Shannon C.’s review of Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare
Contemporary romantic suspense released by Berkley 1 Apr 08
We’ve been featuring this book a lot lately here on TGTBTU, with our own Gwen and Alicia giving the book A grades. Then, of course, Ms Clare has stopped by to give us all her real life prison experience. But I hesitated for a long time before deciding to read this book, because Romantic Suspense is one of those genres that I am really iffy about. It can either be really really good, with compelling characters who are caught in hopeless situations where you wonder how in the world they can possibly find a HEA, or it can be really really horrible, with dumb shrieky heroines paired with blandly tough cop types who always do stupid things like go back to their houses alone while a killer lies in wait.
Luckily for me, Unlawful Contact falls squarely into this former category. Reading it is a visceral experience. I was drawn in from the beginning, mesmerized by a tale of old love reunited, the experiences of a man condemned by the law and a woman who knows he is a danger to her but loves him anyway.
I won’t summarize the plot here, because other reviewers have done that already. I will say that the pacing is wonderful. Had it been possible, I would have stayed up all night reading and not regretted a moment of it, because the book is that good.
As I mentioned before, the two leads are compelling. I didn’t know if Ms Clare could make me like a guy who was sentenced to life in prison, but Marc has good reasons for doing the things that he does, and his tenderness and love for Sophie shine through right away. Sophie, herself, is a great character. She reacts in ways that feel true to life, and she is passionate about the people that she cares for. What I particularly liked about her was the fact that when she did things that weren’t very smart–buying condoms and birth control at one point when she is going into hiding with Marc–they weren’t catastrophically stupid, and when she realized her mistakes, Marc is there to reassure her that anyone else could have made them.
The villains in this book are my favorite kind—the kind of villains that honestly do pose a threat to our hero and heroine and have good reasons for doing so. I spotted the major villain early on, but that’s simply because it couldn’t really have been anyone else, and just because I realized who said villain was didn’t mitigate the fact that he was a real threat to the protagonists.
I also have to agree with Gwen. I very much liked the ending, which was both satisfying and realistic. I was afraid it would be neither. I am so glad I was wrong.
I didn’t realize this was part of a series [Ed.: Loosely related set of characters called the I-Team]. If the rest of the books in this series are this good, I will definitely have my faith in good romantic suspense restored.
Grade: A
Taken hostage by a convicted murderer while reporting at a prison, Sophie Alton has no idea that the man holding the gun to her head is the bad boy who was her first love in high school. Condemned to life without parole, Marc Hunter finds himself with no choice but to break out of prison after his younger sister disappears with her baby.
Though he regrets what he has to put Sophie through, he can’t let anything get in the way of his stopping the corrupt officials who are set on destroying what’s left of his family. But being near Sophie rekindles memories for both of them. As the passion between them heats up, so does the conspiracy to put both of them in their graves.
