She Can Run

Eliabeth Baker is hiding from her politician husband who wants to kill her. She is too dangerous to him alive and she is running for her life. She is working as a caretaker in a remote area of Pennsylvania while she struggles to protect herself and her 2 terrified children.

Her employer Jack is an ex-cop who knows something is very wrong and tries to gain her trust - a task which seems impossible at times. He does make some progress with her children though. The scenes between 7 year old Katie and Jack are particularly touching in a book which goes way over to the dark side in other places.

The children and Jack are the best parts of the book. Elizabeth's terror comes through from the very first page - as does her love for her children. Ben (12) and Katie are very well written as they begin to learn to relax and trust.

But the danger keeps coming closer from more than one direction and it will keep you reading.

Some of the things that happen are a little over the top but all in all, this book is well worth your time.

"She Can Run" is literally about a woman on the run ... on the run, with two children to care for, a psychic ex-military Uncle who is on her side, and an ex-policeman that pushes all her buttons. Beth accepts a job as a caretaker on a remote Pennsylvania estate, only to arrive just ahead of a storm, to be greeted by a hearse at the front door. The old gentleman who hired her has died, leaving his estate to his wounded ex-cop nephew, who isn't even sure that he wants to live there.

So there she is, using an assumed name, trying to protect herself and her children from her husband, who is trying to kill her before she can make his biggest secret fodder for the media. Now she may have nowhere to go, and if she stays on the estate, she will have to deal with an ex-cop who is more interested in her than she cares for.

The story line is fairly good - wife on the run, violent husband with a secret, injured ex-cop who is all to interested in her, and a serial killer that is targeting small, dark haired women just like her. Then there are the neighbors - single men, one who seems okay, and one who is verbally abusive and way too aggressive.

One downside, for me, anyway, was that there are far too many sex scenes, and the general presentation of sex throughout the book is too graphic. The other downside was that it was a bit too easy to figure out what the nature of the husband's secret, and who the serial killer actually is.

Other than that, I found the book interesting in that it combines mystery, romance and a touch of the paranormal. A nice read to just sit back and relax.

I am a huge fan of romantic suspense, which may have been my problem with this book. It's basically a mash-up of tropes I've seen dozens, if not hundreds of times before, and not particularly well done. The heroine, Beth, is on the run from her abusive husband. OK, it's predictable, but I could live with it if it were realistic. But it's not. Because before marrying the abusive man, Beth apparently had a stable, loving relationship with her first husband. She doesn't have self-esteem problems, so there's no real reason you can imagine her living with this guy.

So anyway, when she sees him doing something (I didn't get to what), she runs away with her two kids from her previous marriage. Which she manages to do with no preparation whatsoever. None. In a matter of hours, she disappears so well that her husband, a highly placed politician (yawn, talk about cliches) can't easily find her. She runs to her uncle, who is...ta-da....psychic. He sends her to a guy he knows who owns a horse farm out in the country.

But when she arrives the guy is dead and--coincidence!--the horse farm has passed to his nephew, an injured former cop. And again, the psychology is wrong. The former cop can't figure out that a woman with two kids, all of whom shy away from men, has been abused? He must have been the worst cop ever.

And apparently having an abusive ex-husband on the hunt isn't enough to maintain tension in the book because Leigh feels compelled to throw a serial killer into the mix. And, of course, he decides on Beth as his next victim.

I gave up on this book when the politician husband decides that he wants to emulate the serial killer once he finds Beth. Sorry. No matter what a bully and scumbag he is, nothing we've seen from him before that has indicated that he was a psychopath. I realize it was supposed to make me feel more fear for Beth, but I just thought it was stupid.

The other reviewers have covered the plot numerous times, so I won't go into it too much. This romantic thriller has it all, it has your mysterious, attactive heroine on the run with her two children, the ex-cop who is bored with life after his on duty injury and a slew of other suspious characters.

Overall, this book was a fun and fast read. There were plenty of surprises to keep you reading, yet there were some predictable things, ie, the two main characters falling for each other. Though, this book I really enjoyed and it kept me reading until the end. If you enjoy a romantic thriller than you won't be disappointed with "She Can Run". I kept going back for more and that's the test of a well written book.

I was hoping for a high quality suspense book. This felt a little like a Harlequin Romance. The main characters could not keep their hands off of each other from the very beginning (of course not)and there were unnecessary sexual references. I am not a prude by any stretch and I have no issue with racy content, but this felt contrived and cheap. The writing wasn't bad, but then I would run up against a reference to a 'thong' or a 'package,' which made the whole thing feel dirty and inconsistent with the rest of the story. I am sure the story has some strong characters and interesting plot twists, but I don't think I will get through this book. I don't like to leave negative reviews, but if I could get my money back on this Kindle book, I would. It wasn't the book I had expected.

