Crawford Hunt wants his daughter back. Following the death of his wife four years ago, Crawford, a Texas Ranger, fell into a downward spiral that left him relegated to deskwork and with his five-year-old daughter Georgia in the custody of her grandparents. But Crawford has cleaned up his act, met all the court imposed requirements, and now the fate of his family lies with Judge Holly Spencer.
Holly, ambitious and confident, temporarily occupies the bench of her recently deceased mentor. With an election upcoming, she must prove herself worthy of making her judgeship permanent. Every decision is high-stakes. Despite Crawford's obvious love for his child and his commitment to being an ideal parent, Holly is wary of his checkered past. Her opinion of him is radically changed when a masked gunman barges into the courtroom during the custody hearing. Crawford reacts instinctually, saving Holly from a bullet.
But his heroism soon takes on the taint of recklessness. The cloud over him grows even darker after he uncovers a horrifying truth about the courtroom gunman and realizes that the unknown person behind the shooting remains at large . . .and a threat.
Catching the real culprit becomes a personal fight for Crawford. But pursuing the killer in his customary diehard fashion will jeopardize his chances of gaining custody of his daughter, and further compromise Judge Holly Spencer, who needs protection not only from an assassin, but from Crawford himself and the forbidden attraction between them.
Sandra Brown really needs no introduction. With more than 60 novels to her name, many New York Times Bestsellers, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA, Ms Brown started writing.. the year I was born. I'm sorry, I don't mean to make her feel old, however, she has so many fantastic books that she has written. She started over 30 years ago, and yet she still brings us great books to this day.
I have to be honest, I stopped reading her a about five or six years ago. Her books had moved into this the woman was married, husband was trying to kill her, she ended up having an affair with the male lead character. Yeah, she was still married. That kind of irked me, so I stopped reading. BUT. Last year I picked up "Mean Streak" and even though it still had that same flow, I really enjoyed the book.
So when NetGalley put "Friction" up, I immediately requested it, and received it, yay!
I have to say, I think this is one of Ms Brown's best books ever.
So, about the book. Crawford Hunt's life spiraled down after a major shootout at work and his wife died in a car accident. Amazingly, his baby daughter was not injured, but Crawford was in no shape to care for Georgia, so he gave legal care over to her grandparents. Now, four years later, Crawford's life is back on track, his job steady as a Texas Ranger, and he wants his daughter back. Fate intervenes, however, when at the custody hearing, a shooter storms into the courtroom, killing the bailiff. Crawford acting instinctively and jumped in front of the judge, Holly, to save her life.
Crawford knows he has killed his chances to get Georgia back by his reckless behavior protecting the judge. At least that is how any court would see it. But something about Holly gets to him and after realizing that SWAT shot the wrong man, he has to keep her safe and catch the real shooter.
There are lots of twists and turns to this plot. It certainly kept me on my toes. I loved Crawford's character. His need to protect and the love for his daughter very apparent. Holly was a spitfire. She wasn't going to let a little shooting keep her down, even if it could still cost her her life. I can't wait to push this title to my library patrons.. even though I believe I have 30 people on the waiting list already for this!
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