Review: Pursuit by Karen Robards

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Casee‘s review of Pursuit by Karen Robards.

When rookie lawyer Jessica Ford gets the call from her boss, John Davenport, the senior partner at the illustrious law firm for which she works, she can tell he is well on his way to being drunk. He needs Jess to meet First Lady Annette Cooper, for whom Davenport is a personal lawyer, at a Washington, D.C., hotel. Jess is thrilled: this high-profile assignment must mean that she’s earned her boss’s trust and she’s on her way to bigger things. But unfortunately, bigger isn’t always better.

Jess doesn’t remember much—only that in the course of the late-night meeting with Annette Cooper, she ended up in the backseat of a car, speeding off into the darkness. All Jess knows is that the car crashed en route, and the other three passengers were killed, including the First Lady. Badly injured, Jess is the only survivor of what is trumpeted around the world as a tragic accident.

Although she has no memory about the events leading up to the accident, Jess is still bothered by one question: Was it really an accident? The Secret Service agent on the case, Mark Ryan, gets the feeling that Jess is hiding something. As his suspicions grow, Jess’s world starts falling apart. First, she is brutally attacked in the hospital, barely escaping with her life. Then her boss dies under questionable circumstances. In fact, everyone who might possibly know the details about the First Lady’s last few hours starts turning up dead. And then Jess understands: If she remembers that night, she’ll be dead too.

Terrified and certain that the First Lady’s death was no accident, Jess has only Mark Ryan to turn to…

Karen Robards is one of those authors that I won’t give up on. I’m not quite sure why. Her last two books weren’t very impressive. In fact, the last book had a TSTL heroine. I don’t remember the plot or the hero, but I remember the heroine. I wasn’t planning on getting this book until it came out in paperback. Then I saw it at the library and thought “what the hell” and checked it out. I’m glad I did b/c this book had me on the edge of my seat (a few minor annoyances aside).

As a junior lawyer at a respectable and well-known law firm in Washington D.C., Jessica Ford is nothing if not ambitious. Starting as a clerk, Jessica has started working her way up the corporate latter. She’s not quite there yet, which is why she goes to meet a client in the middle of the night, at the instruction of her boss. Not just any client, however. Jess has to meet the First Lady of the United States and somehow get her to come with her, a complete stranger.

Jess has no idea why the First Lady is out and about D.C. without her Secret Service security detail. She would love to pass off her precious cargo to the first Secret Service agent she sees; only if there were one about. Leading the First Lady to the car that was hired, the last thing Jess remembers is seeing a man run toward the car. The next thing she knows, she is lying on a hillside in excruciating pain.

Mark Ryan is the agent in charge of the First Lady’s security detail. Needless to say, Mark’s head is on the block. He knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s cut out of the loop so he rushes to find out as much information as he can. Why was the First Lady out of the White House? How did she get out? What was she doing? And who is Jessica Ford? Mark has no misconceptions that the truth will be told to the public. He knows exactly what kind of person Annette Cooper was. She was far from the beloved icon that the public adored.

When Jess is attacked at the hospital, she knows that there is more to the accident than she is being told. She didn’t remember anything at first, but it’s slowly coming back to her. She just doesn’t know where to turn. Her instincts tells her not to trust Mark Ryan, but she doesn’t know who else to trust.

With (seemingly) the whole U.S. government looking for them, Mark and Jess go on the run to try to figure out what happened that night that was so bad that murder is the only way to cover it up. The ending was a bit anti-climatic. Spoiler: It seems like everything comes down to a sex tape these days. Not very original, that’s for sure.

I was glued to the pages. The book was very engaging. Still, there is something that annoyed me that I’ve noticed in the last KR book that was in this one as well. The overuse of certain expressions. I should have counted. These are the expressions that I can live without reading for a long time.

“She felt a thrill of fear”
“Fear tightened her chest”

There were more, but unfortunately I can’t remember. Overall, I liked this book MUCH better than her last one.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Putnam. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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