Kenzie Scott has a secret and when his soon to be ex-wife convinces him to take a role in the movie she is directing things get bad quickly. Something in his past haunts him and the damaged character that he plays is bringing the painful past front and center.
Mary Jo Putney has done an amazing job of keeping the reader wondering about what his secret is and feeling the pain when it is revealed. ( )

Mary Jo Putney proves that she does not need to writing a period romance to have a powerful story with compelling characters. I was surprised at how moving this book was, especially the last few chapters. ( )

It made me want to get a labyrnth ( )

Well, that was a shot in the dark! I don't normally read 'romances' - and now the reasons are many, and all too painfully clear - but I couldn't resist the references to The Scarlet Pimpernel in this hokey novel, and so decided to cast taste to the wind. I was not rewarded for my bravery.

Is the whole genre this unrealistic and corny? All the characters look great, have stacks of money, are the best in the field at whatever they do, overcome cliched obstacles - I noted child abuse, rape, paedophilia, emotionally withdrawn parents and absent fathers, and that was just the H and h - before living Happily Ever After in Romancelandia. And the reader is simply told all of this, and forced to accept the author's word - no insightful interactions or subtle dialogue. The H, Kenzie Scott - and I forgot to add unbelievable names to the list - is an award-winning, naturally talented actor, who is stunningly good-looking but not vain, loaded but generous (he gives to charities and patronises disabled children - 'There are jobs that can be done from a wheelchair'), and - of course - a Tortured Soul (TM). Yes, Kenzie has issues, more issues in fact than IMDb credits or zeroes in his bank account, and they are big, life-stunting SERIOUS issues. So basically, Kenzie is overly sensitive, selfish, and spends most of the novel whining. He doesn't need a wife, he needs a mother figure or a counsellor, which is handy because Rainey (Rainbow!), his almost ex, is quite happy to be just that. Does he want comfort sex? OK, no strings. He doesn't want sex, he can't handle the intimacy? That's cool, Rainey will settle for spooning and soothing his fevered brow.

Raine Marlowe, in case you were wondering, is an equally famous actress, who now wants to direct her first movie (a Lawrence of Arabia period piece about a traumatised soldier), and turns out to be a first-rate, ball-busting director too. Only all the descriptions of Raine artificially supplied by the author - strong, tough, determined, independent, etc. - don't actually apply. At one point, Raine in all honesty ponders why the 'self-sacrificing nature' of Sarah, the Victorian heroine in her film project that only Raine can possibly play, should irritate her so much. And I was thinking, because your own behaviour towards Kenzie is not self-sacrificing - or irritating? Who is kidding who?

The plot is also overflowing with happy coincidences - the New Mexico retreat Kenzie falls in love with is miraculously for sale, the lead actress of Raine's film drops out at the last minute - and trite solutions to devastating issues. (I hate when real-life traumas become fashionable angst in novels.) Kenzie finds peace by plotting out his own labyrinth, to follow the 'spiral path' to closure, then 'journalling' his inner feelings, and Raine even randomly recites a psalm at one point! When everything turned out right at the end, complete with the mother of all Oscar acceptance speeches, I felt I had been force-fed so much sugar that my teeth were rotting.

Oh, yes, The Scarlet Pimpernel. I appreciated the nod to the 1982 film version with Anthony Andrews ('Why another remake?'), and the fact that Raine has 'apricot' hair like Marguerite ("This red-gold is your natural colour?"), but Kenzie and Raine are far, far from Sir Percy and Marguerite - and most especially Benedick and Beatrice, whom they also play on stage - and Mary-Jo Putney is not a patch on Baroness Orczy when it comes to romance and troubled heroes. ( )

To put it mildly, The Spiral Path was hard to put down.

It was painful reading in parts, because MJP made me feel quite vividly for Raine. Her marriage is falling apart, her husband seems determined to let it fall apart, and she doesn't know why.

When we get to the why, it's heartbreaking. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, so I won't elaborate, but once Raine finds out why Kenzie has avoided intimacy, she has to confront her own lack of emotional commitment as well.

Wonderful story of two emotionally flawed people who learn to face their pasts and heal old wounds together.

Loved the labyrinth--the spiral path of the title. I'm thinking that might be just the thing for the big bare spot in the backyard. I'm curious to see if it really works.

And there's also the insider's view of movie making, which gave me even more appreciation for the art of filmmaking, and made the existence of movies like The Impostor even more incomprehensible. But that's another story.