Relentless [Large Print]

Relentless by Jan Hambright Harlequin Intrigue # 865 - August 2005 Five years ago, Mick's wife and child were killed by a hit and run driver of a stolen car. Leaving homicide to go to auto-theft, gave Mick the resources to find their killer. He finds himself chasing the elusive Robear family; a family of auto thieves but all leads wind up cold. Kate Robear ran from her family when she found out she carried a child. She didn't want Cody to be caught up in the family business. Her talents with cars, leads her to a job as a repot agent, and a car that she repots comes with added features; an upset owner firing at her with a shotgun and Mick hiding in the trunk. Mick knows that Kate holds the key to the night his family died but when someone seems determined to hurt her and her son, he begins to wonder if maybe she's being set up. This is Ms. Hambright's debut. It has all the right elements of a great action romance; suspense, bombs, shootings, kidnapping and hot sexual tension. I liked Mick and Kate. The setting in Louisiana added just the right atmosphere. This was very well written and I really liked how it all resolved. A very good first for Ms Hambright

In the dark of night Kate Robear is out to repo a BMW at Bayou Gauche from Otis Whittley. And drifting on the air is the smell of cigar smoke. she grabs the Beamer but underestimates Otis's drunkness as he comes charging out of his shack with a shot-gun. Whoa! is she in for a surpise as she means to park the blasted car in her storage unit. The trunk should have been closed. Oh! Oh! Mick Jacoby is in the middle of a sting and not happy about taking a pellet. Now he has a Robear, that word on the street has a Robear involved with the murder of his wife and daughter. He believes she is guilty as sin. Did I mention that she has a taser? She also has legal documents for repoing the Beamer from her boss, David Copeland. The big mystery turns up when they return to Otis's digs and finds him gone. Kate has to protect her son, Cody and ends up turning to her brother, Frank. She has been trying for years to put the Robears' reputation behind her. Maybe she can with the reluctant help of Jacoby as they dig deeper into the involving mystery. Maybe a little help from Dylan Talbot in locating a chop shop was in order. His brother, Jake was Cody's father but because of a dare from Kate he ended up in a wheelchair. Dylan didn't know that he was an uncle. Bret Byer, Mick's ex-partner from Homicide shows up at Otis's shack and tries to put the make on Kate. Jacoby has had his fill of Homicide. The plot is excellent and revolves around Mick's obsession with finding his wife and daughter's killer and proving that one of the Robears was responsible. But his clues are few and far between as five years has passed. Until Kate sees and recognizes the part of a grill on Mick's mantel. I loved the description of the way to Frank and his mothers hidaway mansion in the bayous - where Kate was going to hide Cody. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - excellent plot and great story telling - a keeper!

Former chop-shop, now repossessor Kate Robear is one of the chop-shop Robears and a prime suspect of Detective Mick Jacoby who lost his wife and daughter to a hit-and-run driver he thinks was a Robear. All he has is a piece of broken grill and when he finds the rest of the grill, he will have found the killer. But Kate has her own concern, her son Cody, and she will do anything to protect him. Suddenly, she is surrounded by bodies and suspected by Jacoby of being in the midst of the killing spree. The men who are dying, though, are implicated in a money smuggling operation run by Kate's mysterious employer. Bret Byer--what is his role in this? I can't give away the ending but this is a very good read with a complex plot and plenty of steamy exchange between Kate and Mick.