Friction

- By Sandra Brown

Crawford Hunt is a Texas Ranger, who is recovering from his grief over losing his wife in a car accident. In the aftermath of loss, he takes up drinking, loses perspective of life, relinquishes custody of his daughter to his in-laws. But, one day, he wakes up determined to take control of his life and to get his daughter back. But his in-laws, particularly Joe Gilroy, his father-in-law, is fighting tooth and nail against him, for giving up custody of his granddaughter. His fate resides in the hands of Judge Holly Spencer, who though can sense the obvious love between Crawford and his daughter, is still wary of his past. During his custody hearing, a masked gunman walks in shooting randomly and kills the bailiff. Crawford, as was his natural instinct, protects the judge from a bullet and kicks the gunman on the knee. In the scramble that follows, the gunman escapes the courtroom, with a pursuing Crawford Hunt. The gunman, seemingly escapes to the roof and Crawford Hunt, tries to convince him to put his weapon down, which he does not listen to. The gunman shoots and misses the officer following Crawford hunt and is taken down by a SWAT team sniper. With his thoughtless act of running behind an armed gunman, without back up, seems to have put a black mark on his custody hearing and the odds of him getting his daughter back dwindle down.

Holly Spencer is an ambitious judge, temporarily presiding bench and is currently campaigning for judgeship. Post shooting incident, recovering from the jitters of shock and disbelief and confronting her fears in her own home, she is visited by Crawford, who questions her about the shooter and probes about his case. In the emotional outburst that follows, Holly is left sobbing and is comforted by Crawford, which eventually leads to a romantic interlude that leaves both of them in a compromising state. When the police investigation leads to the fact that the gunman shooting in the courtroom and the gunman shot by the SWAT team are different and that the shooter is still at large, there are bigger things at stake than just their feelings for each other.

The story that follows is a thrilling page turner of suspense, hot headedness mixed with jealousy and a bit of pettiness. The bits and pieces of the past thrown for each character, gives a bit of depth to each character. The story progresses at a break neck pace. Though the perpetrator shows his hand early, it’s the reason behind the shooting that keeps the novel moving forward. Thrown in between are few scenes between Crawford Hunt and his daughter Georgia, which were sweet and realistic, keeping an undercurrent of emotion running throughout the novel.

What I did not like in the novel are the romantic interludes between Crawford hunt and Holly, though they were well written, just did not seem to bind the story well enough. If I have to be picky, Joe Gilroy’s emotional anger and his actions to win the custody hearing were petty and irritating. The police offer leading the investigation of the shooter needed a regular boot up his ass, but then, that did not happen quite regularly enough. And my biggest disappointment was that the ending was a bit too far-fetched and certainly not to my liking.

However, despite the ending, the book is still worth a read for all suspense lovers. There is thrill, there is mystery and there are characters that steal your heart. So, give it a go!!

Happy Reading Fella readers!!