FICTION:


One reckless night nineteen years ago, Jacob Temple made a mistake that would alter the course of his life.

Caught between the chokehold of his conservative upbringing and the freedom of following his heart's desire, Jacob was posed with a no-win scenario: Choose Jane -- his soul mate and the only woman he would ever love -- and be shunned, or marry Fiona to satisfy a deep-seated moral obligation.

After nearly two decades of suffering through a loveless marriage with Fiona, Jacob begins to suspect that Beth, a regular caller to his radio psychology show, is actually Jane. Hoping for a second chance with the woman he never stopped loving, Jacob devises a plan to leave his wife.

But... Fiona has kept him on a tight leash these many years, and her powerful family could ruin Jacob's life. She will not make it easy for him to leave. And Fiona is the type of woman someone could die over -- or kill over.

Circle of Trust fan favorite Jacob Temple shares his side of the dark love story between Jane Light and himself in What He Didn't See. This novella provides no spoilers and can be read in conjunction with the Close Enough to Kill series or as a stand-alone.

It’s interesting to select a book and find that you’re getting what you expected and a bit more. It was the genre that drew me to What He Didn’t See by Jacqueline Simon Gunn. As this book is classified as romance/suspense, I was curious about how much suspense would be in a romantic story based on the hope of renewing a relationship after nearly 2 decades of the lovers being apart. That’s where What He Didn’t See starts: Jacob is a psychologist who hosts a phone-in radio show. When his frequent weekly caller begins to sound very much like Jane, the only woman he ever truly loved but didn’t marry, his own unhappiness in a loveless marriage takes over his psyche: he has to find Jane and, if this caller is his long lost love, then he needs to get out of his marriage and grab what might be his last chance at happiness. Herein lies both the romantic and one of the suspenseful angles: will Jacob succeed? Complicating his decision is his manipulative, rich and gay wife, Fiona, who doesn’t love him but can’t let him divorce her if she is to inherit the family fortune. But the bigger issue for Jacob is the one that caused him to lose Jane 19 years earlier: Jacob is too worried about being a good son and doing what his father expects of him i.e.good Catholics don’t divorce.

It is this aspect of parental control, of children doing what is expected of them rather than what they want to do, that is the “more” I referred to in my opening sentence. What He Didn’t See is very much an exploration of family relationships, of the expectations, the conflicts, the unreasonable demands parents put on their offspring, and how these demands can mess up people’s lives in later years. Given the author’s background - Jacqueline Simon Gunn is a clinical psychologist - her portrayal of the characters, their motivations, and the events in this story have an authentic base: Jacob, Jane, and Fiona are believable and what each does in this short, easy to read novel is realistic. Summing up, readers of suspenseful romance get more than expected from What He Didn’t See. What readers may or may not themselves see coming is the ending.
— - Readers' Favorite

A gruesome murder...
Radio psychologist Jacob Temple is found dead on the floor of his den. A gaping wound in his neck, lacerations crisscrossing his chest, a fork bored into each eye.

No break-in. No evidence.

Bouncing back and forth in time, the story of Jacob Temple's life unfolds as told by the people closest to him, particularly his ex-girlfriend Jane Light, who has been stalking Jacob for nineteen years, ever since he left her. Still reeling from her boyfriend Noah's murder, Kadee Carlisle works alongside Detectives Poole and Gibbs to unravel the facts behind Jacob Temple's life and death. As time ticks away, Kadee struggles to reconcile her conflicted feelings about her own past--and present--and their ominous parallels to the Temple case.

When the circle of trust is broken...
As the hunt for the killer ensues, a tragic love story unfolds, along with a plan for vengeance and an unflinching look into the mind of a murderer. But will they ever figure out who killed Jacob Temple? Piercing the thorny line between facts and deception, passion and obsession, this torrid thriller illustrates one important thing: Sometimes the closer you are to the truth, the harder it is to see.

