"Steamy thiller"

When surgeon Dr. Rennie Newton is picked for jury duty she does not try to get out of it because she believes it is her civic duty to serve. She ends up being the jury foreman hearing the case of Ricky Roy Lozada, a high priced free-lance hit man on trial for murder. Even though Rennie believes Lozada is guilty, there is not enough evidence, in her opinion, to convict him and she convinces the other jury members to acquit.

During the trial Lozada looks at Rennie constantly, so much so that the Fort Worth police thinks the two of them have some kind of relationship. They set up a surveillance on her house and one of the team members is Wick Threadgill, the brother of the police officer Lozada killed. During the course of the observation, Wick gets to know Rennie (think Stakeout) and concludes she is not guilty of collaboration with the killer. Both are attracted to the other, but they have personal demons to overcome and Lozada to put away before they can try for a happily ever after ending.

One of Sandra Brown's trademarks is that she can draw out the suspense in her romantic thrillers until the reader is eagerly turning the pages to find out what happens next. Both protagonists are broken personally but the way they heal each other is a beautiful thing to behold. THE CRUSH is a chilling work about obsession taken to the ultimate limit.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 5, 2002