Hunted

by Karen Robards

Caroline Wallace is one of New Orleans PD s top hostage negotiators, and she s never failed to get every hostage out alive. But this time, it s different. This time, the hostages include her boss the chief of police and the mayor. And this time, she s trying to negotiate with Reed Ware, a former co-worker who left the force disgraced, under investigation by Internal Affairs, and worst of all, considered to be volatile and extremely dangerous.

As police snipers arrive on the scene and manage to get a clear shot of Reed, Caroline knows she only has a few moments left to persuade the hot-headed, reckless (and extremely handsome) Reed to let the hostages go and turn himself in before anyone gets hurt. When the SWAT team runs out of patience and launches an attack, Reed takes Caroline hostage and manages to escape with her in the chaos. During the escape, Reed reveals to Caroline that he s uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the police department and New Orleans city government, and those involved will stop at nothing to keep him from exposing what he knows including murder.

Now, the normally cool, calm, by-the-book Caroline is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her job and her city and join Reed on the run putting both her life and her heart in jeopardy.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Suspense, Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Contemporary

448 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 10, 2013

About the author

Karen Robards is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of more than fifty books and one novella. She has won multiple awards including six Affaire de Coeur Silver Pen Awards for favorite author.
Karen has been writing since she was very young, and was first published nationally in the December 1973 Reader's Digest. She sold her first romance novel, ISLAND FLAME, when she was 24. It was published by Leisure Books in 1981 and is still in print. After that, she dropped out of law school to pursue her writing career.
Karen was recently described by The Daily Mail as "one of the most reliable thriller....writers in the world."

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

In New Orleans on Christmas Eve, hostage negotiator, Caroline Wallace, is called to the scene when a cop, Detective Reed Ware, takes hostage many of the city's VIPs who are attending a party at a lakefront mansion. Caroline knows Reed from years ago and knows him as a good guy. She can't imagine what has driven him to do this. When Reed escapes from the mansion, he kidnaps Caroline. While they are on the run, Caroline is determined to find out the story behind Reed's actions. She is also still fighting the attraction she has always felt for him.

This was a very enjoyable story and I thought it had an original storyline in making the hero appear to be the villain. There was a lot of action, it was fast-paced, had loads of sexual tension, and held some surprises for me. I liked the setting in New Orleans during the Christmas holiday. It made for a very entertaining read.

[Katrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly, this is my last book I read by this author. I had high hopes for this one because it started out really good. Then it went from mystery to Harlequin romance.

I skipped numerous pages at once after skimming them because it was very repetitive. I mean, at one point I thought the author had made a bet with someone to see how many times she could use the word nipple. I'm still not sure, even after reading it 30 times if Caroline's nipples were hard through the whole book. They were. I think.

I just felt like the author thought I was stupid and couldn't retain what I'd read so she had to repeat it numerous times. Kind of like me now....reiterating how repetitive this book was.

[Jeri Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I found it fast reading and action filled. Sometimes I wonder what people want in a book. Maybe they just don't enjoy anything! I read for fun, entertainment and sometimes for escape. I don't need to analyze every book.

[Cheri · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just okay for me. What it lacked was dialogue. The most dialogue between the characters was in the last few chapters. I was intent on finishing it no matter how much it was irritating the hell out of me. I give it 2 stars just because of the storyline. I do get tired of every cop, FBI, or CIA guy always having a cabin the woods to hide in.....redundant.

[Jackie Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by this author, but it definitely won't be the last. I definitely was hooked to this romantic suspense novel by her.

Reed Ware gets a call from Hollis that something bad is going down. He is even able to get pictures of what is happening, a shooting in the cemetery.

The action begins.......Reed holds some of the New Orleans elite hostage and a hostage negotiator is called in. The first surprise is that the hostage negotiator is someone that Reed knows. He was once called in to do security for her family and she, Caroline, was 17 and had a crush on Reed. Caroline went so far as to kiss Reed, who kissed her back, only to dump her in a pool.

