The Escape (US Marshalls, Book One)

LISA HARRIS

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell, 2020.

How acquired: From the publisher for review, through the Revell Reads Blogger Program.

First line: There is a razor-thin edge between justice and revenge, where the two easily blur if left unchecked.

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: This is officially my favorite of Ms. Harris’ books. It’s only the third book of hers I’ve read, but still. I love plane crash/survival stories, so I had high hopes, and the author delivered. When we meet Madison, a US. Marshall, she is still grieving the senseless murder of her husband five years before. She’s dated occasionally over the years, but her heart was never in it. Every year on the anniversary of his death, she would visit his grave, and every year she would find a black rose left there. This year she did not go to the grave site, but coming home after her morning run she found a black rose on her bed. She doesn’t have time to deal with that though, as her boss calls her in to help transport two prisoners from Seattle to Colorado. She is partnered with Jonas for the flight. When Madison was training to be a Marshall, Jonas was her instructor, but their acquaintance never went beyond that. Like Madison, Jonas is focused on work and has no interest in dating or relationships, especially with a co-worker. He’s been down that road before, and it did not end well.

The plane carrying them to Denver crashes in the Idaho wilderness, and this is where the book really took off. Both pilots and one of the prisoners are killed in the crash. The other prisoner, Barrick, facing a life sentence for murder, manages to escape, and Madison and Jonas are determined to hunt him down.

I sailed through this intense book in two days, despite my full time job. The descriptions of the land, the forests, the river, are vivid, as Madison and Jonas hunt the prisoner, who sometimes hunts them. There are lots of near misses, with Barrick somehow managing to stay two steps ahead. The action is non-stop, and I never knew what to expect from one chapter to the next. The wilderness aspect only lasts for about half the book, and then they are back in civilization, with other law enforcement officers involved in the man hunt, but I was just as riveted, and stayed that way until the very end.

This book is part of Revell’s romantic suspense line, but there’s much more suspense than romance. As Madison and Jonas work together, they learn more about each other, and come to admire each other, but neither is looking for romance, and they don’t have time for those kind of thoughts regardless. However, I did expect the two Marshalls to come to term with and admit their feelings at the end, and I was not prepared for the book to end on a bit of cliff hanger! The story line with Barrick is thankfully wrapped up, but the mystery of those black roses still needs to be solved, and there is no happily ever after, or even a happy for now, leaving me very eager for the next book in the series.

Goodreads synopsis: US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are thrust into a high-profile case when they are called on to transport two prisoners across the country on a private plane. But when the plane experiences engine trouble en route from the Pacific Northwest to Colorado, the pilots crash-land the aircraft deep in the heart of the sprawling Salmon-Challis National Forest.

When Madison and Jonas regain consciousness, they find both pilots and one prisoner dead--and one fugitive on the run. They'll have to negotiate the rugged and remote backcountry through Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado while tracking a murderer who is desperate to disappear--and will do anything to stop them.

This high-octane game of cat-and-mouse from bestselling and award-winning author Lisa Harris will have your heart pumping as you try to catch a fugitive with nothing to lose.

The Survivors Club

LISA GARDNER

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Bantam Dell, 2002.

How acquired: From my mom.

First line: It started as a conversation.

My thoughts: My first time reading this author (I've been reading a lot of great new-to-me authors lately!) and I'm not even sure at what point of the book I was totally sucked in, but sucked in I was. I noticed a lot of reviewers mentioning the slow start, and yeah, it did take a little bit to get interested. I found the prologue to be a bit confusing, and once I started the first chapter the prologue went completely out of my head. It wasn't until I sat down to write this review that I suddenly remembered the prologue and thought “oh, that's what it was about!” The epilogue, on the other hand, was very welcome and left me feeling a little warm and fuzzy, despite the harsh subject matter in the main body of the book.

I'm very character driven – if I had to choose between plot and characterization I'd go with the latter every time. This book has a lot of characters, but they were easy to keep track of. I very much liked Detective Griffin. I mentioned in the last review I posted that I'm partial to emotionally wounded heroes and law enforcement, and I was drawn to Griffin pretty much right off the bat. And I loved the interplay between Griffin and Detective Fitzpatrick. I know Griffin and Waters were long time friends, but he and Fitz made a great duo, and some of their comments to each other made me smile, and occasionally even laugh a little.

