The heroine of The Kiss is Isabelle Forrester, married to Gordon, a highly successful Parisian banker. This is a joyless marriage, with both partners maintaining a façade that conceals the lack of feeling between them. But Isabelle will not abandon the relationship, as she depends on the financial support of her husband to care for their invalid son Teddy. Isabelle has learned to cope with her lonely existence, confiding in her only friend Bill Robinson, a deal-maker in Washington's upper echelons. Without Gordon's knowledge, the two become very close during their frequent, long-distance telephone conversations. When Isabelle accepts Bill's advice that she take a long overdue break in London, it is no surprise for her to find that a business trip takes him there the same weekend. They come together, and exchange an inevitable kiss. But tragedy awaits--a terrible car crash puts them both in intensive care. Can they recover from their injuries? And how do they deal with the mess their lives have become?

. Steel knows that the more she puts her characters through, the more we'll be involved--and this is the most extreme of her novels in some time. But we come to care about Bill and Isabelle, and few who begin The Kiss will be in a hurry to finish it; this is a world that exerts a total grip. --Barry Forshaw