Book Review: Taking the Heat

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Taking the Heat     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Brenda Novak
Class/Genre:   Romance   Mystery   Romantic Suspense
Harlequin, Feb 2003, $6.50, 384 pp.

Gabrielle Hadley relocates with her baby Allie to Florence, Arizona to start work as a prison guard at the state facility. She also hopes to find closure by meeting her biological mother who lives nearby and left her for adoption when Gabrielle was an infant.

At the prison, Gabrielle intercedes in a fight between convicted wife killer Randall Tucker and four other convicts that was sanctioned by her superior. Her whistleblowing to the warden leads to Randall’s transfer to the Alta Vista facility and the ostracizing of Gabrielle. Guard Eckland and Gabrielle escort Tucker, but the car crashes. Gabrielle’s actions enable Tucker to escape into the desert. She follows. As he tries to find evidence that he never killed his wife so he can regain custody of their son, he receives help from Gabrielle. Soon they fall in love, but the state wants him behind bars and will do whatever it takes to insure that occurs rather quickly.

This novel is Richard Kimble inside a romance. The story line is very exciting though readers will doubt that a prisoner with a broken hand even caused by the actions of the guards would not receive medical treatment. Still, fans will relish the non-stop action as Randall aided by a person who should be his enemy not his beloved struggles to prove the state convicted the wrong person. Brenda Novak provides a wonderful romantic Fugitive.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner