Guilty by Karen Robards

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Book description:

One cold November night when Kat White was fifteen years old, she and some friends held up a convenience store. In the heat of the moment, one of the others shot and killed an off-duty cop moonlighting as a security guard. Kat and her pals fled the scene in a panic, and no one was caught.

Sixteen years later, Kat – now Kate – has built a new life for herself. Now a single mom with an eight-year-old son, she works as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia DA’s office. But her dark past rears its head when she walks into court one day and discovers that she is to prosecute Mario Castellanos, one of her friends from that terrible night.

Kate is in a bind: even though Mario was the one who probably did commit the crime, he’s counting on Kate to make sure he’s not convicted. If she convinces the judge of his guilt, he’ll claim that she was the one who killed the off-duty cop. Before real despair sets in, Mario is found dead – in her apartment, and with her pistol. When homicide detective Tom Braga shows up to investigate the murder, Kate is far from relieved; the two have clashed since she started working for the prosecutor’s office. But when another man who knows the secret of Kate’s past gets involved in the investigation, she learns that her life – and her son’s – are in danger. Frantic, she realizes that she has nowhere to turn. Except, maybe, to Tom…

Meh. That just about sums my feelings up. If I could get away with a one word review, I’d leave it at that.

Kate seemed like a promising heroine. In my opinion, Karen Robards’ heroines lean toward being TSTL. Most of the time they cross that fine line that they walk. Obviously I’m a glutton for punishment b/c I keep reading. So as I was reading the first chapter, I was thinking to myself “finally”. Finally a heroine that I don’t want to bash over the head with something hard. Yeah, I spoke to myself too soon.

Kate finds herself in a situation reserved for nightmares and fiction novels. As a Prosecutor for the District Attorney, Kate is in court trying a case when all hell breaks loose. It seems that a few inmates have decided that it’s the perfect time to break out of jail. With bullets flying, Kate takes cover underneath the prosecutor’s table and prays to God that she will make it out alive. Her chances of that drastically lower when she’s taken at gunpoint by one of the inmates. It’s when she comes face to face with someone from her past that Kate realizes that her nightmare just became worse.

Mario Castellanos knows that Kate was there the night that an off-duty cop was shot and killed at convenience store they were trying to rob. Though sixteen years had passed, Kate hasn’t forgotten the night that changed her life. Having turned her life around, she’s ill prepared for Mario’s threats. Something she is sure of is that she’s not going to let Mario destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.

Tom Braga was in the courtroom when Kate was taken hostage. He was also there when she came out bloody and brutalized. Knowing the escape attempt had to have been an inside job, Tom is suspicious when he realizes Kate is lying about what happened. Feeling attraction to someone that could have had a part in the shooting of his brother is almost more than Tom can handle. He can’t stay away, though. It doesn’t take Tom long to figure out that Kate is terrified of something or someone. There’s not much he can do though, b/c Kate is not talking.

I thought this book had a great premise. It had a great hero. Actually, the hero is probably what made me keep reading. He was a pretty impressive hero. I liked that he didn’t let Kate give him any crap. What I didn’t like was Kate. I didn’t like her TSTL decisions. I didn’t like her TSTL attitude. I didn’t like that she thought she could take on a member of a well known gang, no matter that she knew him. I also didn’t like that every time Kate did anything, one or more of these things happened:

Her heart leaped.
Her heart raced.
Her heart clenched.
Her heart lurched.
Her heart pounded.
Her head swam.
Her head spun.
Her head stopped.

Yes, I wrote them down as I read them. I only did that in the last 50 pages of the book. Seriously. I’m surprised Kate didn’t drop dead of a heart attack. Her poor heart was seriously overworked.

This is yet another author that I’d love to see go back to historicals.

2.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Penguin Group. You can buy it here.

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