""Men in Black on the SWAT Team""

It is almost the end of the school year and Jennifer is with her students in the classroom. Ex-janitor, Howard, barges in with a rifle and has Mrs. Whitmire, a school board member, by the hair. He is very angry and upset because he has gotten laid off work. Jennifer had tried to help the mentally retarded man but the local school board would not change their position. Howard begs Jennifer to help him not realizing that it is too late and he is in serious trouble. Jennifer protects her students and tries to talk reason to the distraught Howard.

Beck Winters is called in as the Negotiator for the local SWAT team. He tries to talk to Howard but Howard refuses to talk -- he only wants his job back and his pickup truck. When Howard is shot, Jennifer is angry at Beck. The event brings up an episode, which happened in Jennifer's childhood that she has never resolved. She and Beck are very attracted to each other but Jennifer wants a nine to five man with a boring and comfortable job. Can love resolve the differences between the two?

Kay David is a new (to me) author and I am really impressed with her writing. I am anxious to read the next two books in the series, namely, THE COMMANDER and THE LISTENER. If they are half as good as THE NEGOTIATOR, I will be one happy reader. The hero has a tough job but he is a sensitive and caring fellow, in other words, a wonderful romance hero. The secondary characters are very well written as well. Jennifer's mother, an Alzheimer's patient, surprisingly enough is a remarkable secondary character. Jennifer discovers that she receives as much from her mother as she is giving. Her friend, Wanda, is always ready with excellent advice. I have a feeling that I am going to hate to see this three-book series end. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Marilyn Heyman
Posted August 29, 2001

Summary

This time the good guys wear black...

For the Negotiator, talk is never cheap. In a moment, he has to make connections with the crazed and the desperate and the lost. He has to promise, cajole, and placate. Success is a rush. Failure would cripple a lesser man. Above all, he must stay detached.

BECK WINTERS IS THE NEGOTIATOR.

Despite everything he's seen and done, Beck's still sane, but only because he never allows himself to get close to anyone. Then during a hostage incident, he hears a voice over the phone line, Jennifer Barclays' voice.

Jennifer's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her plan has always been to avoid excitement. But that was before she was taken hostage...before the incident ended badly...and before she met the Negotiator.

THE GUARDIANS... This time the good guys wear black.