Watch Me by Brenda Novak (‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #3)

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages - Publisher: Mira (August 1, 2008 ) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0778325261 - ISBN-13: 978-0778325260

 

Watch Me

by Brenda Novak

‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #3

Someone tried to killer her twelve years ago

Teenagers Sheridan Kohl and Jason Wyatt were parked at the lake in Whiterock, Tennessee, when a stranger wearing a ski mask shot them both. Sheridan lived but Jason died – and the stranger was never caught. Even though Sheridan’s family moved away right afterward, she’s never been able to put the crime behind her.

And now that someone doesn’t want her to come home

Because of a new development in the case, Sheridan returns to Whiterock. But when she’s attacked a second time, it’s only because Jason’s stepbrother, Cain Granger, that she survives – and Cain’s the last person she wants to face. If not for their history, if not for her, Jason wouldn’t have been in that parked car.

Cain knows that whoever killed his brother probably isn’t a stranger at all. But figuring out that person’s identity is easier said than done – especially since the killer seems to be taunting them both: watch me.

Review: Unputdownable! Watch me won’t let you go!

Sheridan is back in Whiterock, after receiving a phone call telling her about a break in a twelve-year-old case. Twelve years ago, while parked at a lake, a stranger yanked open the truck door, shooting both Jason and Sheridan. Sheridan survived, Jason didn’t. Sheridan has felt the guilt all this time, guilt that’s been eating at her, for if it hadn’t been for her, Jason would still be alive. While at her uncle’s home, getting it ready to put on the market for sale, someone sneaks in, attacks her, and believes her to be dead as he’s digging a hole to put her in.

Cain’s dogs wake him with their barking. He assumes it’s because of a raccoon or perhaps even a bear. But the dogs’ behavior suggests it could be something else, and he follows them, only to find Sheridan. Finding a thready pulse, he gets her to a hospital, and for some inexplicable reason, won’t leave her out of her sight.

And now people in Whiterock are turning up dead; starting first with Cain’s ex-wife, Amy. Amy may no longer be married to Cain, but she’s still obsessed. As much as she wants to punish him, she knows that it wasn’t Cain who killed Jason, or who came after Sheridan a second time. But someone has, and they believe that the current killer is the same person from twelve years ago. Finding out who it is, is even more difficult, as Amy’s twin brother is now the Sherrif, and he believes Cain is behind it all. Everyone in town is talking and speculating. Sheridan knows it wasn’t him. But evidence is being framed against him, and as the terror escalates, Cain wonders how they will catch the killer in time before he strikes at Sheridan again.

** SPOILER ALERT** DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS.

Incredible! Tense scenes, whether fighting a killer or arguments between characters, this novel packs a punch. Sheridan still believes that Jason’s dead because of her. She’d had a crush on Cain for the longest time, and after making love that one time at a party that hadn’t resulted in anything, she’d purposely flirted with Jason until he asked her out, all with the intention of making Cain jealous. She has no idea that the attack didn’t have anything to do her whatsoever.

That one night had affected Cain, even when he tried to forget it. But something about Sheridan touched him, and he couldn’t get her off his mind. She’d given up her virginity to him that night. Knowing that she was out with Jason crimped his party mood and he went home, only to receive the phone call that Jason had been shot and killed and Sheridan had been shot as well. But when her very religious parents moved away shortly afterward, Cain didn’t think he’d see her again, and went on his merry rebellious way. Since then, he’d been blamed for Jason’s death by just about everyone, but with no evidence, nothing was done.

But twelve years later, when the gun that was used was found by two boys who broke in to Cain’s old cabin, suspicions began to arise again. Ned, now the sherrif, contacted Sheridan, who decided she’d go back to Whiterock to help solve the case. When the killer heard she was coming back, intent on solving the case, he was afraid she may have remembered something important from that night, and attacked her in her uncle’s kitchen, believing he’d finally killed her, and took her out to Cain’s land to bury her. Only, things didn’t go to the killer’s planning. And now, attempted attacks, more killing, more secrets about the past revealed, as the reader, you truly begin to wonder who the killer actually is. Several times I thought I had it figured out, but I was wrong.

