Angelina Solavita and Nash Morgan have PTSD. Both survived near-death experiences, and struggle—Nash months later, and Lina years later—with the dark impact of that experience. Nash involuntarily relives being shot and left for dead on the side of the road by one of Duncan Hugo’s thugs. Lina still sees herself, nearly 15 years after multiple surgeries to correct her heart valve, as “the girl who died in front of an entire stadium of people” (258).

Lina copes with her trauma by keeping tight control over her life. She stays in prime physical condition through working out with weights, aerobics classes, and long runs in the country. Keeping fit is the prescribed response to her cardiac scare, but her dedication to being in shape goes beyond a healthy awareness. Lina has also embraced a lifestyle that resists any emotional involvement. She travels frequently for her job as a globetrotting insurance investigator, tracking down inert stolen objects, not unpredictable bail jumpers. She is careful about what she tells others, seeing half-truths as ways for keeping people at a distance, and relying on short-lived flings to fill the gap of relationships. Outside of sex, she doesn’t allow anyone to touch her—a fitting

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