Island of Glass

Dr. Riley Gwin, the shape-shifting heroine of this dramatic Guardians Trilogy finale, will remind readers of Eve Dallas (star of Roberts’s In Death series, written as J.D. Robb), right down to her whiskey-colored eyes—but Roberts is so prolific that she can’t help but repeat herself now and then, and her devoted fans won’t mind. Riley, a brilliant, almost preternaturally competent warrior and archaeologist, doesn’t bother with delicate wooing. This makes her the perfect foil for Doyle McCleary, a tortured 300-year-old Irish immortal, as she wears down his unwillingness to make personal connections. Their slow-burning romance on Doyle’s ancestral lands is overshadowed by the mythology that binds the Guardians as a clan, and the easy camaraderie at which Roberts excels. But Doyle and Riley’s search for the hidden Island of Glass while being hunted by the weakened goddess of death maintains suspense, and a fellow Guardian’s grandmother, brought in to help heal Riley after she is gravely injured, provides wonderful local color. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Dec.)