Customer Reviews

Walking After Midnight

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Heroine:   voluptuous, tall

Thirty-six-year-old lush and lovely Summer McAffee, lingerie model/cleaning woman, has had the unfortunate happenstance of pulling the graveyard shift at work. Literally. Her cleaning business "Daisy Fresh" has been hired for a job at Harmon Brothers' Funeral Home, and thanks to some no-show employees Summer has to fill in and tackle the assignment all on her own.

The eerie surroundings have had Summer completely spooked all night and she is utterly grateful to be on her way out the door, when she suddenly realizes that she has forgotten to turn the light off in the embalming room. The young woman returns to correct her error, her jitteriness filling her with self-doubt as she peers into the chamber. {Was that naked corpse in the room earlier? Surely it wasn't. When did it get here? Did it just move?!} Stepping in for closer inspection Summer is shocked to find her wrist held captive by the "corpse", and is soon dragged from the premises by this reputed cop-gone-bad and taken on a hair-raising, bullet-laden chase through the countryside. Can Summer catch her breath and gather her wits fast enough to discover which side of the law her mesmerizing captor is really on?

What worked for me:

I found myself enjoying the suspenseful twists and turns in the plot, particularly the very end of the book when all the loose threads are tied into a pretty little bow. (This story would make a great Lifetime Movie Network feature.)

I really felt for Summer because of her history of diet abuse. She was once an underweight model, and later was a bulimic, emotionally-abused housewife. Still, I'm glad that the book didn't dwell overmuch on her past eating troubles, but rather focused on who she is now: heavier, healthier, and proud of who she is. And I just loved the way Summer's curviness was always described in glowing terms! :^)

What didn't work for me:    

I'm not generally a fan of Stockholm syndrome stories, although I can understand how Summer came to feel sympathetic with her captor in this particular case, especially once we get to know more about him and the circumstances that drove him to do what he did.  

The concept of the ghost was interesting. In fact, since the book opened with a scene featuring her, I was somewhat surprised and disappointed that she didn't appear more often in the story.

Overall:

"Walking After Midnight" was a fun read, and fans of mystery/suspense/thrillers should enjoy it. Be forewarned that it does contain some coarse language and steamy sex scenes.

Karen Robards has not disappointed me yet! Who would think that you'd choose a book which begins with a cleaning woman in a funeral parlor in the middle of the night, for a romance escape? Purchasing the book, on the previous escapes provided by Ms. Robards was yet another great choice! The book has suspense, true 'cop-loyalty', humor (as always), twists and love. A bit hokey at times, but, so is life sometimes. Not as riveting as "Hunter's Moon", but still a good read! Thanks Karen for turning them out, and allowing me to escape each evening after a LONG work day. ... Also, love how you always incorporate your husband and sons in your dedication. What else is more important? Wonderful ... like your books! Your hard work away from them is appreciated by me. My sanity restored by authors, like yourself is greatly appreciated by MY family! Thanks!

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

Summer is a divorced young woman, formerly a model, who now cleans toilets for a living to make ends meet. Her biggest contract is with a local funeral parlor. When her cleaning crew bails on her, she is left to do the job herself. As if a funeral parlor in the middle of the night isn't creepy enough, finding a dead man who isn't really dead, and who takes her prisoner, is a terrifying experience for the young woman.

Steve is local hero, fallen on hard times as a result of one bad decision that tears his life apart. Now he is on the run from drug lords, dirty cops, and then some when he is attacked and left for dead in the funeral home. Believing Summer to be an accomplice to his assailants, he takes her hostage to make his escape. On the run from more bad guys than one can count, they take to the woods where staying hidden until the case is solved can mean their lives. Neither Summer nor Steve expect that in the middle of it all, a passion would blossom between them that they are unable to fight.

Walking After Midnight is a dark tale, filled with violence and conflict, but tempered with softer moments. Muffy the dog steals the show on more than one occasion, as does a certain ghost who pops up frequently. The plot is strong, with multiple threads seemingly unrelated that when woven together provide a surprisingly complex story. The romance however, doesn't quite live up to the expectations of readers. There is not enough development of Steve and Summer's relationship to make their new love feel believable, when all they do is whine and snipe at each other

This story should be a compelling romantic suspense to keep readers on the edges of their seats, but never quite delivers. Perhaps that is due to the medium here in which it was presented, and the narrator of the tale. Ms. Williams' performance left something to be desired. Summer's role is much better portrayed, and the narrative portions are very well done. However, the narrator seemed unable to master the masculine portions of the dialogue, making Steve sound rude and domineering, and completely full of himself.

However, loyal fans of Karen Robards will be sure to snap this book up and enjoy adding it to their collection.

? Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2006. All rights reserved.

I loved this book. It was funny. Actually made me laugh outloud. Along with the suspence. Had me on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. Love how she made the good guy out to be the bad guy in the beginning. Had me wondering about him. Just unbelieveable. I will most definitely try to read all of her books. She is a great author one of the best on my books. This book is definitely a must read.

