Sandra Brown knows how to write a novel of suspense. She has been doing it for years to much success and she continues this streak with her latest book Lethal. The only trouble with Brown's books is they run on for just a little bit too long. Her latest one is 480 pages long and she could have easily cut a hundred of those pages out. Still, that is not to say this isn't a good read, it is. It is just a little bit excessive.
The focus of the story is Honor Gillette, a widow living in the back water area of Louisiana. One morning her four year old daughter Emily comes and tells her there is a sick man in their yard. Honor looks out the window and does see a man lying in their yard so she rushes out to see what she can do. Well the man is wounded but not badly, and his intention is to force himself into Honor's house.
The man is named Lee Coburn and Honor quickly realizes he is the one named as the murderer of seven people at a warehouse the night before. He seems to think Honor has something that belongs to her late husband Eddie that Coburn needs. He tears the house apart looking for it, all the while holding Honor and her daughter hostage.
That is the kick-off to the story and it is a good one. Brown doesn't dilly dally in getting her story started. She jumps right in and drags her readers along with her. In a short time she reveals that no one in Honor's world is really who they seem to be. There are ulterior motives everywhere she turns and those she thought would die to protect her are willing to kill to get information from her.
Brown brings her characters to life on the pages and makes them people with whom you can relate. She creates quite a few plot twists that take the readers by surprise but are logical in the windings of the plot. You are never on sure footing in this story.
Again the book is a little long in its telling but it is complete. It is much better to have a story that gives you too much information than one that gives you too little. Brown could never be accused of giving too little.
Lethal is published by Grand Central Publishing. It contains 480 pages and sells for $26.99.
Jackie K. Cooper