Bad guys can't "Blackout" heroines toughness

Book dealer Margo Scott's day isn't starting off on a happy note. In Annie Solomon’s "Blackout," Margo goes to bed one night with the trees still bare of leaves and wakes up the next day to flower-filled spring day.

Margo finds out that she's, supposedly, been in Spain for the past month on the trail of a rare book. Only she doesn't remember any of it. Then things really start going downhill.

The police question Margo about the murder of Deputy Director Frank Temple of the Terrorism Control Force. Margo, of course, doesn't know a Frank Temple -- at least none that she remembers. And since her memory is about as solid as a slice of Swiss cheese at the moment, that's not saying much.

Then there are the unremembered skills she discovers she has: She can take a grown man in a fight, knows her weapons and is an expert at handling knives -- and we aren't talking the kitchen variety here.

Margo needs to find answers, especially when evidence shows up linking her to Frank Temple's death and she becomes a target herself.

And then there's Jake Wise, is he friend or foe? All Margo knows is that he keeps showing up and he seems to want to the same thing Margo does: answers.

"Blackout" keeps the action coming at a fast and furious pace as Margo and Jake seek to discover if Margo is a murderer or ... or something worse.