Customer Reviews

The Lawman Who Loved Her (Harlequin Intrigue, No. 620)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mallory Kane has crafted a delectable tale of murder, mayhem and characters who are real and tender. The kind of people you want to see succeed. Cody and Dana have less than a stellar past, but the one thing they can't deny is the heat and love they share. A superlative example of second chance romance. Not to mention it has a villain who is truly evil and a dynamic partner who sweeps in and is every bit as captivating as Cody. All I can say is, I am dying to see a book from Dev Gautier! Mallroy Kane is an exceptional talent.

I loved this book from almost the first page. The seemingly impossible relationship between Cody & Dana was torture and joy rolled into one. I had such sympathy for each at different times. Cody is a cop with a VERY dry & at times sick sense of humor. He's a very dreamy hero, though. He & Dana are divorced. She works at an attorney's office. This story had me on the edge of my seat at times, hardly able to breathe because of the fear and suspense in this story. Knowing who the villain is from the start had its advantages, like knowing that one of the characters you like isn't the bad guy. The beginning, when Cody is hurt and worried, and when Dana sees him, it's very exciting & terrifying at the same time. When I learned why they had divorced, I was in tears because I was so upset. Same when Dana is kidnapped and forced to watch her house blow up. The ending was such a great finale, I didn't want it to end at all! I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about this book! I'd never heard of Mallory Kane before this, but I'm glad I happened to glance at it in the store. I could read it over & over again and never get board. This is probably my favorite book. Get prepared to pull an all-nighter if you're going to start this book in the afternoon. This is one book I recommend HIGHLY!! ENJOY!

New Orleans police detective Cody Maxwell knows that paroled convict Gerard Fontenot is coming to kill him for being the catalyst that sent him to prison for four years. Cody Knows Gerard is brilliant, clever, sneaky, and a psychopath. His enemy has slowly increased the pressure until the latest trap leads to Cody taking a bullet in his shoulder at his own apartment.

Instead of going to a hospital, Cody rushes to the Metairie home of his beloved ex-wife Dana Maxwell to insure her safety. Cody knows that Gerard plans to complete his vengeance by harming and ultimately killing Dana. As Gerard's plan slowly simmers into focus, the love Cody and Dana feel for each other surfaces, but his dangerous lifestyle sent her running once and now it is even more dangerous.

Mallory Kane has written an exciting romantic suspense novel with the emphasis on the action. The romantic subplot-adds great dimension to the lead couple. The story line is fast-paced and never slows down due to the ingenious Gerard, a powerful villain in a Lex Luther (first series) sort of way. Though his release from prison for good behavior, etc. seems stretched (after all he shot a cop) fans wanting plenty of entertainment filled with conflict (both life threatening and sexual) will relish Ms. Kane's powerful tale. Hopefully there will be more tales involving the heroic hunk's law enforcement peers in the future.

Harriet Klausner

I really wanted to give this one a three and a half so I bumped it up to four. I liked the plot of this book and the writing. Cody was a hero to die for. Macho but just a nice guy too that had always loved Dana and would do anything for her. It was heartbreaking.

Dana was completely rigid and obsessive; everything had to be just so and scheduled to the minute. Cody was a relaxed guy and didn't write everything down and she hated that.

Cody was shot, had brain surgery, went home, she left him; he got divorce papers in the mail, her attorney calls and tells him to communicate with Dana through the attorney.

Yet according to Dana everything that happened in their marriage, and her life for that matter, was "Cody's fault". She blamed him because he wouldn't quit his job, which he'd had before they married. She blamed him for getting shot, seriously. She had a superior attitude and she never did anything wrong to hear her tell it. She was downright cruel to him.

I just don't understand what the attraction was with these people, other than sex. They were complete opposites. Dana was what my mother would call a witch with a b!

When the diabolical Fontenot is released from jail, he goes after the cop responsible for his imprisonment, Cody Maxwell. He knows he'll achieve the greatest revenge by targeting Cody's ex-wife. His methods are devious and vicious. Only Cody can protect Dana from this madman. But who can protect Dana's heart from the man she has always loved? Reunited by danger, the wedge that had driven them apart, Cody and Dana sizzle. A definite page-turn, southern heat at it's best!

