Walking After Midnight
by Karen Robards
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Fiction. Romance. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:The nude male body lay on the embalming table, battered beyond recognition. Gingerly, Summer McAfee, chairman, CEO, and sole employee of Daisy Fresh cleaning service, reached out to touch an arm to reassure herself that she hadn't just seen the corpse move. Suddenly, shockingly, her hand was in the viselike grip of a man very much alive and desperate enough to take her captive on a no-holds-barred run from cops, killers, and his own decidedly show more complicated past...Summer's former life as a New York lingerie model had gone south with her marriage, leaving her, at thirty-six, single and back home in Tennessee, on her hands and knees scrubbing other people's bathrooms. But the drab present vanishes in a flash as she's forced to flee into the Tennessee wilds with the stranger she calls Frankenstein, first as his captive, then his companion, as they run from the enemies determined to destroy them both—straight into a raging passion that could only be the last laugh of fate... show less
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This book starts out at midnight in a mortuary when a naked, beat up corpse suddenly grabs janitor Summer's hand and drags her into the middle of a life and death chase through the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. Steve is not dead, but he is extremely frightening. She fights and spars with him and calls him Frankenstein and does every thing she can to get away from him. When she eventually gets back to her house she finds the men who tried to kill him are there and figures out they are a worse bet than he is.
Most of the book is the two of them on the run while they try to escape from the bad guys while the authorities have a BOLO for the two of them for crimes the baddies committed. Their relationship happens fast during their run but show more here it was believable. Except for a few scenes told by a ghost (it might sound a little hokey but it worked pretty well), all the scenes are the two of them together which makes great reading and helps with the falling in love quick believability. There is a mystery running through the book about just why the bad guys are after them, who they are and how can they be brought to justice.
The characters are different than most romance heroes/heroines. The heroine is 36. She used to be a lingerie model and she used to be married to the local police chief's son. After both of those things went south she started her own janitorial service. She is feisty and brave but not stupid. The hero, Steve, has definitely done wrong but he is sorry and seems very human. I absolutely loved him. He was a great character. I really believed that he cared for her.
"I think that maybe, just maybe, you were sent to rescue me from outer darkness," he said quietly. "When I first encountered you, in that funeral home, I didn't really care if I lived or died. Now I do."
The book is fast paced, exciting and well plotted. The dialog is good and my attention didn't flag at all. I really enjoyed the sniping they did at each other before they knew each other well. show less
Most of the book is the two of them on the run while they try to escape from the bad guys while the authorities have a BOLO for the two of them for crimes the baddies committed. Their relationship happens fast during their run but show more here it was believable. Except for a few scenes told by a ghost (it might sound a little hokey but it worked pretty well), all the scenes are the two of them together which makes great reading and helps with the falling in love quick believability. There is a mystery running through the book about just why the bad guys are after them, who they are and how can they be brought to justice.
The characters are different than most romance heroes/heroines. The heroine is 36. She used to be a lingerie model and she used to be married to the local police chief's son. After both of those things went south she started her own janitorial service. She is feisty and brave but not stupid. The hero, Steve, has definitely done wrong but he is sorry and seems very human. I absolutely loved him. He was a great character. I really believed that he cared for her.
"I think that maybe, just maybe, you were sent to rescue me from outer darkness," he said quietly. "When I first encountered you, in that funeral home, I didn't really care if I lived or died. Now I do."
The book is fast paced, exciting and well plotted. The dialog is good and my attention didn't flag at all. I really enjoyed the sniping they did at each other before they knew each other well. show less
With a dip into a more paranormal theme than I expected this murder mystery/romantic suspense easily held my attention and made reading the entire book in a day and a half an easy enough thing to do.
Summer McAffee, former lingerie model turned self-employed cleaner for hire, was creeped out enough having to clean a mortuary by herself at 2:00 a.m. However, she was soon to discover there are things more terrifying than corpses, namely, getting kidnapped by one and being chased by men with guns determined to make her meet the same fate.
I really enjoyed a lot of things about this story, especially just how Summer meets her very own Frankenstein and Muffy's contributions to their get away. There were a couple parts that bugged me, mostly show more related to the religious parts worked in (as mentioned in past reviews, religion in romance novels is not something I'm partial to.) The other thing is that I am hard pressed to believe that anyone in the heat of the moment says "bleeping" as opposed to swearing. It was such a ridiculous thing and really took me out of the moment. Another thing that didn't bother me but might bug some are the dated references. A lot of these I'm quite familiar with having grown up in that era but the younger generation may find a lot of it going right over their heads.
