A straight, not-so-smart cop who falls for a sexy married woman with her eye on a quick exit from her marriage (with the proceeds from a hefty insurance policy on her husband's life, natch) makes Line of Sight a noirish thriller that could go right from the manuscript to the B-movie screen. When Ray Dolan meets Sheila Travis, you can see the ending coming in this barely steamy mystery that's long on heavy breathing and short on characterization, pacing, and plot. The reader longs for Ray to smarten up and get out of Sheila's bedroom before she puts a gun in his hand and makes him do something he'd never imagined doing, but of course he does it anyway. The only surprise is that he gets away with it (sort of), but not until over 300 pages of turgid prose have been flipped. The real mystery is which James M. Cain novel Jack Kelly had at hand when he penned this one, and how many pages one can read until the flight attendant announces the in-flight movie and beverage service. (Hint: all of them.) Is "Howard the Duck" better entertainment at 30,000 feet? You be the judge. --Jane Adams