As she looked up from her book, Valerie could not keep herself from staring. His voice, which had led her to look up, was just the start. From his well-built frame, his height, his dark eyes to his dark brown hair, Valerie scrutinised the stranger with great interest. She fought with herself to hide her attraction, but had little success. With time, both Fallon and Valerie became inseparable, giving each other solace from their painful pasts. Still, Valerie knew it was too good to be true. Fallon was too good for her and, unlike the beautiful fairy tales she was fond of, she knew sooner or later all the beauty in their relationship would come crashing down. Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus tells Valerie and Fallon’s story.

There is no doubt that Jessica Jesinghaus is a great author. She creates an enthralling tale filled with suspense right from the beginning. From the prologue, I couldn’t wait to start reading Desolation Gulch and when I did, I was pulled right into the plot. Every page heightened my interest and deepened my excitement. The book is well organised with Jesinghaus giving enough description to accompany the action and dialogue contained in Desolation Gulch. It also contains characters that are well-defined and who have flaws, which makes the story realistic and even more captivating. Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus is definitely a wonderfully crafted story, a book with incredible intensity and an impassioned story line.

Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus is a gripping tale of romantic suspense. Valerie is well aware that there is no such thing as a happy-ever-after, not in her world anyway. Valerie has a dark secret, one that has affected her life, and nothing seems to make the pain go away. Until Fallon arrives on the scene. Here is a man who could wipe away the tears, wash away the pain, and give her that happy ending she so badly wanted. Fallon isn’t all that he appears to be though; he has a secret of his own and when Valerie finds herself in danger, she needs to run, and she needs to go where Fallon can’t find her. Finding herself in a tiny town in Central Oregon, Valerie meets another stranger but, although he says he can help her, she isn’t sure that she can ever trust anyone again.

Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus is a truly remarkable story, more of a gripping thriller with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. Jesinghaus deals with a few sensitive subjects and she deals with them very well. The first page hooked me, and I was drawn into a dark and twisting tale, full of suspense. You think you’ve got the measure of the book, you think you know exactly where it’s going and then it all changes again. The fact that it was written in the first-person made it all the better as I felt as though I were listening to Valerie telling her own story, as though she were leading me on a visual representation of everything that happened to her. The characters were skillfully developed, with details drawn out through the story, and each of the main characters was familiar by the time the book ended. Very exciting story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus tells the story of a young girl, Valerie, who while working in a bookstore in Las Vegas is swept off her feet by a rich, charming and charismatic man. It’s not long before she has moved into his palatial house miles outside town. But Fallon is not who he appears to be and before long Valerie realizes that he can read her thoughts, making it very easy for him to control her. Slowly she becomes uneasy, but there seems no way she can escape. Two murders are committed, and she is convinced he is to blame. Suddenly, all she wants to do is run away to safety, but by reading her mind he is one step ahead of her.

The prologue to Desolation Gulch by Jessica Jesinghaus opens as Valerie finds a body in her boyfriend’s house and her previous attraction to him turns to fear. She makes a bid to break free and finds sanctuary, only to discover that her new protector has one quality in common with Fallon, the man she has escaped from. The plot is a little improbable, but I was curious to know how the story ended. There are some exciting passages where the action is tense and fast moving, but there is also a lot of description which slows down the overall story.

I did not connect too closely with Valerie, although I could understand her desperation in the early part of the book to be close to Fallon at all times and be totally dependent on him. The villain had no redeeming features at all; a sociopath with no conscience or empathy. I wanted to scream at her from the beginning to steer well clear of him and not put her life in his hands. The ending, however, was satisfying though a little rushed.