A small plan crashes in the Rockies and the only two survivors, Jack and Sophie, help each other live until rescue arrives seven days later. Only Sophie goes on to pick up the pieces of her life which has not been irrevocably changed by big, gentle Jack’s love and death.

But Sophie learns that Jack’s death didn’t close that chapter of her life after all. A drifter called Martin holds the key to her heart, alongside a deadly secret. Combined with a corrupt and desperate police chief and her pressure-cooker life as a single mother in a small town, they plunge her head-deep into the aftershocks caused by those seven days in the mountains. The consequences will reach out to rock state governors, district attorneys and one of the deadliests crime lords in the land, and all of them have reason to react. For Sophie, life is about to change again–for the worse.

This is a new author for me, but I have to say that right from the outset, I was hooked! I have always been a sucker for a good political novel and while I wouldn’t call this strictly one of those, there are overtones and a back story here that spice up this novel to the finger nail biting level. Seven days on a rock ledge in the Rockies, trying in every way possible to survive, can draw two people together into a bond that exceeds all others. And so it seemed with Sophie and Jack. To have that bond severed by Jack’s death was almost more than Sophie could endure. She even went on to marry a man that closely resembled Jack, but of course, it wasn’t him at all. After trying for years and two children to make believe it was him, Sophie just couldn’t endure the marriage any longer. She is now the owner-manager of a small cafe in a remote area of Montana where she lives with her kids and her housekeeper. Even though her brain keeps telling her that Jack is dead, she never really stops looking for him, and when a drifter wanders into town looking so much like Jack she is stunned, she knows that no matter how this all turns out, her life will never be the same. She’s absolutely right!

I liked this novel very much. I particularly liked Jack, a man who grieved over the loss of lives in the initial plane crash, who did extraordinary things to save Sophie and keep her alive in spite of overwhelming odds against them. Even in his death he made provision for Sophie to have the best medical care for her injuries and to be able to move forward with her life. Sophie is a woman of tremendous personal strength–a woman whose grief stayed with her in spite of knowing that Jack was dead, but who knew that she had to make a life for herself and her kids in spite of that hole in her heart that could never be filled. They are both wonderful characters that represent the best of what we hope humanity can be.

There are loads of bad guys in this story–an attorney that is suspect, a police chief that is obsessed with Sophie and uses his office to pull off some fairly awful stuff, a crime lord, a state governor, and folks here and there that aren’t your usual PTA members. The author has told this story so well that Sophie’s fear for her life and that of her kids is palpable. It just seems to flow off the page into the reader’s mind. The mystery and suspense are well contained but they are always in the background, driving the reader on to the next page. Yet there is loving concern and family support, affection and deep romantic attachment. The erotic encounters are truly sensual but all “wrapped” in the context of a bond that transcends the pettiness of small-minded people.

This is a very good book and it will be one that romance fans and mystery fans alike can enjoy.

This book is available from Cerridwen Press. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.