While police suspect Jeff of "instant divorce," Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won't even tell her his name. She's determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive.
Unexpectedly, however, the two have a dangerous encounter with people who adhere to a code of justice all their own. At the center of the dispute is a desperate young woman whom Emory can't turn her back on, even if it means breaking the law. Wrong becomes right at the hands of the man who strikes fear, but also sparks passion.
As her husband's deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead - and from heartbreak.
Combining the nail-biting suspense and potent storytelling that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best loved authors, MEAN STREAK is a wildly compelling novel about love, deceit, and the choices we must make in order to survive.
Comment: Another book in the collection by Sandra Brown I have to read. I've loved "discovering" the author when I was reading mostly romance and now that she has evolved towards romantic suspense I still feel like being happy about reading one of her books and this one was definitely a good one!
In this book we follow the story of dr Emory Charbonneau, a doctor who loves running and that, when the story begins, is going to train for a marathon. However, she goes missing and her husband only reports it some time later, making him a suspect in the eyes of the policemen dealing with the case.
Emory, however, is actually being taken care of after a concussion by a mysterious man who doesn't tell her his name. He helps her, though, even if some of his attitudes are too weird like when he says her phone isn't working and that he doesn't have one.
As the plot evolves and more and more secrets come out of places no one would imagine, can Emory accept the mysterious man is there to help her or does he have a secret agenda and wants only to hurt her? Can she imagine that while actually being attracted to him?
I think the author was very clever with this novel because there is a slight twist closer to the end that explains some things and with the explanations we realize we had the clues in front of us on how to justify some actions taken, but just expected the truth to be different. I believe this to be the main goal with how this novel was created and developed although I must say it wasn't completely achieved because some things are a little too unlikely and don't make sense. Apart from them, the plot was very clever and fascinating and made me want to keep reading all the time.
I think the pace of the story was well achieved. Things happen sort of slowly which is to be expected and I think the reader has time to savor the story while trying to connect the dots. It was also great that it's possible to be surprised as I was while reading and there a couple of clues there I didn't see coming, especially since the main plot is obvious: Emory and her mysterious man are meant to be together, there's more about him we don't immediately know and the bad guy will be caught eventually.
Emory is a good heroine and I liked her personality and charisma. I also liked how she was with the hero, sort of vulnerable but still maintaining her voice and values.
He is obviously mysterious but a great hero as well and I must say I was positively surprised by how much I liked knowing things about him.
Why he is so mysterious is part of the plot and that's why I'm not writing much about it but I must confess that despite understanding his reasons for privacy and being away from the spotlight, it still feels unlikely - especially thinking about real life and if what he went through was a real event. But well, the story had to have some secrecy.
The book ends well for these two and, of course, the hopeful HEA makes it worthwhile!
As for the plot against Emory, that was quite intense and had it been explained in the way it felt like it would, I'd say it would be perfectly acceptable. However, the author went a step ahead and made it even more complex but to me that was a bit too much. Not that it couldn't be that way but thee main reason behind everything just felt very pointless. But who am I to say...
All in all, this was a good novel, I really recommended it to those who like this genre and I can't wait to read more by the author, I still have a few until I'm updated on her work.
Grade: 8/10
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