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Sedikhan #17
Notorious
It didn't matter to Sabin Wyatt that the jury had acquitted gorgeous actress Mallory Thane of his stepbrother's murder - she had become his obsession, his to punish for having enslaved and ruined Ben with her beauty and faithlessness.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen’s gripping novel of romantic suspense, a man’s lust for revenge turns into an obsession with his brother’s wife.
Beautiful actress Mallory Thane endured the harsh, unforgiving glare of publicity during the trial in which she stood accused of murdering her husband. But even the acquittal that set her free couldn’t ease the heartache of her ordeal. Desperate to get back her life, her career, and her sanity, she accepts a new movie deal on an island paradise–only to realize that she has walked into a trap.
Her captor is power player Sabin Wyatt, a dark, enigmatic man who still holds Mallory responsible for his brother Ben’s death. But at the root of his scheme is his obsessive need to possess the woman who haunts his dreams, no matter what truth she’s hiding.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen’s gripping novel of romantic suspense, a man’s lust for revenge turns into an obsession with his brother’s wife.
Beautiful actress Mallory Thane endured the harsh, unforgiving glare of publicity during the trial in which she stood accused of murdering her husband. But even the acquittal that set her free couldn’t ease the heartache of her ordeal. Desperate to get back her life, her career, and her sanity, she accepts a new movie deal on an island paradise–only to realize that she has walked into a trap.
Her captor is power player Sabin Wyatt, a dark, enigmatic man who still holds Mallory responsible for his brother Ben’s death. But at the root of his scheme is his obsessive need to possess the woman who haunts his dreams, no matter what truth she’s hiding.
180 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
83 people are currently reading
543 people want to read
About the author
Iris Johansen
226 books7,327 followersIris Johansen is a New York Times bestselling author. She began her writing after her children left home for college. She first achieved success in the early 1980s writing category romances. In 1991, Johansen began writing suspense historical romance novels, starting with the publication of The Wind Dancer. In 1996 Johansen switched genres, turning to crime fiction, with which she has had great success.
She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.
IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Night and Day, Hide Away, Shadow Play, Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, and more. And with her son, Roy Johansen, she has coauthored Night Watch, The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.
http://www.irisjohansen.com
She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.
IRIS JOHANSEN is The New York Times bestselling author of Night and Day, Hide Away, Shadow Play, Your Next Breath, The Perfect Witness, Live to See Tomorrow, Silencing Eve, Hunting Eve, Taking Eve, Sleep No More, What Doesn't Kill You, Bonnie, Quinn, Eve, Chasing The Night, Eight Days to Live, Blood Game, Deadlock, Dark Summer, Pandora's Daughter, Quicksand, Killer Dreams, On The Run, and more. And with her son, Roy Johansen, she has coauthored Night Watch, The Naked Eye, Sight Unseen, Close Your Eyes, Shadow Zone, Storm Cycle, and Silent Thunder.
http://www.irisjohansen.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
June 14, 2022
Hero Sabin Wyatt wants revenge on heroine actress Mallory Thane. She was on trial, and was acquitted, for her husband (Sabin’s step-brother’s) murder. But that doesn’t matter to Sabin, he will get his revenge.
I really enjoyed this Loveswept romance from 1990. Sabin was a totally over-the-top, sexy alpha male. Besotted and obsessively crazy over Mallory. He eventually discovered how wrong he was about Mallory. I liked how he looked after her when she was unwell, made her take naps, and tried to get her off sleeping pills. Mallory was a fine heroine, sweet and classy, but also strong and gutsy. There was lots of sexual tension in this book, and some suspense. I liked Sabin’s friend and personal assistant, Carey.
An entertaining and romantic read by Iris Johansen.
