GUILTY
Karen Robards
Putnam
Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9780399154614

• About the Book
• Read an Excerpt
• Author Interview –– April 4, 2008

Kate White is a devoted single mother to her eight-year-old son, Ben, and is thrilled with her new job as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia. In her past, though, she was Kit, a foster child with a difficult life. As a 15-year-old she ran with a group of individuals that included the frightening Mario Castellanos. One night they stopped at a convenience store, and from the restroom Kit heard gunfire. Aghast, she discovered that Mario was armed with a gun and had shot and killed a man. Although Kit and her friends got away, this horrendous secret plagued her as she grew up.

Kate is not thinking about the dark secrets of her past as she rushes to the courtroom to prosecute an armed robbery case. Her uncomfortable new shoes hurt her feet and slip on the rain-wet floor as she dashes, worrying that she will be late and begin the proceedings with the intimidating judge already angry with her. She manages to take her seat an instant before the deputy announces the judge's entrance. Whew! Can Kate's day get any worse? (You'd better believe it most definitely can!)

The public defender announces that he has a new witness, even though it’s too late for him to be introducing one. As Kate argues with the judge, her own cell phone disrupts them, triggering the judge's wrath. But all her previous problems fade into nothingness when gunfire disrupts the courtroom, and men carrying weapons run in. The scene is a horror of violence as the intruders shoot, wounding and killing bystanders.

Kate cowers beneath a table, shaking in fear, until she is taken as a hostage by a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit. As she is led away, a cop tries to bargain for her release, but her captor refuses. He demands a helicopter and shoves Kate through a door into a secure area where she tries to persuade him to let her leave. All he can do is scoff at her. Another prisoner in possession of a pistol joins them. Kate is horrified when she discovers that this second inmate is someone she knew in her past and that he is intent on blackmailing her.

Kate enters a terrifying waking nightmare and is not safe anywhere. Worse, not only is her life threatened, but so is her son Ben's. An unexpected hero emerges, and Kate is chagrined to find herself falling in love even as her existence disintegrates.

The stakes in GUILTY are high and the pace is rapid, with a twisting plot line that keeps the reader turning pages far into the night. The novel’s characters are fully fleshed out and flawed just enough to feel human. Kate is a strong woman in an impossible situation and is easy to empathize with. A smoldering romance adds a bittersweet note to this intriguing and well-plotted thriller from New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards.

    --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)

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