Ricochet - Sandra Brown

I really like romantic suspense novels and after hearing K. advertise this one so much I just had to add it to my TBR pile. It was a good move because I enjoyed it very much.

When Detective Sergeant Duncan Hatcher is summoned to the home of Judge Cato Laird in the middle of the night to investigate a fatal shooting, he knows that discretion and kid-glove treatment are the keys to staying in the judge's good graces and keeping his job. At first glance, the case appears open-and-shut: Elise, the judge's trophy wife, interrupted a burglary in progress and killed the intruder in self-defense. But Duncan is immediately suspicious of Elise's innocent act. His gut feeling is that her account of the shooting is only partially true -- and it's the parts she's leaving out that bother him.

Determined to learn the dead man's connection to the Lairds and get at the truth, Duncan investigates further and quickly finds his career, as well as his integrity, in jeopardy -- because he can't deny his increasing attraction to Elise Laird, even if she is a married woman, a proven liar, and a murder suspect. When Elise seeks Duncan out privately and makes an incredible allegation, he initially dismisses it as the manipulative lie of a guilty woman. But what if she's telling the truth? Then that single fatal gunshot at her home takes on even more sinister significance, possibly involving Duncan's nemesis, the brutal crime lord Robert Savich.

And then Elise goes missing . . .

This was a very interesting reading where all is not what it seems. Duncan is a cop who takes his work passionately enough to be trown in jail for protesting when Judge Cato Laird lets known criminal Robert Savich go free on a technicality. He and his partner DeeDee are called to the house of Judge Laird a few days later due to an intruder shooting from the judge's wife. From the very beginning it is obvious that there is a lot more to that story than what the judge and his wife are telling.

Duncan finds himself torn between doing an impartial investigation and the attraction he feels towards Elise Laird, and to make matters worse she keeps asking for his help. Elise is described as a beautiful woman that all men want to have and all women envy. As her relationship with Savitch is uncovered and she goes missing Duncan doesn't know whether to believe her story that her husband is trying to kill her or to believe that she is a cold blooded murder.

I liked Duncan as a hero, a tough cop with a born talent to play the piano. he is the son of a preacher and is pretty tortured about some of the decisions he makes during the story. Elise is a bit harder to know as most of her story is only known near the end. However we can feel her fear and desperation each time she asks Duncan for help. This is a revenge story where there are a lot of hidden agendas and secret ties and it's suspenseful till the very end regarding what's going on and how the truth will be uncovered. Duncan's partner DeeDee makes for an interesting secondary character although at times she came across as a bit too harsh.

Grade: B+