The topic of this
month is More Than One
(An author who has more than one book in your TBR pile)
Published: 2008
Genre: Contemporary / Romantic Suspense
My Rating: 4 stars
Part of a series: I-Team #3
In June we
have to look for an author with more than one book in our TBR list.
It was in my TBR pile
because I loved
“First Strike” and Striking Distance,
so I wanted to read more of her books. I bought several of her novels and some
of them are still in my TBR pile.
I love romance and suspense, therefore romantic
suspense is one of my favourite subgenres. Last year I discovered Pamela Clare,
with the translation of Striking distance.
I even read the very hot novella “First Strike”. Recently, someone has told me
that she considered that the I-Team series was just marvellous, and the best
one, this Unlawful Contact.
I understand why, because this is a perfect
example of romantic suspense. Trigger warning: rape & violence in prison
are some of its issues.
The beginning is very tender, with Sophie and
Marc as two teenagers that have a very romantic night under the stars. They
don’t meet again until Sophie, now a
journalist, goes to prison to interview an inmate who is no other than Marc, although she does not recognize him
at first. He wants to get away from prison in order to help his sister, who has
disappeared with her baby.
Both Marc and Sophie are quite complex
characters. None of their childhoods have been easy –especially, not Marc’s.
Sophie has got a job she loves, and she has a lot of emotional support from her
friends. Marc was in the army, fighting in Afghanistan and then he worked for the
DEA, but he ended up in jail for killing another federal agent. It is difficult
to connect with a hero convicted of murder. And this is truer when the first
thing you see is him threatening Sophie’s life. But I think you accept it
because you know that he is not willing to carry out his threat.
Nevertheless, a criminal hero is usually difficult
to accept. So you are the entire book telling yourself that ‘this cannot be
true’, ‘something must be wrong’, this is a romance novel so ‘he cannot be a
bad gay’, ‘there was a mistake’ or ‘surely there was a good reason for that
person to die’.
Marc’s sister has disappeared. Her life is in
danger. Marc wants to find out where she is in order to protect her. Or, if he
cannot achieve that, at least he wants to know who wants to kill her, and that
way perhaps he can stop the bad guys. It will not be easy and very difficult if
he’s alone, so in the end, perhaps he will need Sophie’s help. This, of course,
means more danger for both of them.
The sexual tension between the main characters is
superb. And when they have sex, it’s described in very detailed and explicit
scenes. These moments are not always required by the plot, but who cares, they
are really hot! This is of Pamela Clare’s strong points as a writer, isn't it?
The romantic - emotional part was a little bit
more difficult for me to understand. I was quite confused and not very sure
about their exact feelings when they were young or in which moment the fall in
love. The circumstances were so difficult and out of the ordinary that they made
me wonder whether they would be able to have a good relationship in the future
in a common, day-to-day situation.
The suspense is very accomplished. It’s one of
those books that pass the pick up/put down test with flying colours. A fast
reading that I read in just one day. I couldn’t stop reading it. I needed to know what was going to happen
next.
A very good thing about this book is how it
describes the prison world. You see it from the perspective of an inmate, and
it makes you think about things like human dignity, regardless of the crimes one
could have committed. It makes you wonder, for instance, if female prisoners
receive a good medical care. It is obvious that Pamela Clare knows what she’s
talking about, that she has researched these issues, as she was a columnist and
investigative reporter.
And the landscape is great. The Rocky
mountains, a lot of snow, crystal clear skies, I loved it!
It’s not a perfect suspense novel. In the end,
the plot was not too complex. At least if you've read enough suspense novels,
romantic or not, you more or less have an idea of what happened in the past and
who is the culprit. I always want surprising plot twists or unexpected
revelations.
The end and particularly the epilogue, sounded awfully
cheesy for my taste, with all that family happiness and many children here and
there. And all that brotherly love? I really didn’t buy it. None of my brothers
would be half so supportive and protective.
Another thing I was not very comfortable with
was the fact that there were many secondary characters that had really nothing
to do with the main plot. It was clear they were there just because they are
the main characters of other I-Team books.
But those were very little and personal issues,
because this was a great book that I enjoyed a lot. And if I cannot go into
detail about more things about it it’s because it’s a suspense novel and I
don’t want to reveal much of the plot.
Love this book! Ya me gustaría a mí poder hacer una crítica como la tuya en inglés, y leer en inglés, of course. En este caso "Espósame" me gustó mucho. Tiene sus fallitos como casi todos, pero es de los que devoras hasta el final. Los dos primeros de la serie también están muy bien. Un saludo
ResponderEliminarGracias por tu comentario. Lo del inglés es sólo cosa de ponerse a ello. Si me viera reducida a escoger entre lo que traducen en España, me perdería al menos la mitad de mis lecturas.
EliminarEs verdad que Espósame es una novela que se lee de un tirón, y si te gusta el suspense romántico, como me ocurre a mi, no hay novelas que sean mucho mejores. Y, a pesar del título, aunque es hot, queda lejos de la erótica.