Play Dirty by Sandra Brown

Love Love Love Brown. With that said... This one was an interesting change of the pattern. When looking at the book as a suspense it was a straight A. 3/4 of the book I still didn't have a clue as to who was the guilty party. The villain was clear from the get go but that doesn't mean Brown didn't keep her cards close to the vest.

Griff Burket is an NFL QB that had been emprisoned due to gambling on his team, Dallas Cowboys, and throwing the game. He was under suspition of murder at the time he was imprisioned but no evidence could prove his involvement so he was never convicted. On his release he is seen as a piraha, a stain on the earth.

Foster Speakman is an airline mogul who has been trapped in a wheelchair for several years after a car accident. He contacts Griff to offer him an 'employment' opportunity. He wants a child and wants Griff to take care of the 'physical' aspects of the deal - He wants the baby concieved au natural.

Laura Speakman loves her husband and guilt for having been driving the day of his accident, leads her to agree to the arrangement. Greed makes Griff accept.

I had read a few reviews on Amazon before diving into the book and I have to agree to a few points on those reviews. Laura Speakman is not very likable off the bat but neither is her husband. Griff was more likeable, especially when we see how he is trying desperately to get his life in order. Another thing that I don't understand and was never really clear is how Laura, who's a smart business woman, would let Rodark (the villain) bully her and not take the most obvious action which is calling her lawyer. Regardless of what she needs to hide, her willingness to go along with Rodark is just not feasible and was irritaing as the story moved forward.

So I was not a big fan of the heroine, if you can call her that, but I really loved Griff, especially by the end of the book when aspects of his life are revealed. So in the end (this is a Sandra Brown Story so HEA is guaranteed) if he wants Laura, then I was hoping he would get the girl.

This one reminded me a bit of Envy where the bad guy was REALLy bad and the good guy was not clearly definied from the begining.

Grade: B+

Format: Audiobook

Mirror Image by Sandra Brown

As those that read this blog know, I'm a fan of Sandra Brown. I don't think I butter up her work and blindly proclaim that her pen cannot fail. On the contrary, I think her earlier work in romance was a disaster, so I had put off reading this one for the longest time. I eventually found it in Audiobook format and scooped it up (let's face it, on a long commute, anything is better than the early morning radio shows!). I was happily surprised that I really enjoyed this.

The story starts off on a plane crash and among the few survivors is Carole & Mandy Rutledge, wife and daughter to senatorial candidate Tate Rutledge. Mandy just has a few scrapes and bruises but Carole has been severely injured. Her face needs to be reconstructed and she is unable to communicate because her vocal cords have been damaged by smoke.

The Rutledge family is not what everyone on the outside sees, there is bitter disharmony and the marriage between Tate & Carole has been on it's last leg for a while. Yet Tate puts that aside and is a rock for Carole, hiding nothing yet supporting her in, what promises to be a long recovery.

What no one realizes is that the woman lying with her face bandaged is not Carole Rutledge but Avery Daniels, a journalist with a failing career that just happen to have been sitting next to Mandy & Carole on the flight.

During the first night in the hospital Avery overhears an assassination plan that Carole had been involved with and realizes that someone wants Tate dead. By the time she is able to speak, her face has been reconstructed in the image of Carole and she has convinced herself that she is the only thing that stands between Tate and Death. She has fallen in love with Tate and Mandy and decides to continue playing Carole until she can discover who wants him dead as well as write the expose that will put her career back on the map. What she doesn't know is that the walking in Carole's shoes will not be as easy as it appears because Carole was a really piece of work!

As always the suspense in the book really kept you glued. It was so riveting that, since I had a hard copy of the book, I would continue reading the book after I got out of the car! Midway into the book I had a good idea who was the bad guy but I would have NEVER guess who was the Mastermind behind the whole plot. Typical Brown who takes us on a voyage that leads us to the unexpected!

Bad points about the book? Avery was a bit flippy. She would act and not think things through. She even says so in the story. She backed herself into a corner where she had to carry all of Carole's sins (and she had a truckload!) when she could have been upfront with Tate when she realized that he was different with her and might have given their relationship a chance. If you can put up with Avery's superficialness (is that a word?), you will absolutely LOVE this one!

Grade: B
Format: Audiobook

The Alibi by Sandra Brown

Sandra Brown never disappoints. You never know what she will pull out of the hat.
Hammond Cross falls for the major suspect in the most sensational murder trial of the decade. When Lute Pettijohn is found dead all the evidence points to Dr. Alex Ladd who spent the evening of the murder in bed with Hammond Cross, County Solicitor and future District Attorney.

Fast paced and surprises coming at you from all angles, you never know who actually killed Lute until the last chapter of the book.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown

This author never disappoints, at least not with her romantic suspense books. They always grab you and throw you for a loop in one way or another and this one follows suit.

Five disappearances in the small town of Cleary has the FBI investigating, but when they finally narrow things down to a suspect they drop in town during the worse ice storm of the season. Ben Tierney appears to be their man and the reader is lead to believe this as well when we see him walking out of the woods with a shovel in hand. Ben is hit by the car of Lilly Martin, the ex-wife of Cleary's sheriff Dutch Burton, when she is heading down from her mountain cottage. Lilly had been closing a painful chapter in her life with the sale of her mountain home when she hits Tierney and finds herself stranded on the mountain as the storm hits.

Ben and Lilly had met the summer before while white water rafting and felt attracted to each other but Lilly was still married and trying to recover from the death of her daughter, so things had gone no where. Now she is stranded in a cabin with him and, although the attraction is still there, something does not feel right.

Back in town the FBI finds newspaper clippings in Tierney's hotel room and all hell breaks lose. Dutch who is still obsessed with his wife is going over the deep end (as well as mountainous cliffs) as he tries to reach her at their cabin. The local High School coach, Wes, has secrets of his own as he tries to protect his son from the FBI because he thinks Scott might have something to do with the disappearance of the latest victim. The story weaves itself around the people in Cleary and the secrets just keep popping up all over the place. Brown keeps you on your toes, guessing as to the identity of the serial killer 'Blue'. Halfway through the book you just cannot accept that Tierney is the killer and start looking elsewhere and then Brown throws you a fast one that has you questioning your judgment.

The culminating scene at the end has you at the edge of your seat and cringing with every shot fired. Brown is a queen at her game and Chill Factor just reinforces her position as one of the best romantic suspense authors of her time.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook