Rage in the Page: usually I identify with the heroine, but in this case, not so much

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

usually I identify with the heroine, but in this case, not so much

Title: The Hunt
By: Allison Brennan

Miranda was kidnapped as a college student, was tortured and raped, and somehow escaped the killer by falling into a river. He likes to torment his victims by telling them to run (after several days of the torture) and then he actually hunts them, like deer. He does this every few years, and Miranda’s the only one to ever get away. She, of course, decided to join the FBI so she could bring the bastard down, but was thwarted by her former lover, Quinn, an FBI agent who worked on her case, who thought she was to emotionally tied to the Hunter. Therefore, she remains in her small Montana town, acting as the local search-and-rescue guide and leads the hunts for the girls (more realistically, their bodies) each time the killer strikes.

The authorities, including the sheriff, a rebound boyfriend who didn’t work out because she’s still in love with Quinn, obviously bring back her former lover several years later, and they work together to bring in the killer. Which they do. And he and Miranda live happily ever after – or as happily as one could expect for people brought together by torture, rape, and murder. Oh, and the killer is a weirdo falcon-watcher who had an incestuous relationship first with his mother, and then later with his sister, who also happens to be married to the local judge.

Labels: romantic "suspense", trashy romance, western