Ian was locked away in an asylum as a young boy, because he witnessed an awful act by his father.  While Ian has always been shy, awkward, unable to look people in the eye, uncomfortable in crowds and unable to follow multiple conversations, he was terrorized at the asylum by the "treatments," which has made his eccentricities much worse.

Ian’s oldest brother, Hart, had him released from the asylum upon their father’s death, but still feels responsible for the terrible treatment that he suffered there.  Ian still suffers from constant headaches and awful rages that boil up inside him since his release. He tries to control himself, and his valet Curry does a lot to help him escape from the situations that cause him pain.

Ian collects Ming bowls to soothe himself, and we meet him as he buys a bowl from an acquaintance, Sir Lyndon Mather.  He quickly realizes that Mather is a bumbling idiot, who doesn’t know the value or authenticity of the bowls in his collection - or the value of his lovely, rich, widowed fiancée, Beth Ackerley. Upon meeting the beautiful, funny Beth, Ian senses that she can soothe him, and he decides to steal her away from Mather any way he can.  The theft doesn’t prove difficult as Beth is taken with Ian and his sideways glances and truthful speech.  He’s handsome and unintentionally charming.

While their love story could have progressed smoothly and easily from this point, it turns out that both Beth and Ian have very complicated pasts that threaten to swallow them.  Beth has risen above her father’s deceitful image and her mother’s fall from gentility to the workhouse.  Her high-profile affair with the powerful, mad Ian Mackenzie hasn’t gone unnoticed by the gossip rags, Ian’s brothers or Scotland Yard, and suddenly, Beth’s seedy past is being unearthed.

Ian’s troubles are far worse.  For five years, he’s been hiding behind the powerful Mackenzie name with the support of his brothers, after waking from one of his “muddles” to find his hand covered in a courtesan’s blood, her dead body sprawled in the room.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie is masterfully written, Ian’s problems and eccentricities are wonderfully detailed to the point of being frightening.  Ian is heart-wrenchingly vulnerable; when the reader learns of the treatment he received at the hand of his angry father and later, of the staff at the asylum, it’s hard not to hope that he is completely innocent and will get some measure of secure happiness.  He is one of the most detailed, well-rounded heroes I’ve read.  Ian manages to be intently sexy and strong while enduring his tormented existence, longing for friendship and love.

Beth is far from a sweet, two-dimensional missish heroine.  She doesn’t try to hide or beautify her past; she has taken her path and succeeded at making it through the perils of the rough streets while retaining her compassion for others.  Beth is strongly drawn to Ian, and her diary entries open up an intimate inside look into her thoughts towards him.  She refuses to be appalled by the terrifying questions that the family’s history poses, or wilt away from the challenge of helping the man she’s falling in love with.

The only hitch in Ian and Beth’s relationship was the believability of her quick declaration of love for him, in spite of the murky circumstances surrounding him and his family.  One would think that a lady who’s lived a tough life would be more careful, more protective of her heart than Beth seems to be, and it makes her seem foolish. 

Ian, Beth and the Mackenzie family were thoroughly fascinating, and well-described in depth, due to the tight, seamless flow of the story.  I look forward to renewing my acquaintance with Ian, Mac, Hart and Cam over the next few books in the Mackenzie series.   

--Amy Wroblewsky