Enjoyable. Kept me interested. The interview scene moved a little slowly, but was not a problem overall. ( )

I was glued to the story about Tess and her husband. However, I was bored while reading about the Marine and his sister. Also, I found some of the romantic scenes a bit unrealistic considering the circumstances at the time.

I believe Gardner could have shortened the book by minimizing the romance novel and sticking to the thriller. ( )

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is hard to put down and will scare the living daylights out of you.

Ths is the first work of Gardner's I've read and I was pleasantly surprised. This easliy could have been oh so predictable, but wasn't. While I don't like neat and tidy endings, this one was acceptable, with clear indications to the reader of no HEA. Gardner could have developed a few minor characters a bit earlier without hurting the suspense, but overall this was a great suspenseful read. ( )

From page one this book surprised me. I expected the story to start out predictably enough given the description on the back cover: boy meets girl, boy woos and marries girl, boy turns out to be a psychopath, girl takes daughter and flees etc. But instead, the book starts there, from after the moment she's fled. We get the back story in pieces throughout the first half of the book in various--and interesting--ways (nightmares, police interrogations transcripts, flashbacks).

Surprise number two: the romance. I'd never read anything by Ms. Gardner before, and the book description gives no hint of romance in the plot, but this is definitely a romantic suspense (think [[Linda Howard]] ). The ex marine that Tess enlists to train her is a flawed alpha love interest with his own fleshed out demons (a significant plot point involves his damaged relationship with his FBI agent sister).

There was a lot more depth to this book than one might expect from this genre. And even thought there is necessarily some disturbing subject matter, it isn't as detailed and drawn out as in other books involving serial killers. That's not to say it isn't realistic, but it doesn't go on for pages at a time either.

All in all, a good, well plotted romantic suspense.

PLOT SUMMARY:Tess Beckett was married to a cop for two years, and she thought he was perfect... but she was wrong. After learning the truth about her husband she helped put him behind bars. He vowed he would get his revenge, and now that he's escaped Tess is fearing for her life and the life of her daughter. After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. ( )