Driven

Successfully melding science fiction with romance, this page-turner from Kenin (pseudonym for romance up-and-comer Eve Silver) has a quick pace and a bleak setting that give action and sex scenes a gratifying pop. Living in the grim aftermath of the Second Noble War, which killed off a third of the Earth’s population, attractive but deadly trucker Raina Bowen is determined to bring down powerful businessman and presidential adviser Duncan Bane, who brutalized Raina in her youth. Aided by a handsome but emotionless mercenary known simply as Wizard, Bowen hauls her rig up to the Northern Waste in search of her target; meanwhile, Bane is setting traps and sending agents of his own, imperiling the duo but intensifying their feelings for each other. Though bouts of lovemaking might turn off fans of the Mad Max -ian adventure story and the action might wear down romance devotees, readers with a leg in both camps, or anyone looking for something different, will find Kenin’s steamy, sinewy universe great fun, and further evidence that new Dorchester imprint Shomi is one worth watching. (Sept.)