I really enjoyed this Loveswept romance from 1990. Sabin was a totally over-the-top, sexy alpha male. Besotted and obsessively crazy over Mallory. He eventually discovered how wrong he was about Mallory. I liked how he looked after her when she was unwell, made her take naps, and tried to get her off sleeping pills. Mallory was a fine heroine, sweet and classy, but also strong and gutsy. There was lots of sexual tension in this book, and some suspense. I liked Sabin’s friend and personal assistant, Carey.
An entertaining and romantic read by Iris Johansen.
August 6, 2017
Cute, quick and easy read. I liked this author, this was my first book by her and this was written back in 1985, I believe. It's always a hoot to read a blast from the past. Pantyhose. Landlines. Typewriters. Lol.
October 1, 2010
Notorious could have been a soap opera story arc. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, either. Soap operas can be very watchable, and enjoyable. I did my share of soap opera watching before I became a working woman who didn't have time for daytime television, and I don't judge people who enjoy them. So, in a good way, this reminded me of my soap opera-watching days.
Sabin starts out a pretty scary character who mellows over the course of the book. Although Mallory's husband's murder paints her as a 'bad girl' in the public eye, she's not. Instead, she's a calm, dedicated actress who is trying to rebuild her career after she is acquitted for her husband's murder. Too bad she married into a crazy family. She's kept the bad aspects of her short marriage to herself. She thinks that Sabin Wyatt blames her for her husband's death and hates her. She's so wrong!
I have to admit to something. Strangely, Sabin's machinations kind of creeped me out. Yes, this from a self-admitted lover of stalkerific heroes. I think he was a little too cold-blooded about it. The whole aspect of his brother making suggestive tapes of Mallory and sending them to Sabin to blackmail him for money was just so wrong! How intially Sabin held this over Mallory's head. That part made my hair stand on end, in the way I feel when I see a swarm of bugs. Not a good feeling. I do believe that Sabin truly was mostly obsessed with Mallory, with a little love mixed in, initially. Fortunately, I think their time together caused that obsessive fixation on an image, a visual perception of this woman, to become a fully-realized love for her. I liked seeing that transformation, and how he was able to put her needs first, and to give her the time to heal, not pushing (much, anyway) her to something she couldn't commit to. It was clear that he liked and respected her for the person she was inside, not just for a beautiful face and a sexy body. That helped me to like Sabin.
I liked the cinematic aspects, and the movie references. As a movie-buff, that did sit well with me. Mallory was an actress who cared about her craft. She wasn't just an ambitious starlet out to trade on her incredibly beautiful looks. The director on the film Sabin's company was bankrolling was determined to give Mallory a hard time because he thought she got the job because she was sleeping with Sabin. Mallory took his stunts like a champ and earned his respect. She showed that although she was a gentle woman, she was strong in the manner of being able to weather and endure what came her way. And she stood up to Sabin when he came on set and was trying to throw his weight around on her behalf. The way Sabin reacted showed his respect for her. I was glad that scene this was written, because it helped me get past my feelings of wrongness about Sabin's feelings towards Mallory initially.
If anything really detracted from this read for me, it was the way the ending descended into overt melodrama. I love drama. Drama makes for a great read. But the change in tone was a bit inconsistent. Mallory's stalker comes out of the woodworks, and he goes from apparently sane to completely bonkers too quickly. It was interesting that this character served as a contrast to the hero, who definitely had some obsessed/stalker tendencies himself. In Sabin's case, his need for Mallory wasn't pushing him off the edge of sanity, but seemed to settle him and make him a better person. I could see what Ms. Johansen was going for with this, at any rate. I just needed a little more subtlety in the execution, I suppose. The ending was a bit abrupt as well, leaving a rather important loose end with someone important to Mallory, who was indirectly involved with the situation, in my opinion (not on the romance front though).
Notorious was a good read, but it's not for a reader who doesn't like drama/unrealistic/over-the-top elements. If you don't like stalkerific heroes, you'd want to avoid this one. Sabin was scary to me, and I have a very high tolerance for these kinds of heroes. All in all, a fun, sexy, old-school read to add to my Iris Johansen collection.
