Dear Cindy Gerard,

(since I don't write fan letters.)  About that book, "With No Remorse." you're in the wrong genre; get the hell out.  Save yourself!  Once again, you grabbed me by the throat and dragged me into what might have been a great book.  Then you took your male lead character and turned his brain to mush.  Previously in the series, he was my favorite character, and when the bad guys critically wounded him in the last book, I was afraid you might kill him off.  You may as well have done so, because he apparently never recovered.  You could have done so much more to develop his personality.  Oh well.  Your action sequences, while pretty good, were not your best.  Then, again even you would have a hard time topping  Lang's and Reed's explosions and narrow escapes.

Here's the thing.  You write romantic suspense pretty well, but you write action/adventure even better.  Your talent is phenomenal, but I think this genre is holding you back.  The "internal conflicts" within and between your characters aren't very interesting or original.  You do touch on some some insights that show promise, but you don't develop them.  It's more like you merely mention them.  Your "external conflicts" that move the plot and force the issues, however, are fantastic!  Your minute-by minute action, narrated at times in the voice of the characters, keeps me laughing out loud and on the edge of my seat.  So here's a thought:  how about instead of writing weak romances with lots of "things that go boom," maybe you should write "things that go boom" stories, liberally laced with romance.  Or hell, just lust, with the maybe some potential for romance.

I will read "Last Man Standing" when it comes out, and I suspect it will be more of the same: worth the eight bucks, but not something I would recommend to the library ladies.

The publishing industry is collapsing under the weight of the mediocre, "safe" garbage it generates.  It doesn't like authors who take risks and write fresh new stories, but its customers DO like such authors.  Here's what I would like to see you do.  Turn down that contract for your next series.  Say to your publisher, "Thanks, but no thanks.  I'm going to write a book now.  I'm going to write it on my timetable, not your deadline.  I'm going to edit it for content, not word count.  If my story doesn't follow a guaranteed formula, I'll write it my way.  When I'm finished, I'll submit it to you (presuming you're still in business.)  You already know it will be good, and you know my readers will buy it, so you may want to go out on a limb and publish it.  If you don't, someone else will.  Don't call me, I'll call you."

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...and now, back to my regularly scheduled life of dishes, laundry and litter pans.