Caroline ends up going into the house that Reed is holding the hostages with Hollis and boom, bang, the hostages are set free and Reed manages to escape with Hollis and takes Caroline along as a hostage. After that they are being "Hunted" by none other than the New Orleans police.

This book had a great cast of characters who were easy to like and the book wrapped up with some unexpected twists and lots of suspense.

5 stars

[Wendy T · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. Love the suspense this book had right up the end. I love the relationship between Reed and Caroline. I could feel the tension coming off the pages between the two of them. I really didn't want this book to end.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am partially at fault for not liking this book. Yet it had its strong points.

So it starts as a compelling crime novel. Reed Ware gets a call from a street kid named Hollis. Something bad is happening. The kid takes pictures of the crime and Reed is compelled to look into it. It seems that the New Orleans Police Department might have some corruption. Fast forward a day or two and Caroline, a professional cop and hostage negotiator is called onto a scene. Reed has entered a glitzy party and taken the top city brass hostage. Whatever he has uncovered from Holly's images have him convinced. He has his demands. He and Caroline have a history. I'm hooked at the mysterious illegal activities and what Reed and Holly saw. I'm intrigued to see where the future takes the couple with a past. Then my interest fizzled fast.

This is a slow moving book. The interludes are filled with sexual tension and graphic descriptions of their bodies, mostly responding to the others' touch. The mystery/crime becomes a weak subplot for an improbable romance and willing, eager sex scenes that leave nothing to the imagination. Between you and me, I'm thinking Stockholm Syndrome regardless of the truth of the case.

Bottom line: I don't read romance novels. I accidentally read a romance novel, believing it was a crime/thriller. It was not. My bad.

[Lisa O'Neill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Karen Robards, but felt that in Hunted, as with her previous romantic suspense offering (I believe it was Shiver,) the suspense plot was really just a very loose framework for the main couple to get it on. I have nothing against the main couple getting it on in romance novels (and if one does, romance probably isn't the best genre for them,) but it seemed that the physical descriptions of each character's hotness were exhaustive and repeated and became the focus at very odd times (like while running for their lives.) I found myself skimming in order to find dialogue or some detail that furthered the plot (aside from: this other person is hot and I want to do him/her.) While I liked Reed and feel that he could have been a great character if we'd been given more of a window into his life instead of repeated descriptions of his physical assets, I didn't really find Caroline believable as a cop, and found the wrap-up of her rocky relationship with her estranged father a little... convenient. Also, bickering lovers can work really well sometimes (Robards did a great job of it in Whispers at Midnight,) here it just made Caroline, especially, seem childish and prone to drama. I basically enjoyed reading it, but think that Robards has many other books that are far more worthy of my time. 2 3/4 stars, rounded up.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I use to be a big fan of Karen Robards but now I feel that she has lost her IT factor and her books have just not been as good as her earlier stuff.
Now for this book. I really hated that it was all shoved in one day. I also hated the language. I am not a prude and I will drop the F bomb in a conversation on a regular basis but when an author uses the word that stars with a "t" and ends with a "t" to describe a part of a woman's body in a mainstream romantic suspense book it is a total turn off for me because there is nothing romantic about that word. It is insulting and should not be used to in reference to any part of a woman's body. Shame on you Ms Robards shame on you.
The plot of this book has been done before the language of this book has been done before. Hell, this book has been done before. I may have given it a better rating but like I said it was smut and way below the standards that Robards use to to write and it has been down before. Next time leave the questionable language out and your book will be a lot better.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It isn't high literature, but it delivers what it's designed to deliver: action, suspense, danger, interesting likeable characters and plenty of intense, sexy romance.

The story hits you with drama and action almost from the very beginning. The setup for the plot is not only an exciting and action-packed storyline, but given its setting in New Orleans, it's actually a plausible thing to happen, so you can absolutely get into the events the author's created and go along for the ride.

And a heck of a ride it is, too! The pacing of this book I found very well done. You get ratcheted up on an action peak where you can't wait to see what happens, then you are given a brief lull to catch your breath but just as you do, something else dramatic and nerve-racking happens to the characters, and you're off again climbing the next suspenseful peak.

A note about those mentioned "lulls" - most of them involve the two main characters either thinking about having sex with each other, HAVING sex with each other, or wondering if they should regret having sex with each other. Not that I'm complaining, you understand, because I've got to give it to the author, she writes pretty good sex scenes. There's nothing cheap or overly explicit, and again, given the history the characters have with each other, as well as the situations they find themselves in as the story plays out, it's not at all unbelieveable that they might generate some heat between them.

The sex scenes are actually pretty sexy, and there just enough romance to keep it on the positive side. These scenes don't come off as cheap or trashy. There are a fair number of them, particularly in the latter half of the book, but if you wanted to, you could skim over them if this isn't your thing without losing out on the rest of the story, although the chemistry between the two leads is a fairly important backstory, and helps you understand why both of them make some of the choices they make, which might otherwise seem hard to swallow.

One last note: I listened to this on audiobook, and I think the narrators - there were two: a male and a female who took the two leads' voices and alternated - really added an extra dimension of enjoyment to the story for me. Part of that, admittedly, is the fact that I love the New Orleans accent and the male narrator really nailed both the accent and the voice and attitude of what you expect a New Orleans rogue cop to be. I could easily have fallen for Reed if I'd been Caroline, so it wasn't hard to listen to him whisper sweet nothings to her.

And the female narrator totally held her own with the role of Caroline. She was the perfect partner for Reed and gave him a full-on run for his money every time he tried to tell her what to do. I love strong female characters who blaze their own trails, and betweent the author's writing Caroline, and the narrator's voicing of her, I liked her all the way through the book, and rooted for her the whole book.

This was an entertaining, exciting fun book. If you are looking for a light easy-reading story that nicely combines action/suspense/romance and/or if you're a fan of New Orleans as a setting, you may enjoy this. I certainly did!

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this latest romantic suspense by Karen Robards. I found the main characters, Reed Ware and Caroline Wallace to be very sympathetic, and the storyline was fast paced and kept me intrigued. I thought the book was a great balance of suspense and romance.

When Caroline Wallace is called in to negotiate during a hostage situation, she is stunned to find that the hostage taker is Detective Reed Ware. It soon becomes apparent to Caroline that nothing about the situation is quite what it seems, and she is just as determined to find a way out of the mess for him as he is to keep her as uninvolved as possible for her safety. With no positive outcome for himself foreseeable, Reed does his best to find a way to keep Caroline and two teenagers safe.

This book had great main characters, an interesting storyline with plenty of action, and an intriguing setting. Throughout most of the book, I wondered how Robards would pull off a satisfactory outcome for her main characters, but being a longtime fan, I had no doubt that she would manage to do it. I was very pleased with the resolution, and was reminded why she is a must read author for me.

[Veronica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great suspense book!

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

**3.5 stars **

For some reason 'Hunted' worked better for me than K. Robards' more recent output, maybe because it concentrates a bit more on the relationship between the MCs than her previous books in this genre. In short, I liked it for the same reasons readers of crime or straight suspense stories may dislike it. It also helps that the main couple are neither irritating, nor immature nor do they do silly things, as it is mostly the case in RS, nor do they bicker or waffle on until the reader is exterminated.

Truth be told, many of the elements of this book wouldn't stand up to scrutiny, and I did not care for the offhand treatment of loss and grieving for a dead child. The latter is handled very badly and has no place in this story. Such trauma cannot be dealt in the space of a story with an entirely different focus. I know deep, traumatic loss has become an alarmingly common trope in RS and writers should be warned off it. For they deal with it, on the whole, in a horribly crass way just as a way to win sympathy for the hero/heroine on the cheap. It is nothing more than grief-porn, completely ignoring fundamentals about traumatic loss and using it as mere character filler by writers who cannot find ways to justify their characters' alienation/alcoholism/addiction (drugs, sex, etc.). Unless a writer is prepared to go all the way and put traumatic loss at the very centre of their story, like Linda Howard did in 'Sarah's Child' (not an RS but old school contemporary) where she gave us a gut wrenching, impossible to love misanthropic hero in grief, and again in 'Cry No More' (an RS) where the heroine devotes her life, at the expense of everything else, to finding what happened to her abducted baby, helping find lost children along the way, then a writer should refrain.


Unlike other readers, I don't mind stories set over a period of one or two days, for they sometimes succeed in conveying intensity and urgency. I think 'Hunted' is one of those better efforts in the intensity department. The expressed passion between Reed and Caroline feels convincing and their background history is well handled (they have been curious about and attracted to each other for over a decade as their paths keep crossing). However, there were moments where their intimacy felt repetitive (e.g., the constant mutual admiration of each other's physiques), and moments where plot issues could have been handled better (e.g., how come the 18 year old found out where his younger brother was held, given he was on his way to Mexico and the entire NOPD was out looking for him?).That said, this is one of those books that while it is full of things one could pick apart it strangely works as an ensemble. It is as if something ignites within the formula in certain books while it fails spectacularly to do so in other similar cases.

Alchemy aside, perhaps I like this book because the heroine (in possession of the wonderful and normal name of Caroline) does not do anything stupid, nor is the sexy hero utterly comical/obnoxious in his untimely erections, nor do they bring down city corruption by themselves. Small things, I hear you say, but they increase in importance when read against the background of similar books in the genre. Maybe the book wouldn't have registered as much as it did, if it were not for the downward spiral of romantic suspense into ever more stupid heroines: the blacker their belts, the kickier their ass-kicking, the mouthier their mouths the denser and dumber they seem to grow, women who are really caricatures of caricature action-men, he-shes rather than interesting female characters.

In addition, perhaps the attraction 'Hunted' holds for me could be down to the fact that it is completely free of religiosity (it seems a must in this genre these days, especially when a dead child is involved, for example, the more recent work of the very same Linda Howard who once upon a time handled the theme with great insight),completely free of new age mumbo jumbo, out-of-body experiences and the like. Perhaps the absence of any appeal to the 'supernatural' and the occult added greatly to the book's attraction.

I know that rating a book high for what it is not rather that what it is may not constitute enthusiastic praise; nevertheless, had you been assaulted by a tsunami of horrible RSs as I've been recently, maybe you too wouldn't be difficult to please. That said, maybe I need to stop reading this genre, maybe I need to get out more, take the waters or learn Spanish and crochet.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hunted
4 Stars

Hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace is forced to put aside the rule book on her most recent case as this time her quarry is non-other than a fellow police officer, Detective Reed Ware. After uncovering a disturbing case of corruption in the higher echelons of the New Orleans Police Department, Reed manages to escape the SWAT team sent to kill him and kidnaps Caroline in the mêleé. Now on the run, Reed has nothing left to lose except perhaps his heart.

An exciting and action-packed romantic suspense. Reed and Caroline have excellent chemistry and the "on the run" plot only increases the tension between them. That said, there is a lot of repetitious and redundant musings on both their parts with regard to their relationship with Caroline determined to hold her own in their battle of the sexes, and Reed preoccupied with protecting himself against further loss.

The case itself is very compelling as it focuses on the threats posed by corrupt cops. The writing is fast paced and the twists and turns keep the pages turning. The twist at the end is good although possible to figure out is one is paying attention.

Overall, and entertaining read that reminded me why I enjoy Robards writings so much.

[Cas ♛ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off good, finished great. The middle? Frustrating, and left me hooked at the end of chapter, but also wanting the story to just move on. Such a short amount of time told so extensively... A little too much for my taste. However there certainly were a lot of great parts which I definitely enjoyed! The romance is amazing, but again quite slow paced and at some points I just wanted to scream at them to just kiss rather than argue.

