With this thriller, Sandra Brown picked up a very actual topic. Not only that there are countless men and women who are suffering from battle fatigue all around the world, but the fact, that we have today people living among us, who are anything but peaceful, who are on the Most Wanted list and who seem to be totally normal to those who live around them, that has never been more prevailing than today. Sandra Brown is when it comes to her thrillers, well known – if not to say famous for - that she uses not only a sharp intelligence within her figures but also a tone that is blunt, direct, and where you can´t misunderstand things. This thriller is a nice read, yes, but sometimes far away from what I said before.
Deadline*
by Sandra BrownPublisher Hachette Book on September 24, 2013
Genre Thriller
Pages 640
Format Hardcover
Source Publisher
✶✶✶½
Dawson Scott is a well-respected journalist recently returned from Afghanistan. Haunted by everything he experienced, he´s privately suffering from battle fatigue which is a threat to every aspect of his life. But then he gets a call from a source within the FBI. A new development has come to light in a story that began 40 years ago. It could be the BIG story of Dawson´s career one in which he has a vested interest. Soon, Dawson is covering the disappearance and presumed murder of former Marine Jeremy Wesson, the biological son of the pair of terrorists who remain on the FBI´s Most Wanted list. As Dawson delves into the story, he finds himself developing feelings for Wesson´s ex-wife, Amelia, and her two young sons. But when Amelia´s nanny turns up dead, the case takes a stunning new turn, with Dawson himself becoming a suspect. Haunted by his own demons, Dawson takes up the chase for the notorious outlaws … and the secret, startling truth about himself.
Story
Amy tries to give her sons a life as normal as possible. Not easy when you have to fight a husband who suffers some war trauma to get a divorce and later the press whenever his story comes up – even after she and the entire world believes that he is dead. When she has to learn, that the family behind him is way more dangerous than she could ever imagine and that not everything is as it seems, she is again forced to fight for her children, herself, and the normal life she always wanted.
Style
I was looking forward to this thriller and after only a few pages I already missed a certain edge, that usually can be found in the author´s tone and writing style. In Deadline, she is unusual discreet and her language is unaccustomed soft. Yes, there are some very bloody and brutal scenes and yes, the psychological finesse is also there. But for a Sandra Brown thriller, this one was not at all up to her usual standards. To her credit, I have to say, that the author brought up some unexpected twists and turns during the ongoing story and the plot itself was kind of entertaining to read. But I missed her sharpness within her language, which is usually very close to the obscene.
Her figures search till about half of the book for reasons and some proof that Jeremy isn´t dead as everyone believes. Then, without a warning, Sandra Brown changes that and turns the tables. For the rest of the thriller, the reader is the one who is almost on every page one step ahead of what the acting figures know or the characters know something the reader doesn´t know.
Characters
Amelia is a fragile-looking beauty with nerves made of steel. She never lets herself get provoked; not even by the lawyer who tries to get her out of her peace of mind during the process. But for the reader, it becomes soon very clear that she is only holding herself together for her two sons and the media. In her private life, she is anything but, and when Dawson steps into it, she can´t ignore the fact anymore, that her ex-husband might be still alive.
Dawson is a man, who has his own share of problems to deal with. Since he came back from a war zone, he is suffering from nightmares and the fact, that pills and alcohol aren´t the answer to it, doesn´t make things easier for him. When he sees Amelia for the very first time in court, he is stunned and knows immediately that she is the answer to all his prayers as well as his downfall – in the best positive way you can imagine.
Conclusion
All in all, I have to say that I was expecting way more out of this thriller than the author has given me. And in the end, I had one question still remaining in my head: What was the real “big plan” that Jeremy and his parents had going on? And yes, for a Sandra Brown thriller the answer to that was very disappointing and anything but a satisfying one.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition on December 14, 2016, by Blanvalet
Sandra Brown
Sandra Brown is the author of seventy New York Times bestsellers. Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published over seventy-five novels. Bringing the number of copies of her books in print worldwide to over eighty million. Her work has been translated into thirty-four languages. A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Texas Christian University, majoring in English. She is much in demand as a speaker and guest television hostess. Her episode on truTV´s Murder by the Book premiered the series in 2008. She appeared in 2010 on Investigation Discovery´s new series, Hardcover Mysteries. In 2009 Brown detoured from her thrillers to write Rainwater, a much acclaimed powerfully moving story about honor and sacrifice during the Great Depression. Brown holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Texas Christian University where she and her husband Michael Brown, have instituted the ELF, a scholarship annually awarded to a student pursuing a fiction-writing career. In 2008, she was named Thriller Master, the top award given by the International Thriller Writer´s Association. Other awards and commendations include the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature and the Romance Writers of America´s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2011 she and four colleagues went on a week-long USO tour to Afghanistan, meeting with service members on numerous bases. Sandra is the past president of the Mystery Writers of America in 2012. She lives in Arlington, Texas, with her husband, Michael Brown.
I've never read a book by Sandra Brown but I like thrillers. Any book by her you could recommend? :)
ReplyDeleteActually I have quite a few ;-)
DeleteLow Pressure, Smoke Screen, The Witness, Smash Cut, The Switch, Exclusive, The Crush, White Hot, Envy, and Chill Factor. I´ve read them all and gave all 5.
Sorry for my late reply, the heat wave is causing some problems around here.
Best wishes
Vi