Sabin starts out a pretty scary character who mellows over the course of the book. Although Mallory's husband's murder paints her as a 'bad girl' in the public eye, she's not. Instead, she's a calm, dedicated actress who is trying to rebuild her career after she is acquitted for her husband's murder. Too bad she married into a crazy family. She's kept the bad aspects of her short marriage to herself. She thinks that Sabin Wyatt blames her for her husband's death and hates her. She's so wrong!
I have to admit to something. Strangely, Sabin's machinations kind of creeped me out. Yes, this from a self-admitted lover of stalkerific heroes. I think he was a little too cold-blooded about it. The whole aspect of his brother making suggestive tapes of Mallory and sending them to Sabin to blackmail him for money was just so wrong! How intially Sabin held this over Mallory's head. That part made my hair stand on end, in the way I feel when I see a swarm of bugs. Not a good feeling. I do believe that Sabin truly was mostly obsessed with Mallory, with a little love mixed in, initially. Fortunately, I think their time together caused that obsessive fixation on an image, a visual perception of this woman, to become a fully-realized love for her. I liked seeing that transformation, and how he was able to put her needs first, and to give her the time to heal, not pushing (much, anyway) her to something she couldn't commit to. It was clear that he liked and respected her for the person she was inside, not just for a beautiful face and a sexy body. That helped me to like Sabin.
I liked the cinematic aspects, and the movie references. As a movie-buff, that did sit well with me. Mallory was an actress who cared about her craft. She wasn't just an ambitious starlet out to trade on her incredibly beautiful looks. The director on the film Sabin's company was bankrolling was determined to give Mallory a hard time because he thought she got the job because she was sleeping with Sabin. Mallory took his stunts like a champ and earned his respect. She showed that although she was a gentle woman, she was strong in the manner of being able to weather and endure what came her way. And she stood up to Sabin when he came on set and was trying to throw his weight around on her behalf. The way Sabin reacted showed his respect for her. I was glad that scene this was written, because it helped me get past my feelings of wrongness about Sabin's feelings towards Mallory initially.
If anything really detracted from this read for me, it was the way the ending descended into overt melodrama. I love drama. Drama makes for a great read. But the change in tone was a bit inconsistent. Mallory's stalker comes out of the woodworks, and he goes from apparently sane to completely bonkers too quickly. It was interesting that this character served as a contrast to the hero, who definitely had some obsessed/stalker tendencies himself. In Sabin's case, his need for Mallory wasn't pushing him off the edge of sanity, but seemed to settle him and make him a better person. I could see what Ms. Johansen was going for with this, at any rate. I just needed a little more subtlety in the execution, I suppose. The ending was a bit abrupt as well, leaving a rather important loose end with someone important to Mallory, who was indirectly involved with the situation, in my opinion (not on the romance front though).
Notorious was a good read, but it's not for a reader who doesn't like drama/unrealistic/over-the-top elements. If you don't like stalkerific heroes, you'd want to avoid this one. Sabin was scary to me, and I have a very high tolerance for these kinds of heroes. All in all, a fun, sexy, old-school read to add to my Iris Johansen collection.
January 31, 2019
I think I’ll read more IJ despite of or because of the silliness of her books.
July 6, 2011
This starts out gloriously Old Skool, with Sabin, a crazed, obsessed hero, kidnapping his step-sister-in-law Mallory, the woman he believes “owes him” her body. Fun times ahead! And indeed, there’s a classic old skool climactic scene -- that unfortunately takes place on page 31 of 136. Everything after that seemed like an anti-climax, and I was bemused by how easily the characters brush off what happened. Mallory especially, who discovers she was betrayed in a particularly horrible way and then apparently forgets all about it.
The rest of the story is lacking any kind of sensible structure. A new plot point comes up -- Mallory is getting dependent on sleeping pills, Mallory’s film director hates her -- and then it goes away again -- she flushes them, he comes around. There’s a stalker (other than Sabin) causing a very obvious mystery and a Hitchcockian ending. Mallory thinks Sabin doesn’t love her, yadda yadda yadda. Mallory is mostly a sensible, mature character and the love scenes are pretty passionate, so it's not a total loss, but I was bummed that the promise of the beginning wasn't fulfilled.
(Note for the squeamish: there’s a sex scene in which Mallory is mentally incapacitated, though Sabin doesn’t know it.)
The rest of the story is lacking any kind of sensible structure. A new plot point comes up -- Mallory is getting dependent on sleeping pills, Mallory’s film director hates her -- and then it goes away again -- she flushes them, he comes around. There’s a stalker (other than Sabin) causing a very obvious mystery and a Hitchcockian ending. Mallory thinks Sabin doesn’t love her, yadda yadda yadda. Mallory is mostly a sensible, mature character and the love scenes are pretty passionate, so it's not a total loss, but I was bummed that the promise of the beginning wasn't fulfilled.
(Note for the squeamish: there’s a sex scene in which Mallory is mentally incapacitated, though Sabin doesn’t know it.)
October 6, 2017
“Notorious” is the story of Carey and Sabin.
When the actress Carey is finally acquitted of her husband’s murder charges, she never expects to be falsely lured away into Sedikhan for a movie. Soon she realizes the person behind the charade is Sabin, her dead husbands step brother.. and his reasons for doing so.
We have a crazy in love hero, a strong ethical heroine, a murder mystery, stalker, hot love making and a lot of obsession.
Good read.
Safe with exceptions
3.5/5
When the actress Carey is finally acquitted of her husband’s murder charges, she never expects to be falsely lured away into Sedikhan for a movie. Soon she realizes the person behind the charade is Sabin, her dead husbands step brother.. and his reasons for doing so.
We have a crazy in love hero, a strong ethical heroine, a murder mystery, stalker, hot love making and a lot of obsession.
Good read.
Safe with exceptions
3.5/5
March 8, 2022
This was actually so good! we have murder, mayhem, and a really good suspenseful twist. Even I, who thinks of myself as a seasoned perceiver of twists, was pleasantly surprised by how good the twist was.
It also had some really CUTE and laugh out loud moments between the H and h. All in all, it was a good short journey :)
It also had some really CUTE and laugh out loud moments between the H and h. All in all, it was a good short journey :)
June 10, 2019
Quick read with well-developed characters.
November 22, 2025
Oh, the old skool. Why get bogged down in real human reactions/emotions when they get in the way of a fast-paced story?
Heroine is acquitted of the murder of her husband and by the next day she has accepted a movie role in a foreign country, locked up her apartment and paid back all of her debts. The day after that, she is kidnapped, loses her virginity in a drugged up sexy-time encounter with the obsessed hero and negotiates the terms of her blackmail/abduction.
There's so much going on in this story it will make your head spin - in a good way. Hero ends up being a sweetheart. Heroine proves herself as an actress on location. (She earns the bacon and fries it up in a pan. These 80's heroines are tough)
And the mystery of that murder that opened the story is solved in a fun little twist.
What can I say? The writing is a bit wooden, but the pacing is perfect. I believed in the romance. H/h were great together. The sleeping naps sounded so nice . . .
Heroine is acquitted of the murder of her husband and by the next day she has accepted a movie role in a foreign country, locked up her apartment and paid back all of her debts. The day after that, she is kidnapped, loses her virginity in a drugged up sexy-time encounter with the obsessed hero and negotiates the terms of her blackmail/abduction.
There's so much going on in this story it will make your head spin - in a good way. Hero ends up being a sweetheart. Heroine proves herself as an actress on location. (She earns the bacon and fries it up in a pan. These 80's heroines are tough)
And the mystery of that murder that opened the story is solved in a fun little twist.
What can I say? The writing is a bit wooden, but the pacing is perfect. I believed in the romance. H/h were great together. The sleeping naps sounded so nice . . .
June 14, 2017
It was ok
February 18, 2019
i love happy endings
June 19, 2019
Definitely a different story than the other Sedikhan books, but I really enjoyed it.
August 23, 2019
This was a beautifully written book. Had a very lovely flow to it from beginning to end.
I highly recommend for those that enjoy a True Romance novel.
I highly recommend for those that enjoy a True Romance novel.
May 1, 2020
Romance, so, so predictable. Simplistic story, one-dimensional characters. Iris Johansen has written some decent books but I won't be doing any more; I'm out of here!
May 25, 2021
This book started off with an odd storyline. It actually ended up being pretty interesting though.
November 24, 2023
updating old archive.
February 28, 2010
Actress Mallory Thane has been accused of murdering her husband. After she is found not guilty, she is ready to leave New York behind and start a new life elsewhere. Then out of the blue she is offered a staring role in a film that takes place overseas. She gladly accepts. What she doesn't know is the offer came for a movie studio owned by her brother-in-law. And he plans on keeping her with him until he gets the answers to what happened. Sabin Wyatt felt something for Mallory the first time he saw her. Before he could talk to her, he was called away for work and the next thing he knew he found out she had married his half-brother. During the trial, Sabin had his own investigation done and he found out that Mallory did not have anything to do with her brothers death. But he is determed to find out who did. But Sabin still belives that Mallory drove his half-brother to spend money he did not have on her. Once Sabin starts spending time alone with Mallory, he starts to thinks that things are not always as they seem.
This is one of Ms Johansen's eariler works. First published in 1990. This is a nice quick read, when you want something light with a happy ever after ending.
This is one of Ms Johansen's eariler works. First published in 1990. This is a nice quick read, when you want something light with a happy ever after ending.
September 4, 2015
actress Mallory Thane had just been acquitted for the murder of her husband. She plans to go somewhere, anywhere to get out of the unforgiving glare of the public when an offer for a role in a new movie on a Paradise Island but she she realizes she walk into a trap and her capture is her late husband's stepbrother Sabin Wyatt who is a dark enigmatic man who hold Mallory responsible for his step brothers death
April 28, 2014
Occasionally steamy romance with an actress acquitted of murder but tricked into going to Sedikhan where she is held against her will. And of course, they live happily ever after.
The characters are superficial, and there isn't even a glint of local culture to make the settings more enticing.
I'll stick with Johansen's mysteries and steer clear of the coerced love stories.
The characters are superficial, and there isn't even a glint of local culture to make the settings more enticing.
I'll stick with Johansen's mysteries and steer clear of the coerced love stories.
January 30, 2015
Fairly standard romance with some intrigue regarding the murder of Mallory's husband, but that is wrapped up quickly at the end. The main focus is on Mallory and Sabian. It is clearly set in the late 1980s even though it was reprinted in the late 2000s.
January 15, 2010
spicy but good fast entertainment
August 30, 2010
This one had the "feel" of Johansen - but I kept waiting for Eve Duncan to pop out somewhere --
A lighter romance/suspense
A lighter romance/suspense
February 2, 2011
This was OK. Very eighties romance. It was a mindless enjoyable read, but some of her other books are much better.
March 1, 2011
Way too predictable.
March 27, 2011
Mallory was a little unbelievable. Dripping in such sweetness that it made it tough to relate too. Finish was good, tough to enjoy her character
Want to read
March 7, 2012I normally enjoy Ms Johansen but this book was a waste of time. I rate the book I read from 1 to 10. I gave this one a 5.
September 20, 2012
Another plane book...
February 19, 2013
Didn't stand out in my mind enough to remember...
May 21, 2013
brilliant as always
July 30, 2013
I usually love Iris Johansen, but this was not one of her best works. The characters didn't really click for me, and it was pretty predictable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews