Lethal

Starred review from July 11, 2011
At the start of this pulse-pounding thriller from bestseller Brown (Tough Customer), Honor Gillette is baking cupcakes in the kitchen of her Tambour, La., home when her four-year-old daughter, Emily, tells her a bloodied man is outside in the yard. Lee Coburn is on the run, the object of a manhunt for the cold-blooded murder of seven people, including one of Tambour's most prominent citizens. Promising not to harm Emily, Lee takes Honor hostage, but only because she may have the key to solving an even bigger puzzle: the identity of the Bookkeeper, a criminal mastermind with power over local law enforcement and government. Honor's policeman husband, Eddie, who died in an accident two years earlier, may have had information about the mysterious and malicious Bookkeeper. When it becomes apparent that the mass murders and Eddie's death might be connected, trying to prove the link could cost Lee and Honor their lives. A relentless pace and clever plot twists keep the pages turning.

July 1, 2011

An FBI agent, deep undercover, is the prime suspect in a mass murder and must uncover the corrupt forces behind the killings to clear his name.

When 4-year-old Emily tells her mother, Honor, that there's a strange man in their backyard in Tambour, a small Louisiana bayou town, Honor is skeptical. But when she goes to check, the man, Coburn, accosts her. Holding her at gunpoint, Coburn ransacks her home, looking for something he won't divulge—but it involves her late husband Eddie, a Tambour police officer killed in a suspicious car accident. Meanwhile, Tambour police, deputy sheriffs and twin brothers Doral and Fred, who were Eddie's best friends, are searching for Coburn, a warehouse employee who allegedly shot his employer and six others and is now on the run. When Stan, Eddie's father, grows suspicious, he directs the posse to Honor's remote house. Finding nothing on Eddie, Coburn finally leaves, only to double back in time to shoot Fred, who has just arrived to check on Honor. Fred was ordered to kill Honor, Coburn claims, because the twins (and possibly Eddie before them) are in the employ of a sinister figure known only as the Bookkeeper who "facilitates" trans-border trafficking in humans, drugs and weapons. Now it's unsafe for Honor and Emily to stay put—Doral will hunt her down. Still unwilling to believe that her husband, a decorated cop, was implicated in such depravity, Honor nevertheless flees with Coburn, Emily in tow. As they hide out on a deserted shrimp boat, Coburn bucks his Washington boss's directive that he come in from the cold, and Honor fights her attraction to him (without success, naturally). Subplots involving a street thug who is the Bookkeeper's chief enforcer, Honor's brassy girlfriend Tori and her serial marriages, and an honest but ineffectual FBI officer and his wife, whose lives revolve around their severely disabled son, add some interest to a story line which is otherwise pat and predictable.

Standard Brown fare.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2011

Told by her four-year-old that there's a man in the yard who needs help, Honor rushes out to find Lee Coburn, who stands accused of murdering seven people the night before. He also says that Honor's late husband has something that he wants--something so dangerous that she'll be glad to dump it. Brown has not slowed down; buy multiples.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Lee Coburn is lethal. A trained killer suspected of murdering seven men in a trucking company warehouse in coastal Louisiana, he is the object of an area-wide manhunt when he feigns injury to get into the home of widow Honor Gillette and her four-year-old, Emily. The Gillette house isn't just a refuge for Coburn. He's after something valuable left by Honor's late husband, Eddie, a cop who died in an apparent accident two years ago. As the terrorized Honor fears for Emily's safety and expects to be raped or murdered, it becomes clear that things aren't what they seem. Everything revolves around the Bookkeeper, shadowy head of a scheme for illegally trafficking guns, drugs, and girls, who brooks no deviation from orders given. Though it's fairly obvious early on that Honor is drawn to Coburn's laser blue eyes, Brown keeps the plot twisting and turning, the body count rising, and the action accelerating to a satisfying climax. Brown knows how to write romantic suspense and once again has produced a satisfying page-turner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

October 31, 2011
In Brown’s latest romantic thriller, beautiful young widow Honor Gillette and her four-year-old daughter, Emily, wind up on the run through coastal Louisiana with a suspected mass murderer named Lee Coburn. Given the genre, it should come as no surprise that the rugged, self-reliant Coburn is no homicidal maniac and that he and Honor will eventually fall in love. Everything else is up for grabs, since the cops, nearly all of Honor’s former friends, and maybe even the FBI are in the employ of a vicious drug lord and white slaver known only as the Bookkeeper. The villains are ruthless, the action perilous and plentiful, and Victor Slezak’s narration wrings every drop of suspense from Brown’s twisting and turning plot. Slezak also provides a full range of Southern accents: Honor’s aristocratic, angry bully of a father-in-law, the redneck local law enforcement louts, and a sweetly sexy woman of means. Slezak even adds timidity and self-doubt to his portrayal of an FBI agent struggling with an impossible investigation, a passive-aggressive wife, and a permanently comatose child. A Grand Central hardcover.

Starred review from July 1, 2011

Honor Gillette, the widow of a coastal Louisiana police officer, goes from frosting cupcakes to being held hostage when armed, accused murderer Lee Coburn invades the home where she lives with her four-year-old daughter, Emily. Lee says he's looking for something important that was kept by her late husband, but Honor can't imagine what it is or why a dangerous man like Lee wants something from her good cop husband. As her ordeal continues, Honor doesn't know whom to believe or trust but only that she needs to do whatever is necessary to keep Emily and herself alive. VERDICT Fast paced and full of surprises, this taut thriller, marking the author's return to Grand Central, features a large cast of superbly drawn characters and the perfect amounts of realistic dialog and descriptive prose. Brown (Tough Customer), who began her career writing romance novels, also adds palpable romantic tension to the proceedings. Public libraries should expect high demand. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]--Samantha J. Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2011

An FBI agent, deep undercover, is the prime suspect in a mass murder and must uncover the corrupt forces behind the killings to clear his name.

When 4-year-old Emily tells her mother, Honor, that there's a strange man in their backyard in Tambour, a small Louisiana bayou town, Honor is skeptical. But when she goes to check, the man, Coburn, accosts her. Holding her at gunpoint, Coburn ransacks her home, looking for something he won't divulge--but it involves her late husband Eddie, a Tambour police officer killed in a suspicious car accident. Meanwhile, Tambour police, deputy sheriffs and twin brothers Doral and Fred, who were Eddie's best friends, are searching for Coburn, a warehouse employee who allegedly shot his employer and six others and is now on the run. When Stan, Eddie's father, grows suspicious, he directs the posse to Honor's remote house. Finding nothing on Eddie, Coburn finally leaves, only to double back in time to shoot Fred, who has just arrived to check on Honor. Fred was ordered to kill Honor, Coburn claims, because the twins (and possibly Eddie before them) are in the employ of a sinister figure known only as the Bookkeeper who "facilitates" trans-border trafficking in humans, drugs and weapons. Now it's unsafe for Honor and Emily to stay put--Doral will hunt her down. Still unwilling to believe that her husband, a decorated cop, was implicated in such depravity, Honor nevertheless flees with Coburn, Emily in tow. As they hide out on a deserted shrimp boat, Coburn bucks his Washington boss's directive that he come in from the cold, and Honor fights her attraction to him (without success, naturally). Subplots involving a street thug who is the Bookkeeper's chief enforcer, Honor's brassy girlfriend Tori and her serial marriages, and an honest but ineffectual FBI officer and his wife, whose lives revolve around their severely disabled son, add some interest to a story line which is otherwise pat and predictable.

Standard Brown fare.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)