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Iris Thorne Mysteries #2
Slow Squeeze
Iris Thorne survived the purge following McKinney Alitzer's chain of scandals, which were spectacular, even by the standards of the early nineties. The murders, money-laundering, and million-dollar embezzlement were front-page dirt - and rumor has it that Iris knows where the bucks are buried. But even gold dust settles, and Iris has come out on top: she's the firm's highest-paid and most senior investment counselor. And when the smog permits, she can see all the way from her corner office to the East L.A. neighborhood where she grew up. But happiness is a rare commodity in Iris's private life. She and John Somers, her LAPD lover, have been together over a year, and neither his dog nor his hostile teenage daughter has stopped growling. Still more ominous, John's ex - the Natural Woman - is floating the notion of a reunited family for the sake of the kid. John is wavering.... It's all hitting Iris hard, and in a business where even your friends go for your throat if they smell blood, she can't afford to let her guard down for a second. At least her convertible's faithful - to the repair shop, anyway - and life always looks a little better with the top down on an open stretch of California highway. Enter - on purple three-inch heels - the hottest prospect in town. Barbie Stringfellow's a ripe, buxom, and very rich Atlanta widow who wants Iris to put her Southern dollars to work. She's brash, tacky, and smart; like Iris, she's a self-made woman. Despite the alarm bells ringing like hell in her head, Iris can't help but like this bold and bawdy gal. With sexy office colleague Art Silva in tow, Barbie and Iris head to the wrong end of Sunset for a night of margaritas at a dining-and-dancing Mexican heaven. As the evening heats up with tequila-fueled flirtations - both physical and financial - everyone seems to be making a play for something. The squeeze is on, but its anybody's guess who's zooming whom.
378 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2017
I punted this one. There are only so many stereotypes I can take. (Businesswoman who hates the dog, has a rustic boyfriend, ex-wife with teenage daughter and the conflict, the stripper-to-rich woman client...) I also disliked the disjointed opening. Just not for me.
March 31, 2012
Having made it through the fallout from the scandals that rocked the investment firm where she works, McKinney Alitzer (Cold Call), Iris has risen to the position of senior investment counselor. She’s hit something of a slow patch of late in both her professional and personal life, however, and is looking for a jump start.
That’s probably why Iris doesn’t pay close enough attention to her gut instinct – and all those internal alarm bells going off – when wealthy widow Barbie Stringfellow breezes into her life out of nowhere. With a larger than life personality to accompany her fast talking and outrageous sense of fashion, the Atlanta transplant hits LA like a hurricane.
In fact, before she knows it both Iris and her coworker, Art Silva, are swept up by the power of Hurricane Barbie, who seems set on seducing both of them. By the time Iris realizes Barbie hasn’t delivered on her financial investment promises, and also seems to be asking a lot of strange questions about the money that went missing from McKinney Alitzer during the scandal, things have gotten extremely complicated in the three-way game of manipulation between Iris, Barbie and Art. When Barbie’s mentally unstable former lover hits the scene, however, that’s when things get downright deadly.
Slow Squeeze is a very different book than the first in the series, Cold Call. Though the mysteries presented in both are very entertaining, there is a noticeable step forward in Emley’s confidence in her writing in Slow Squeeze. Whereas the overall tenor of Cold Call was a little more light, fast and loose, things in Slow Squeeze are much darker and more intense, with Emley severely narrowing the playing field, squeezing it down to a core of four players. As each tries to manipulate, con, and outwit the others, the result is a highly charged, slightly claustrophobic environment in which the proverbial noose slowly tightens around the characters as each chapter unfolds. You’ll have to discover for yourself exactly who’s left hanging when all’s said and done.
A more than worthy followup to Cold Call, Slow Squeeze was proof positive that both Iris and her creator would be going places; Iris on to three more sequels, and Emley on to her LA Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.
That’s probably why Iris doesn’t pay close enough attention to her gut instinct – and all those internal alarm bells going off – when wealthy widow Barbie Stringfellow breezes into her life out of nowhere. With a larger than life personality to accompany her fast talking and outrageous sense of fashion, the Atlanta transplant hits LA like a hurricane.
In fact, before she knows it both Iris and her coworker, Art Silva, are swept up by the power of Hurricane Barbie, who seems set on seducing both of them. By the time Iris realizes Barbie hasn’t delivered on her financial investment promises, and also seems to be asking a lot of strange questions about the money that went missing from McKinney Alitzer during the scandal, things have gotten extremely complicated in the three-way game of manipulation between Iris, Barbie and Art. When Barbie’s mentally unstable former lover hits the scene, however, that’s when things get downright deadly.
Slow Squeeze is a very different book than the first in the series, Cold Call. Though the mysteries presented in both are very entertaining, there is a noticeable step forward in Emley’s confidence in her writing in Slow Squeeze. Whereas the overall tenor of Cold Call was a little more light, fast and loose, things in Slow Squeeze are much darker and more intense, with Emley severely narrowing the playing field, squeezing it down to a core of four players. As each tries to manipulate, con, and outwit the others, the result is a highly charged, slightly claustrophobic environment in which the proverbial noose slowly tightens around the characters as each chapter unfolds. You’ll have to discover for yourself exactly who’s left hanging when all’s said and done.
A more than worthy followup to Cold Call, Slow Squeeze was proof positive that both Iris and her creator would be going places; Iris on to three more sequels, and Emley on to her LA Times bestselling Detective Nan Vining series.
October 30, 2009
This 2nd book in series is really incredible! Con artists galore -- twisting plot -- incredible ending! Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews