Book Review: Lethal by Sandra Brown

Title: Lethal
Author: Sandra Brown
Genre: Detective story, Romance
Pages: 472
Published: September 20th 2011

Summary: When her four year old daughter informs her a sick man is in their yard, Honor Gillette rushes out to help him. But that "sick" man turns out to be Lee Coburn, the man accused of murdering seven people the night before. Dangerous, desperate, and armed, he promises Honor that she and her daughter won't be hurt as long as she does everything he asks. She has no choice but to accept him at his word.

But Honor soon discovers that even those close to her can't be trusted. Coburn claims that her beloved late husband possessed something extremely valuable that places Honor and her daughter in grave danger. Coburn is there to retrieve it -- at any cost. From FBI offices in Washington, D.C., to a rundown shrimp boat in coastal Louisiana, Coburn and Honor run for their lives from the very people sworn to protect them, and unravel a web of corruption and depravity that threatens not only them, but the fabric of our society.

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Review: (Spoiler-free)

This was the second book by Sandra Brown that I read, the first being Low Pressure, one of my favorite books. No, it is not YA fiction, but this author is definitely worth for you all to check out, because, well, she's brilliant. I'm not usually a fan of detective stories, but her books are the perfect mix of suspense and romance, and I think a lot of you would like them.

Lethal centers around Honor Gillette, a widowed mother of a four-year old child, but the story is told from multiple perspectives, around five or six different, I think. It works well, mixes things up a bit, but my favorite perspective was still Honor and I would have liked if the other perspectives, for example the perspective of Diego, would have interlaced even more in the main storyline.

“I don't panic unless I have to. Wastes energy.”

What I really liked was that every character really had their own life, their own problems and in the end, a great reason for their own motives. At times reading, I didn't understand why some things were included - some peoples' stories felt distanced from the main plot, but it all intertwined very well in the end. I think my favorite character was Emily, Honor's daughter, because she was so genuinely good and kind. I had moments during the read where I doubted almost every character and their true intentions, which was really exciting but also made me feel like I couldn't trust anyone. But I could always trust Emily.

The romance, too, felt real, the chemistry between Lee and Honor present from the start. I really liked how the third part in their relationship was Honor's dead husband - always in-between them. It felt like their personalities fitted so well with how they acted towards each other, and how they both handled their chemistry in this weird situation they were in.

Lethal was packed with plot-twists, lots of characters and a general feeling of 'What is really going on?' which kept me on my seat. Sandra Brown has a real talent for mixing romance with detective stories and keeping you wanting more. Still, I didn't love it quite as much as I did Low Pressure and I would recommend that book to you first. Though, if the summary intrigues you, definitely pick this up!

 (A 3.5, really!)

Have you read anything by Sandra Brown? Do you want to read this book?