Now what about that... Dev---let's have his story...

Ms. Kane has hit the jackpot with this one! Not only did she keep me on the edge of my seat with her suspenseful plot, I felt I was there in the thick of things. Great plot, great suspense, great romance!

What a guy. He's funny, charming, sexy and totally in love with his wife, okay ex-wife. And he's up against a villain who's delectably scary. The Lawman Who Loved her is a quick read with a lot of suspense and more than enough romance to satisfy everyone.

Okay, Mallory, when do we get to see more of the other sexy guy in this book, Cody's partner Dev?

This fast-paced book of romantic suspense immediately draws the reader. The drama between Dana and Cody (and their accompanying internal conflict) is as strong as their fight with Gerard Fontenot -- a frightening, capable adversary. From the moment we see Fontenot lurking in the alley to the riveting scene where he blows up the cabin, supposedly with Dana inside, the story holds the reader's attention. I highly recommend this book, which is filled with southern flavor and plenty of romance. What a tremendous read!

Mallory Kane makes her Intrigue debut with "The Lawman Who Loved Her." This is a deeply flawed tale that has some decent ideas but doesn't use them to their full potential. Three years ago a vengeful criminal shot Detective Cody Maxwell. Now he's out on parole and terrorizing Cody and his ex-wife Dana. Dana left Cody because his job was too dangerous. He's the only man who can keep her safe, but is his protection worth the risk to her heart?

Although it gets off to a good start, "The Lawman Who Loved Her" has a number of serious problems in both the story and the execution. The premise doesn't stand up to logic. The idea that a criminal who deliberately shot a police officer could get parole after only three years is completely unrealistic. (It could be this bothered me so much because I just saw the recent episode of "Frasier" where the man who shot Frasier's policeman father was denied parole eight years after that shooting, and he was nowhere near the nutcase Fontenot is. It's true: people who shoot cops just don't get off that easy.) Although we see quite a bit of Fontenot, he's too sketchily defined to be truly menacing. Kane tells us only one thing about the crime Cody was pursuing Fontenot for, providing no details for far too long. (Then again, considering what is ultimately revealed about what he is accused of doing, that might not be a bad thing. When Kane did reveal it, I had to put the book down for a few minutes until my eyes stopped rolling. Were we supposed to take this seriously? It's purely silly.) Most of Fontenot's threats on Cody and Dana seem more like childish pranks than anything frightening, making him hard to take seriously as a villain.

Romantic suspense is a difficult genre because the author needs to keep both the romance and suspense high throughout the story. I've been noticing more and more new Intrigue authors who have trouble with this, and Kane is another one. Like "Hers to Remember" and "Alias: Mommy" last year, this is a book where the author fails to balance both elements well. There is long stretch of more than a hundred pages in the middle of the story where nothing suspenseful happens. It's all romance. The characters fight and cry and kiss, and fight and cry and kiss, etc.. I couldn't help thinking how nice it was that the killer was giving them all this time to work out their relationship without interrupting them. A good sense of danger and action is vital to a story like this, where there's no mystery and we know who the bad guy is from the start. Too often the characters seem to forget they're in danger, which makes it easy for the reader to do so too. The killer seems to be taking his time for no reason, other than that the writer wants to focus on the love story now. Most of this story is about 90 percent romance, 10 percent suspense. Then there's an explosion of action, and the balance tips to 75 percent suspense, 25 percent romance. That's not too good.

The characters were also weak. Dana is a difficult "heroine" to like. She's either crying or complaining, and the ultimate revelation about her past is all too predictable. Cody was bland but inoffensive, until he does something late in the plot that makes him look like a complete incompetent. If he's that dumb, he's not someone I would want protecting me.

Two years ago, Jean Barrett wrote an Intrigue called "My Lover's Secret" with many of the same plot elements as this book. It was the story of a woman being targeted for revenge by a recently released killer who murdered his wife. The only man the heroine can turn to is an old love with a background in law enforcement. Together, they must work through all the old hurts that kept them apart. I would recommend that book over this one. The characters are more courageous, and the villain truly is ingenious and very frightening. It's a pageturner, full of danger and passion, with none of the story problems this book has. Kane shows some talent as a writer in "The Lawman Who Loved Her." A stronger story would make better use of it.