TBR Challenge 2012-- May Category

Cry Wolf by Tami Hoag
 
TBR Challenge 2012: May Challenge- Read a book published prior to 2000.
TBR Challenge 2012: Personal Challenge- Cry Wolf has been on my to-read list since March 2010.

Grade C+
Lucky's Lady is one of my favorite romantic suspense books, and I looked forward to reading Cry Wolf when I saw it was labeled Doucet #3. Other than sharing the Bayou setting and having a one line mention of Lucky Doucet, there is nothing to tie this book to the others. Lucky's Lady also dealt with family troubles and a tortured hero, but I was able to believe the transformations and the happy ending. Cry Wolf on the other hand is one long downer. The book is full of characters who have been abused and traumatized. A few of the topics covered include repeated sexual abuse of a child by a custodial step-parent, physical abuse by an alcoholic parent, patricide, a disbarred lawyer, suicide, nervous breakdown, cold social climbing parent, and so much more. There are no well-adjusted characters here.

The suspense plot was slow to unravel, and the relationship between Jack and Laurel was push-me pull-you for half the book. The heavy angst in both of them was exhausting. Laurel is suppose to be a strong character, and in some ways she comes through in the end, but overall she seems helpless in the face of her grief over her failed case and loss of career. She seems like a ship tossed around on a stormy sea in every relationship: with her sister, her mother, Jack, Stephen, the sheriff, Jimmy Lee, and even the local bar patrons.

Even when the mystery is solved, I wasn't convinced of the happy ending. Way too much baggage weigh the characters down. Their HEA won't come without years of therapy for both of them.

I gave it 3 stars because the writing is good and the mystery kept me glued to the pages.