[Tonya Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was interesting, not the best by this author, but enjoyable.

[Dana L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author.

[Lainy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time taken to read - 9 days (on and off)

Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton

Pages - 336

Goodreads blurb

Caroline Wallace is one of New Orleans PD's top hostage negotiators, and she's never failed to get every hostage out alive. But this time, it's different. This time, the hostages include her boss - the chief of police - and the mayor. And this time, she's trying to negotiate with Reed Ware, a former co-worker who left the force disgraced, under investigation by Internal Affairs, and worst of all, considered to be volatile and extremely dangerous. As police snipers arrive on the scene and manage to get a clear shot of Reed, Caroline knows she only has a few moments left to persuade the hot-headed, reckless (and extremely handsome) Reed to let the hostages go and turn himself in before anyone gets hurt. When the SWAT team runs out of patience and launches an attack, Reed takes Caroline hostage and manages to escape with her in the chaos.

During the escape, Reed reveals to Caroline that he's uncovered corruption at the highest levels of the police department and New Orleans city government, and those involved will stop at nothing to keep him from exposing what he knows...including murder. Now, the normally cool, calm, by-the-book Caroline is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her job and her city and join Reed on the run...putting both her life - and her heart - in jeopardy.


My Review

Karen Robbard's is an author I have read once before, she mixes a high paced crime with romance and sex. This time we meet Caroline Wallace, a top police negotiator with the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department). When a cop goes rogue and holds hostage some of the cream of the crop of New Orleans in a mansion on Christmas Eve. Surrounded by bombs and ready to set them off unless his demands are met, Reed Ware, a top police officer who left the police force under investigation of Internal Affairs. What follows is a police chase, the unraveling of why Reed has done what he done, Caroline's job and safety is on the line as well as facing her past and old attraction to Ware when he was on duty for her family when she was a teen.

Well I must say, I was pretty disappointed overall with this story. Caroline seems like a competent negotiator, she recognizes the potential issues she may have when she realizes who the criminal is. Due to a crush on his when he was on police detail with her family when she was a teen and an awkward encounter, however she is an adult now and a professional. The story starts well, it has a good build up and the crime story is set at a good pace. However, once she is kidnapped and the next stage progresses it really, for me, went to pot. She goes from being a professional to almost like a lust filled teenager. A lot of the dialog is about how they brush against each other and how their bodies react and a cat and mouse game of I like him he likes me but we both pretend we don't ensues. Seriously, even if you were attracted to the "perp" your professionalism would keep you right, or the fact he kidnapped you or the fact he had held your father hostage with bombs would.

I think you would have to suspend all rational thought to get on with this book. There was far too much contradiction for me, from the professional to the in lust teenage behavior, to the I like him but will pretend I just don't care all the whilst in a situation where the police are hunting you, oh and you have been kidnapped.

I had enjoyed the last book however this one, for me, was just a bit ridiculous. The characters were more focused on fighting their lust for each other whilst there was numerous descriptions of their body reactions to one another. I wanted to know about the crime as it seemed like a really good story, however the bulk of the book, I felt, was all about Reed and Caroline and the friction and temptations they fought off. 2/5 for me this time.

[Cathy Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this 2.5 stars

The story concept was an interesting one and promised suspense and action, or so I thought. NOPD deceptive Reed Ware finds out about corruption and murder in the police force and the next thing we know he’s holding the city’s main players to ransom. The hostage negotiator, Caroline, gets taken hostage herself. What happened to make Reed flip? Caroline had a teenage crush on Reed and can’t understand why he’s turned into someone who, she believes, will blow up a roomful of people if his demands aren’t met. She needs to find out what’s going on and as the plot unfolds Caroline begins to believe Reed is innocent and all is not as it should be in the NOPD.