I got this one for free and I wish I'd picked a different book with that Kindle voucher. One gets the feeling the author played a game of mystery/romance tropes bingo and threw this story together. The hero, Jack, comes across almost creepy as the serial killer with his constant inner dialog that is preoccupied with how he can have sex with the incredibly perfect, well put together (but underfed and fragile) Beth. While I can buy the Congressman husband being vengeful, I can't see him suddenly deciding to commit murder just because he thinks he can blame it on the serial killer (who coincidently also has set his sights on Beth). There is way too much going on in this book and things that might have made it more believable were given very short shrift...things like actual character development that would make you feel something for the characters aside from eye-rolling impatience. The children and the animals were okay, but the rest of the book is too much of a mish-mash to be at all satisfying.

I also think it's creepy that the author feels like men can think of nothing aside from their ever-tightening groins. I'd laugh if it wasn't so tiresome.

If ever there was a woman who can't catch a break, it would be Elizabeth Baker. Her brother died very young from an accident, her father promptly killed himself, her mother died shortly thereafter from cancer and her husband dies in a car accident. When she finds a second chance at love, he turns out to be a very powerful and twisted psychopath who beats her and ultimately tries to kill her and she flees for her and her children's lives to a remote location where she's to be the caretaker for an elderly gentleman. When she arrives for work, she learns her employer has died from a heart attack and she's at a complete loss at what to do.

Jack O'Malley's uncle has just passed away and left everything to him, including a newly hired caretaker and her two children. As a former cop out of duty due to an injury, he's not sure what to do with her, but his instincts tell him she's in real trouble and he decides to look after her. As Jack interacts with Beth, he finds himself growing more and more attracted to her and he's defenseless against both the vulnerability and strength of her two children. Jack vows that he'll do whatever it takes to protect them, but little does he know that Beth is not just the target of one psychopath, but two.

Beth in this book redefines SOL. The biggest downside is the girl can't catch a break and the threats to her are a little over the top. Regardless, I really enjoyed the supporting characters who are all looking out for her welfare and the romance is well developed. The author throws in some red herrings but it is really obvious who the villains are, but despite all this, the pace was fast, the writing engaging, and the story entertaining, if not wrapped up a little too quickly. It's a nice intro to the romantic suspense genre and definitely better than some of the stuff put out by my favorite veteran writers.

I purchased the Kindle edition for $1, a poor value. This book is full of cliche and the plot is very predictable. I immediately guessed who the killer was, and it seemed so obvious that I wondered if I would be surprised in the end. I wasn't. The paragraphs about the attraction between the main characters were so tedious that I found myself skimming over them. The big reveal about the evil politician husband was ho hum, and none of the characters seemed to have any dimension -- just cardboard cutouts being moved through a weak storyline.

I am amazed by all the five star reviews. I have to wonder if those readers have ever read anything of quality. Different strokes, I guess.

Pat, predictable, and banal. It read like a classic formula romance novel. I have never read anything like this before and it showed up on my Kindle as a recommendation. I didn't have my glasses and what I could read of the sample didn't seem so bad. When one's past purchases includes a collection of Anton Chekhov stories what would inspire this as a recommendation?

Melinda Leigh hits the ball out of the park with this novel. It is the first novel since Tom Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" that I have actually given up sleep so that I could keep reading. It is the first novel that I have finished in just two days and was left wanting more and more and more.

Beth Markham has had to flee an abusive marriage. She has taken her two children and run away. Unfortunately her husband happens to be a Congressman and a powerful one at that. He also doesn't like for anything to be out of his control. And out of his control is what has happened.

Beth has accidentally found out Congressman Baker's secret, and this secret can end his career and would definitely end his eventual run for the White House. He can't have that, so Beth needs to be silenced. But she gets the upper hand at the outbreak and disappears with her two children (from a previous marriage). But the Congressman won't be happy until she is hunted down and dealt with.

Unfortunately dealt with means killed. But the death has to look accidental so that the voters will find more sympathy for the Congressman and he won't be found out to be a murdered as well as other unsavory things.

Beth flees to her uncle James. Uncle James finds her a job as a 'caretaker' for a farm run by his old friend Danny O'Malley. But here is where the rub happens. When Beth shows up to start the job she discovers that her new employer has been dead for two days. Her job obviously has dried up. But O'Malley's nephew, Jack, is now the heir to the Estate and a recently medically disabled police detective.

He immediately knows that there is something going on with Beth and wants to help her, but first he has to get her to trust him. The children are also very scared and he needs to earn their trust as well.

Well, the rest of the story revolves around O'Mally and Markham falling in love, learning to trust each other and solving Beth's problems so that she doesn't have to be on the run any longer.

Oh, and on top of this there is a 'serial' killer running loose in the neighborhood and his victims of choice happen to look just like Beth.

The novel is well written, plenty of action, plenty of intrigue and the characters are very well developed. A good portion of the action of the novel is the building of relationships between the characters. The growing relational tension bethween Beth and Jack is very well developed and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

This is a great novel and one that you will not be disappointed in owning.

Enjoy!