Borderline

Chase’s romantic thriller is a steamy but lightweight tale. The attraction between G-man Tanner Wallace and Texas Ranger Macario Guzman is instant and overpowering, but their story doesn’t sustain it. The women of Houston, Tex., are under threat from a sadistic serial killer, and the Texas Rangers have been called in. Even though the rangers have their own top-notch profiler, they’re desperate to catch this villain, so they request the expertise of FBI profiler Tanner. As soon as he meets Macario, they become a couple, never giving a second thought to the risk of mixing life-and-death work with romance. They are flat characters suspended over a mystery plot that’s riddled with credulity issues. Despite problematic childhoods, both have grown into saintly men who miss several clues and only solve the case by a blatant deus ex machina. The abundant sex scenes are the story’s only real appeal. (May)