance novels. She's come up through the ranks of storytellers by penning fine novels vividly imagined with full-blooded characters in extraordinary circumstances. McNaught is at her peak with her new book, Night Whispers, a romantic suspense story that sizzles under the Palm Beach sun. Policewoman Sloan Reynolds discovers more about the shadows surrounding her estranged father's past -- and the love that holds the key to her future.

FROM THE CRITICS

People Magazine

A fast-paced romantic thriller...

Library Journal

McNaught follows up eight New York Times best sellers with this story of a policewoman, raised apart from her wealthy family, who joins in an FBI investigation of her father -- and falls for the wrong man along the way.

Dallas Morning News

McNaught undoubtedly knows a thing or two about love.

Chicago Tribune

Judith McNaught comes close to an Edith Wharton edge...

USA Today