While there's lots of other dialogue between different characters, there's also a good bit of internal dialogue, which I like, and plenty of action. I don't know that I was ever on the edge of my seat, but I was certainly immersed in the story, in all the stories as the narrative focus shifted from character to character. By the end of the book I was reading late into the night, unable to even think about sleeping until I finished the last page.

Goodreads synopsis: They survived what no woman should ever have to endure. Now these three women have the means, the opportunity, and the perfect motive. Are they trying to get away with murder--or is someone trying to make sure that this time they don't get away at all? The Survivors Club... that's what Jillian Hayes, Carol Rosen, and Meg Pesaturo call it. They won't consider themselves victims. They are survivors. They faced the blazing headlines and helped lead the investigation that caught the man who changed their lives forever.

And now that Eddie Como, the College Hill rapist, has been murdered, shot down outside a packed courthouse moments before his trial was about to begin, all three women are openly ecstatic that he's dead. They are also the prime suspects in his murder. Detective Sergeant Roan Griffin knows all too well what can drive even the best people to cross the line. But he has never seen a case quite like this one. No one doubts that the murder of Eddie Como was a professional job, especially when the gunman is killed only blocks away from the shooting.

But questions taunt Griffin: Who ordered the deaths of Eddie Como and his killer? Could three ordinary women have been driven to do the unthinkable? Had someone in the Survivors Club become a killer? Griffin seeks the truth--and finds himself confronted with the leader of the Survivors Club. Jillian Hayes is beautiful, successful, cool as ice, and she harbors a pain that mirrors Griffin's own. Did the horror of what happened to her push her over the thin and desperate line that separates survival and revenge? And if it did, could he blame her--or anyone in the Survivors Club? Then another woman is brutally attacked.

Suddenly, with the city on the ragged edge of panic, gripped in a media and political firestorm of controversy, cover-up, and conspiracy, the hunt is on for a ruthless and cunning killer. For Griffin, this may well be the case that shatters his career. For Jillian, the harrowing nightmare is beginning all over again. Someone is out there. Someone who wants to finish what was started. Someone who wants to make sure that no one survives the Survivors Club. 

The Kind Worth Killing

PETER SWANSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: On a flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning Lily Kintner. Over martinis, the strangers play a game in which they reveal intimate details about themselves. But what begins as playful banter between Ted and Lily takes a turn when Ted claims, half-seriously, that he would like to kill his wife. Then Lily surprises him by saying that she’d like to help.

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily forge an unusual bond and talk about the ways Ted can get out of his marriage. But Lily has her own dark history she’s not sharing with Ted. As Ted begins to fall in love with Lily, he grows anxious about any holes in their scheme that could give them away. And suddenly the two are pulled into a very lethal game of cat and mouse, one in which both are not likely to survive when all is said and done.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, William Morrow, 2016.

How acquired: Borrowed from my mom.

First line: “Hello, there,” she said.

My thoughts: While at my mom's house, talking about a book we'd both recently read and loved (LULLABY, by Claire Seeber), I commented that it made me want to read more of that genre. My mom promptly disappeared into her room and reemerged with this book in hand. I started it the next day and whizzed through it.

The chapters start out alternating between Ted, who just discovered his wife is cheating on him with their contractor, and Lily, who he meets in an airport bar. The find themselves on the same flight, and Ted spills the whole story to Lily, admitting that he'd like to kill his wife. And Lily, rather than being shocked, says she will help him do so.

As they take turns narrating, both in first person POV, we learn more about how Ted and Miranda met, and Lily's unconventional family, along with some secrets from Lily's past (although she does not share that information with Ted). They plot and plan how to murder Miranda and Brad, the contractor, and when the time is almost nigh, holy plot twist! Something right out of left field, and the twists and turns just keep coming.

This is a fast paced and engrossing book. I feel like I can't say too much about what happens without getting spoilery, but I was glued to the pages. The character's narrative voices aren't very distinctive, but that's literally the only complaint I can come up with. A brilliant and unexpected read, and I've already pre-ordered the author's next book and bought one of his previous books.