TBR Challenge: ‘THE PREY’, by Allison Brennan

The topic of this month is Paranormal or Romantic Suspense

Published: 2005

Genre: romantic suspense

My Rating: 3 stars

Part of a Series: Predator #1

In October the topic is a novel either Paranormal or Romantic suspense. Paranormal is not my thing, so I looked for anything suspenseful. I did not find it on my kindle. But then I remembered this book that I bought on paper and in a Spanish translation.

Why did I buy it? I bought it with other books with a reduced price. I saw that this book was number 979 when RomanceNovels.Me chose the best 1000 romance novels. And in Romance Readers at Heart was a Reviewers’ Top Pick in 2006. So it could be an interesting book, I thought.

The plot in itself is something we have all seen many times. A woman that is threatened by a killer. She needs protection. She got it in a very sexy form. Her bodyguard falls for her and the feeling is reciprocated.

What makes this book a little bit different is that the killer is doing something really awful. Rowan Smith worked for the FBI, and now she writes suspense novels. This assassin does in real-life what she has imagined in her books.

She’s got her secrets. Something happened when she was a kid, and it looks like the killer knows her very well. The past, that she thought was forgotten, has come to haunt her. Even if she refuses to acknowledge it. Two men go to her house to protect her: first Michael and then his brother John. You have certain doubts about who is the hero. But they are solved nearly in the first scene with John. He makes her feel ‘something’ whereas his brother makes her a little bit nervous because he likes her and she sees him just as a friend or a brother.

The first part of the book was a little bit slow. And it took me a couple of days to enter into the story. The translation was not a very good one and that could be the reason why I felt disconnected.

On the other hand, Rowan is not a very sympathetic heroine. It’s difficult to warm up to her. She’s always with her Glock and points it to anyone, even her bodyguards. Just for fun by the look of it. Something really stupid, if you want to know my opinion.

In certain moments, as I was disconnected to the story, it reminded me of a TV movie, something not good enough to be brought to the silver screen. Trite dialogues, lame performances, anticipated twists and turns.

But the second part was more intriguing and there was a point when I just couldn’t stop reading until the end, just to know what happened next.

So in the end, it was quite an interesting book, with enough romance and suspense to have a good time with it. But it is not going to rock your word, certainly.

When I discovered that this was the author’s first novel, I was surprised. It’s certainly a great achievement.

I’m not sure if I’m going to read the next two books of the series. If I find them in a reasonable price, I think I will give Brennan’s work another chance.