The start of the story was exciting as was the end and the police corruption/murder scenario could have been a good one but the majority of the book was taken up with the steamy romance between Reed and Caroline and had hardly any storyline. Had I realised I wouldn’t have chosen this title.

There were far too may long and repetitive scenes describing how their bodies looked, felt and reacted to each other. Total overkill. So much ‘pulse racing’ and ‘heart pounding’ and ‘going up in flames’ from Caroline’s perspective I was quite surprised she actually survived to end of the book. No matter what the danger all Caroline and Reed seem able to think about is sex. Leaving to rescue the two boys he has time to give her flowers before they set off and they have a moment or several before they get back to the problem at hand.

"Under the circumstances it was a sad state of affairs when just looking at her made him hot"

I’m not a huge fan of dual narrations, although some do work, but not with each narrator just reading chapters and not the male/female parts. Since this was written in the third person, I think it would have been better with one narrator. Having said that, MacLeod Andrews’ New Orleans accent seemed spot on to me, as were his characterisations, especially that of Reed. The emotional inflection was strong and left me in no doubt of each characters feelings. I wasn’t fond of Cassandra Campbell’s Reed, she gave him a mocking quality which didn’t seem right. Her other characterisations were good though.

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

-I borrowed this book from the public library_

I remember when I was a teenager, I read a story by Karen Robards. I have no idea which book that was. Since she has so many now. But all I remember was that it was really, really good. That being said. This book was really really good. It got me out of my reading slump.

I loved the characters Reed and Caroline: They were good cops. They were good main characters of the story. The hostage situation I had no idea where they were going with it. How they got away, I wasnt sure. But they did it, although in a weird way. I enjoyed how she got them away from that situation. The characters of Holly and his brother: Holly being arrested was terrible. Wrong place at the wrong time maybe? His brother is 13 and just a baby really. Their mother died months before. Once you find out the whole situation its really terrible.
I love the way these love stories I read fall in love. There is always a different way or a different version to every story. Thats what makes me like it so much. The way Caroline and Reed did it was captivating being they have known each other for a long time.
The suspense behind these pages was really nail-biting. There was also some funny parts, its in alot of books. Its a great read and a really explosive book.
#exposive #nailbitingsuspense #lovelovestories #fabulous #lovecrime

[Gerry Bartlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was marketed as a thriller. Okay, when police detective Reed can't get justice, he goes haywire and takes hostages. Bring in negotiator Caroline whose father is one of the hostages and one of the bad guys in the police department. She knows Reed from when he guarded her family when she was 17 and she had a crush on him then. One thing leads to another and they end up on the run from the police while Reed tries to get justice for the young men he wants to help. Plot sounds okay and might have been except there are endless breaks where we have to endure these two looking at each other lustfully. I can take some of this but it goes on for pages. Lots of introspection. Paragraphs that are so long the entire page is covered without a break. I'm sorry but that slows the plot. Thriller? Not with so many stalls for gazing at his abs or her short skirt. This read like an old fashioned, pardon me for saying so, bodice ripper. And I'm a Robards fan. Sorry, but I call 'em like I read 'em. Also sorry I paid hardback prices.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd actually call this a 3.5 star book but I bumped it up to 4 because, for the most part, I've always enjoyed Karen Robards books.

I liked the main character Detective Reed Ware a lot. He was smart and had the ability to think quickly on his feet. That was a characteristic he needed because he was definitely in deep trouble. The main female character was adequate. Some of the plot action seemed implausible. but it is fiction.

If anything, I felt the concentration of sexual action in the center of the plot story arc was overdone. I think Robards could have taken the time to develop the characters & their growing trust of each other and save the sex as a reward for staying alive at the end.

Despite my quibbles with the book, it was still a fast-paced, enjoyable ride.

(Note: Despite the identifying info given to this book in Goodreads, I read the hardcover, not the audio version.)

[Cardyn Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's what has me feeling torn about Caroline and Reed's story: Caroline's inappropriate obsession with how "sexy" Reed is given the seriousness of their circumstances. Even though Hunted is a romantic thriller, Caroline's thoughts and behavior make it hard to believe that she's an exceptional police hostage negotiator.

