"Wonderful romantic fugitive"
Gabrielle Hadley relocates with her baby Allie to Florence,
Arizona to start work as a prison guard at the state
facility. She also hopes to find closure by meeting her
biological mother who lives nearby and left her for
adoption when Gabrielle was an infant. At the prison, Gabrielle intercedes in a fight between
convicted wife killer Randall Tucker and four other
convicts that was sanctioned by her superior. Her
whistleblowing to the warden leads to Randall's transfer to
the Alta Vista facility and the ostracizing of Gabrielle.
Guard Eckland and Gabrielle escort Tucker, but the car
crashes. Gabrielle's actions enable Tucker to escape into
the desert. She follows. As he tries to find evidence
that he never killed his wife so he can regain custody of
their son, he receives help from Gabrielle. Soon they fall
in love, but the state wants him behind bars and will do
whatever it takes to insure that occurs rather quickly. This novel is Richard Kimble inside a romance. The story
line is very exciting though readers will doubt that a
prisoner with a broken hand even caused by the actions of
the guards would not receive medical treatment. Still,
fans will relish the non-stop action as Randall aided by a
person who should be his enemy not his beloved struggles to
prove the state convicted the wrong person. Brenda Novak
provides a wonderful romantic fugitive. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 26, 2003
Taking the Heat, where the captor becomes the
captive. . .
Twenty-eight-year-old divorcee Gabrielle Hadley
wants
nothing more than to gain some closure on her past and
establish a productive life for her and her baby daughter.
But when she witnesses a brutal beating at the prison
where she works, spurred on by her superior officer and
fellow guards, her conscience demands she step in. And
that's when she gets to know a man who is far from the
murderer others claim him to be.
SummaryThe small town of Florence, Arizona, is known for one
thing—its prison. Gabrielle Hadley is in Florence
for personal reasons though, she's seeking the mother who
abandoned her more than two decades ago. In order to
support herself and her two-year-old daughter, Gabrielle
is working as a prison guard—just about the only job
available in this bleak desert town.
Randall Tucker is a prisoner at Florence, convicted of
murdering his wife. He has one goal: to survive until he
can prove his innocence—and reclaim his seven-year-
old son, Landon, now living in foster care.
In the prison's atmosphere of tension and corruption,
Gabrielle discovers that Randal Tucker is far from the
murderer he's said to be. When he escapes during a prison
transfer, she follows him into the unforgiving desert. To
protect her job, her own integrity—or him? But the
guard becomes the prisoner's captive...and more. It's a
relationship that's not supposed to exist and yet it might
save them both.
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