I'm becoming a huge Karen Robards fan after a friend at work suggested her to me. I've read all our local libriary has to offer and it's time to start ordering the rest. Walking After Midnight is my favorite so far. It's got everything a good romance novel should. The relationship between Steve and Summer was so cool. Really a great action adventure too. I couldn't put it down. Keep em coming Karen. Your books are great stress relievers.

The premise was great and the book started out good, but-----Neither of the main characters were particularly likeable. He was crude & obnoxious and she did some pretty stupid things. And if she had called him Frankenstein one more time I would have screamed! However, this doesn't stop me from being a Robards fan, you can't hit a home run every time!

I must admit I am a big time Karen Robards fan and I have enjoyed almost all of her novels. Her stories are contemporary romances involving a strong heroine, and an equally strong hero usually thrown together with impossible odds. What makes Ms. Robards' stories stand out, is the quality of her characters. Not every heroine has to be model beautiful, nor does every hero have to be 6'4", dark and handsome. Her characters tend to be every day people. This story is no different.

Summer is a former lingerie model who has hit hard times. She is in her late 30s, and her rich husband has left her. Since that time she has been struggling to start her life over and to begin a business. Sunny is the owner of Daisy French cleaning services. One night her employees do not show up, and Summer has to clean the mortuary of one of her biggest clients. While cleaning, she sees a naked body on the embalming today. At one point she thinks she sees the body move, but she is not sure. She is afraid of leaving someone alive just lying on a table and decides to check. At that instant, Summer meets Steve, a man who has been badly beaten and left for dead. Steve wakes up beaten and naked and thinking Summer is working with the guys trying to kill him, he grabs her and forces her to go on the run with him.

The story picks up from there, with Summer, Steve and Summer's mom's dog "Muffy" in tow. They must stay on the run and try to stay one step ahead of Steve's would be killers. I would highly recommend this story.

Imagine feeling the same intense action as you would looking at SPEED for the first time...now bring that intensity down a level and you have this book. Wonderful read and I enjoyed the character development between the hero and heroine. The plot was believable, but after awhile I wondered if the heroes were just lucky or read the storyline ahead of time. All in all a great read!

Karen Robards was recommended highly and I have read two of her books. I am not sure whether to give her another chance. On the positive side I did read the whole book and cared about the main characters. The plot moves quickly. I liked the descriptions of the outdoors in the woods and mountains of Tennessee. The dog is great.

On the negative side I found myself annoyed with the writing style, possibly because there were too many times when we were told rather than shown how the characters felt. I had trouble believing in the romance, at least in the depth of the romance, developing so quickly, even given the incredible stress that they were undergoing together. The motivations for people being in/continuing relationships often made no sense to me.

Probably the predictability of bad guys appearing around every corner also got to me, but then I am not really a big fan of this type of suspense novel. Finally it bugged me that she had to put a homophobic twist regarding the main bad guy in at the end.

This book is great for folks who really like a sort of light hearted romantic suspense novel featuring a woman-next -door heroine, a semi-hunk alpha male type and a dog with a lot of character. I'm just not quite there.

Cleaning Hanson Funeral Home has Summer McAfee unnerved. She is in a hurry to finish the job (substituting for two employees who called in sick), but she seems to keep leaving lights on. She hates to return to the embalming room to turn the lights off, and she tries to avoid looking at two corpses left there, particularly when she doesn't remember seeing one of them while she had been cleaning... Suddenly that corpse (with a horribly battered face) moves; she comes closer to check for a pulse, when the corpse grabs her. Taking a van from the funeral home, she is forced to drive as they speed away into the night, chased by pursuers with guns trained on them.

They stow the van and "borrow" a car, as her captor (Steve Calhoun, former cop - a.k.a. Frankenstein) explains that they are both in danger. She feels in more danger from him until she meets the sources of his concern; thugs he discovered to be bad cops, involved in high-stakes drug trafficking. As they try to stay ahead of their predators, Summer and Steve find themselves with little recourse than to rely on one another, which eventually leads to more than mere survival, as secrets from his past appear and threaten their present and future.

This book was my first exposure to Karen Robards. Although it contains all the traditional elements of a romance (which is not something I typically enjoy), I found "Walking After Midnight" to be fast-paced, with enough twists to satisfy mystery fans. It is not a heavy or deep story, and the resolution is predictable. Fortunately, it is short in duration, or it would get tedious, in terms of the stereotypical characters: Steve's tough-guy brawn meets Summer's southern-style tenderness (although Robards kindly does not draw the former lingerie model-turned-cleaning lady as an ditz). Even though we've seen these characters before, they were likeable; I particularly enjoyed that they were more mature and realistic, with Summer noting that she'd put on some pounds since she stopped modeling! The ending you want is the one you get and will leave you smiling.