Insofar as a romantic suspense novel goes overall I found this to be one of the more enjoyable ones I've read and I'd highly suggest it to anyone looking for an introduction to the genre that wouldn't mind the slightly supernatural twist. show less
Summer McAffee, former lingerie model turned self-employed cleaner for hire, was creeped out enough having to clean a mortuary by herself at 2:00 a.m. However, she was soon to discover there are things more terrifying than corpses, namely, getting kidnapped by one and being chased by men with guns determined to make her meet the same fate.
I really enjoyed a lot of things about this story, especially just how Summer meets her very own Frankenstein and Muffy's contributions to their get away. There were a couple parts that bugged me, mostly show more related to the religious parts worked in (as mentioned in past reviews, religion in romance novels is not something I'm partial to.) The other thing is that I am hard pressed to believe that anyone in the heat of the moment says "bleeping" as opposed to swearing. It was such a ridiculous thing and really took me out of the moment. Another thing that didn't bother me but might bug some are the dated references. A lot of these I'm quite familiar with having grown up in that era but the younger generation may find a lot of it going right over their heads.
Insofar as a romantic suspense novel goes overall I found this to be one of the more enjoyable ones I've read and I'd highly suggest it to anyone looking for an introduction to the genre that wouldn't mind the slightly supernatural twist. show less
SUmmer McAffee is busy at her job cleaning a funeral home when one of the cadavers grabs her. Steve Calhoun is on the run after his investigation of a corrupt police force turns dangerous.
Una modelo convertida en chica de la limpieza será tomada como rehén por un "cadáver" que ha regresado de entre los muertos –un hombre al que ella llama su particular Frankenstein.
Lo que menos podía imaginarse Summer McAfee, empleada de la limpieza en la funeraria Daisy Freshcleaning es que un hombre que yace en la mesa de cadáveres a la espera de ser reconocido volviera de entre los muertos y la llevara al viaje más delirante e increíble que hubiera hecho jamás. Ese hombre está huyendo de la policía, unos asesinos y un complicado pasado, pero nunca creyó que encontraría en esa antigua modelo a su verdadero amor.
Lo que menos podía imaginarse Summer McAfee, empleada de la limpieza en la funeraria Daisy Freshcleaning es que un hombre que yace en la mesa de cadáveres a la espera de ser reconocido volviera de entre los muertos y la llevara al viaje más delirante e increíble que hubiera hecho jamás. Ese hombre está huyendo de la policía, unos asesinos y un complicado pasado, pero nunca creyó que encontraría en esa antigua modelo a su verdadero amor.
Apr 21, 2023Spanish
Rocambolesque mais agréable comme lecture de plage.
Jul 30, 2009French
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80+ Works 16,641 Members
Karen Robards was born in Louisville, Kentucky on August 24, 1954. She graduated from the University of Kentucky. Her first novel, Island Flame, was published in 1981, when she was 24 years old. Since then, she has written more than 40 contemporary and historical romances including To Love a Man, Sea Fire, One Summer, Irresistible, Whispers at show more Midnight, Guilty, Shameless, and Sleepwalker. She has received six Silver Pen Awards, two Waldenbooks Wally Awards, one Romantic Times award, a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award, and has been named to the Romantic Times Romance Writers Hall of Fame. She has written a number of series, including The Banning Sisters and Charlotte Stone. Her title's, The Last Kiss Goodbye and Hush made The New York Times best seller list. (Bowker Author Biography) Karen Robards is the author of more than twenty novels, including the enduring romance classics To Love a Man and Dark of the Moon and the national bestsellers The Midnight Hour, Ghost Moon, and The Senator's Wife. (Publisher Provided) Karen Robards is the author of over twenty novels. She began her career as a historical romance writer and is the author of long-time classics: To Love a Man and Dark of the Moon. Her hardcover contemporary suspense novels have appeared on national bestseller lists, including: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky. (Publisher Provided) show less
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Cours dans la nuit
- Original title
- Walking after Midnight
- Original publication date
- 1995
- People/Characters
- Summer McAfee
- Important places
- Murfreesboro, Tennessee, USA
- Epigraph*
- Chapitre 1
Les morts ne meurent-ils donc jamais ?
Eugène O'Neill
Chapitre 11
La mort...le dernier sommeil ? Non le réveil final.
Sir Walter Scott
Chapitre 26
L'âme, comme le... (show all) corps, est le reflet de ce dont elle se nourrit.
Josiah Gilbert Holland
Chapitre 43
Celui qui pèche est un homme
Celui qui s'en repent est un saint
Celui qui s'en vante est un démon.
Thomas Fuller - First words*
- Elle s'était pendue à un crochet du plafnd qui servait à suspendre des pots de fleurs.
- Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Et non pas toujours, Mitch ! pas toujours.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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