Interesting characters, tense scenes, love making at its best, a perfect mystery that results in an awesome climax and ending, I couldn’t have asked for better. Then, with the story finished, I started reading an excerpt at the back of the book. Seems ‘The Last Stand’ stories aren’t over, and I can’t wait until August 2009 for The Perfect Couple, the next novel in ‘The Last Stand’ series. Keep ‘em coming, Ms. Novak! I’m loving them!

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Stop Me by Brenda Novak (‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #3)

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages - Publisher: Mira (July 1, 2008) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0778324605 - ISBN-13: 978-0778324607

 

Stop Me

by Brenda Novak

‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #2

Who was the real killer?

Romain Fornier lost his reason for living when his daughter was kidnapped and murdered. He used a cop’s gun to mete out his own justice and spent the next few years in prison. Once he was freed, he returned to his Cajun roots in small-town Louisiana. But now he learns that he might have killed the wrong man.

Jasmine Stratford, a psychological profiler, is convinced his daughter’s killer is still alive – and that she and Romain have something in common. She believes the same man kidnapped her sister, Kimberly, sixteen years ago.

What happens next?

Jasmine is determined to track him down when she receives an anonymous package, postmarked New Orleans – the bracelet she gave Kimberly for her eighth birthday. She approaches Romain because she knows he can help her … if he chooses. But searching for the man who irrevocably changed both their lives means they have to rise to a killer’s challenge: stop me.

Review: Romantic suspense at its best!

After Jasmine receives the package with her sister’s bracelet and a message: StOp Me, she flies to New Orleans, determined to find the man who kidnapped her sister sixteen years ago. With one question asked to the hotel owner, Jasmine got an idea of someone who might be able to help her: Romain Fornier.

A few years before, Romain’s daughter had been kidnapped and murdered. The man found, the case was brought to trial, but when the evidence was deemed inadmissible, the alleged kidnapper and murderer, Moreau, was set free. On the steps of the courthouse, he was gunned down, by Romain. However, he doesn’t even remember grabbing Detective Alvin Huff’s gun, nor does he remember pulling the trigger. Having served his time in prison, Romain now lives alone on the bayou, near the tiny town of Portsville.  Having already lost his wife, then his daughter, Romain is determined to live out his life there – alone.

But fate likes to screw with people, and Jasmine arrives on his doorstep, asking questions, knowing things about him that she shouldn’t know. The question is: Can he believe her, believe everything she’s telling him? Because the thought of having shot an innocent man doesn’t bode well on his mind.

Starting her own investigation leads Jasmine into hot water almost at the beginning. First, she’s shoved and locked into the Moreau’s cellar, losing her purse and contents at the same time, and stumbling upon on a several-years-dead body. Then she’s attacked outside her hotel, narrowly escaping and running to Romain. Determined, they will find the answers they seek, only neither can believe what they find, when it’s almost too late.

Jasmine, a strong and determined woman, finds comfort in Romain’s arms, but will she be able to leave Romain and New Orleans with her heart intact? And will Romain be able to let her go?

Incredible characters, intense suspense and action scenes, and a little love mixed with a well-written mystery, Brenda Novak writes a novel you’ll have a very hard time putting down.

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Trust Me by Brenda Novak (‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #1)

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages - Publisher: Mira Books (June 1, 2008) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0778324125 - ISBN-13: 978-0778324126

 

Trust Me

by Brenda Novak

‘The Last Stand’ trilogy Book #1

Four years ago…

Skye Kellerman was attacked in her own bed. She managed to fend off her knife-wielding assailant, but the trauma changed everything about her life. As a result of that night, she joined two friends – also survivors – in starting The Last Stand, an organization to help victims of crime.

But now…

Her would-be rapist is getting out of prison. Skye knows that Dr. Oliver Burke hasn’t forgotten that her testimony cost him his reputation – and his freedom.

Sacramento detective David Willis, who investigated her case, believes Burke is a clear and present danger – and guilty of at least two unsolved murders.

And now Burke is free to terrorize Skye again. Unless David can stop him. Unless Skye can fight back. Because Oliver Burke has every intention of finishing what he started. And that’s a promise. Trust Me.

Review: When’s it safe to start living again?

Four years ago, a masked assailant broke into Skye Kellerman’s bedroom window with the intent to rape and murder. But with animalistic sense of survival, Skye fought back, grabbing a pair of scissors that she’d left with her cross-stitch on her night table and stabbed/cut him in return. With DNA testing, it was proven it was Dr. Oliver Burke’s blood, but he insisted she was the one who attacked him, claiming that he went home with her and she turned violent on him, suggesting she was on drugs. The judge didn’t buy that, however, and Burke was sentenced to 8 to 10 years in San Quentin. However, after becoming an informant, and for his dental services to inmates, Burke is getting out in 3.

Burke is obsessed with Skye; if it hadn’t been for her, he’d never had been caught, would never have spent time in prison, losing his reputation as a great dentist, would never have lost 3 years of life with his wife and daughter. He plans on getting back at her for that, and making sure she’s dead this time.

Detective David Willis is convinced that Burke is also responsible for three other rape/murders, but there’s not enough evidence to bring charges against him. He was the one who had to break the news to Skye, and he’s worried that Burke will get his revenge when he gets out. Not only has Willis fallen in love with Skye, he’s determined to make sure Burke never gets to Skye again. But can he hold that promise?

Not without a lack of trying. Skye Kellerman was an account executive with a carpet company, someone who hadn’t a care in the world, with a blind-eye toward crime and violence. All that changed the night she was attacked by Burke. With two friends, Sheridan and Jasmine, women she met at a victims of violence support group, they started The Last Stand, and hoped to help as many victims as they could. Skye wanted to fight back, exercise, self-defence classes, guns and ammunitions classes, and became a good enough shot should she ever need to be. Now she teaches those classes, and takes cases for victims who need help. Strong and self-reliant, she still suffers from insomnia and anxiety attacks, especially at night, when she feels the most vulnerable.

David Willis has had strong feelings for Skye since the night she was attacked, when he met her in the hospital and took her statement. Only, his wife was diagnosed with MS, plus they have a son, and failure wasn’t an option. Divorced, reconciled, separated, David wants to be able to work things out with his wife, but he hasn’t loved her for a long time, and knows there’s no use trying for another reconciliation, especially after his wife suggests he find another job – that it was his job as a homicide detective the came between them.

And while the sexual tension between Skye and David mounts, both know that it’s only a matter of time before Burke comes after her again.

Skye is a strong woman, still vulnerable even after three years of Burke’s incarceration. She wonders if there will ever be a time were she will be able to lead as normal a life as possible. You can feel her vulnerability, her anxiety, and how she handles herself is nothing short of spectacular. David has fallen for Skye, and now knowing that he and his wife can never be together again, accepts that failure, and believes that he and Skye could have something beautiful together. He’s worried about her, and I believe it. While I do feel tension between them, I think it could’ve been heightened a little more, maybe adding a little more romance to what is supposed to be a romantic suspense novel.

And just when you’re sure it’s Burke behind recent attacks, phone calls and notes from toward Skye, a sub-plot adds a twist that I actually should have suspected and didn’t see coming. That was well played.

I thought Ms. Novak excellently wrote victims feelings. The actions of one person can destroy so many lives, and you get a lot of those feelings through Burke’s wife, Jane.

Plus, you get background information on her two best friends and co-founders of The Last Stand, Sheridan and Jasmine, setting up the next two novels beautifully, understanding them already before their own books are released.

A great read, I would recommend it to any romantic suspense lover.

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