CIRCLE OF TRUST is one of those rare books that transports you into the true heart of its characters and beyond. With consummate storytelling skills and brilliant clinical expertise Gunn peels back the layers of her fascinating characters until nothing is left hidden. The story starts with a bang and keeps accelerating until the final stunning revelation. If you enjoy a meticulously crafted murder mystery driven by characters so real they are frightening, then CIRCLE OF TRUST should be on your book shelf today.
— K.J. Howe, Author of THE FREEDOM BROKER
Circle of Trust is a thriller novel by author Jacqueline Simon Gunn and the second book in the Close Enough to Kill series. When Jacob Temple is horrifically murdered and found on the floor of his den, a hunt for a twisted killer ensues. Bereaved Kadee Carlisle decides to assist in the case despite her own demons, but the Temple murder strikes several painful and reminiscent chords for her along the way. Jacob’s ex-girlfriend, the obsessive Jane Light, draws a great deal of suspicion as her stalker ways are revealed, tracing back over nineteen years in which love appears to have brought her to the brink of madness. But the question of whether she is the murderer or not is wide open, and the real answer to the crime far more complex.

I found the elegant prose of Circle of Trust a pleasure to read. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t read the first book in the series. Jacqueline Simon Gunn explains all you need to know without overloading the reader with information, and protagonist Kadee Carlisle was an engaging and relatable character to follow throughout. The descriptions of the murder itself are suitably grisly and the emotional depth of the dark love story unfolding in the narrative was nothing short of breathtaking. I found that I was fascinated by the psychology of Jane Light in particular and the delivery of the delicate balance between love and obsession was thrilling and unpredictable throughout the tale. I would highly recommend Circle of Trust to fans of dark thrillers and psychological crime fiction.
— Readers' Favorite

She loved him, then hated him, but did she kill him?
Forensic psychology student Kadee Carlisle never believed in love at first sight. Beautiful and bold, with a flair for neurotic intellectualizing and internal banter, she thought she was destined to spend her life alone. A cynic at heart, her belief: "Romantic love is a delusion."

An attractive stranger, a chance encounter...
One morning, in line at a coffee shop, she meets tall, handsome, elusive Noah Donovan. The moment changes everything.

Passion turns to obsession...
A relationship burgeons. Taken in by Noah's allure, his masterful listening, his attentiveness, Kadee lets her guard down and is swept away by their romance. But some subtle indications suggest that Noah is hiding something. Torn between her love for him and her growing sense that he isn't being honest, Kadee finds herself in the throes of obsession, unraveling rapidly. She thinks of killing him. But does she?

Nothing is quite as it seems...
Five women, one murder, a web of secrets, lies and betrayals, a quest for answers, a search for the truth, the intertwining of love and hate, and the larger looming question: What leads someone to commit murder?

A piercing look at the dark side of love and the contradictory nature of human emotion. The multiple point of view narration offers a wavy ride, with a harrowing glimpse into the lies we tell ourselves, in this erotic thriller exploring passion gone terribly wrong.

Circle of Betrayal is a thriller novel by author Jacqueline Simon Gunn, and the first in the Close Enough to Kill series. Our heroine is Kadee Carlisle, a student of forensic psychology, and through her scientific and often neurotic lens we see that romance is dead and buried. That is, until she meets Noah Donovan, who embodies everything a lover should be, inside and out. Their passionate affair becomes too intense, and Kadee cannot control her overwhelming obsessions, both for Noah’s love and for the truth about him. This breeds darkness within her, and when Noah ends up dead, Kadee can’t be sure that she’s innocent of the crime. Psychology and sex mix as the narrative of the women in Noah’s life unfolds.

Fans of erotic fiction are sure to be thrilled by Jacqueline Simon Gunn’s passionate telling of a torrid romance, and those who also enjoy the crime genre will find it suitably dark. The allusions to clinical psychology are superbly astute, revealing powerful and often sad truths about human nature. The explanations for the motives of each of the main suspects pull no punches, delving deep into the psyche to drag out all the hurt and pain they experience. This is expressed in eloquent prose, with shifting perspectives that allow real insight into more than just Kadee and Noah’s experience. Circle of Betrayal is highly recommended for those seeking a more intellectual erotic read, with well crafted characters and a plot that takes plenty of unexpected twists and turns.
— Readers' Favorite

 
Sometimes the truth isn’t obvious; sometimes it exists in the silence, in the emptiness between the spaces, but we’re too afraid to hear it.
— Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Circle of Betrayal
The rest of the short walk was silent. It was that loud sort
of silence where the absence is painful, when there’s so much to
say, but nothing is said.
— Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Circle of Betrayal