Many passages read more like a spoof with shades of the Keystone Cops, but it is an enjoyable, lighthearted read despite the serious themes of family dysfunction, addiction, grief, police corruption, etc.

Since K.R.'s Dr. Charlie Stone series, her main female characters' personality traits, thoughts, and actions feel as if they've been plugged in from a laundry list of required elements rather than from an organic development out of their backstories. Hope she gets her mojo back soon.

[Kobi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book summary is not a very good reflection of the book. It makes it seem as if the mayor and Caroline's dad are in serious danger, they're not, like at all. I somewhat enjoyed the action with the kidnapping/running away from cops/corruption, altogether it got really repetitive at times. I hated how conflicted Reed was with himself, he wanted Caroline and the next second he didn't. Caroline was the same way she seemed like she fully trusted Reed then at other points she tried to get away. The ending was okay, but it wrapped up to quickly for my liking. All in all it was a decent action read and I would be tempted to read more by Robards.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read. All about corruption in the New Orleans PD. It all takes place over 48 hours or so right around Christmas, beginning with a detective investigating a murder which abruptly turns into the same man taking a bunch of rich people hostage. It's a whirlwind of a story moving so fast that it's hard to breathe, sort of. With all the bad stuff happening, it made the romance part of the story feel unlikely. Especially since the fighting part between the hero and heroine dragged on so long. Still it was an exciting story and well worth the read.

[Awilk -never sleeps-]

I'm not rating this one as I just can't be bothered finishing it. Karen Robards is an author I have enjoyed in the past, but something was missing for me with this one. I may come back to it at a later date, but I am not holding my breath for that to happen.

[Marcia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out as a really mystery book and changed about half through to a romance novel, which I don't read. I'm calling it quits with this author, this is the 3rd book of hers that I haven't liked.

[Rhonda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book certainly kept me coming back to it to read what the characters were doing. Hot steamy suspense watching what was going to happen. Cops gone wrong and good cops prevail.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romantic Thriller - can't remember reading over 1.5 years ago.

Hunted
In New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards's latest heart-pounding romantic suspense novel, a reckless former detective knows too much, and a hostage negotiator is forced to join him on the run for his life.

'Twas the night before Christmas . . . and dozens of rich, influential hostages are trapped inside a sprawling lakefront mansion in New Orleans. The perp? Detective Reed Ware, model cop turned outlaw. Reed's out for truth, and will stop at nothing to get it—including waging a coup among the city's most elite, including the mayor, the council chairman, the sheriff, and the superintendent of police . . . who just happens to be hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace's father.

Cool, calm, controlled. That's Caroline's reputation. But when Reed, looking even hotter than he did years ago when seventeen-year-old Caroline tried to seduce him, becomes her next case, she's swept up by their still-sizzling tension.

Nothing about tonight is what it seems, and it's up to Caroline to put the pieces together—if she can think fast enough over the pounding of her heart. But the harder Caroline tries to do her job, the more she begins to wonder whose side she's really on.

[Kari Ganske · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was almost a DNF for me. The plot was ridiculous and overly dramatic for no reason. The two main characters were one dimensional and whiney. I didn't believe their "love" story, and given the circumstances that thrust them together, didn't believe they would act in the way or think in the way they did. The ending was predictable and way too sappy. The "plot" was also super repetitive. A lot of the book was spent in the thoughts of the two main characters, where despite their predicament (which was repeated over and over again), they constantly thought about how hot the other one was and tried to talk themselves out of jumping the others' bones. Over and over and over again. And if the "air sizzled between them" one more time, I would have put the book down for sure - this one phrase was probably in every chapter... This was definitely not what I am used to with other "romantic suspense" books. I don't know that I would put it in the same category actually. I'm willing to give Robards another chance, but I hope the story and characters are much more developed.