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Book Review of Mean Streak

Mean Streak
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3.0 out of 5 stars -- Predictable romantic fluff disguised as a suspense thriller. Any reader of this genre will be immediately comfortable with the stereotypical characters -- the brooding and mysterious male stranger and the golden girl heroine who wakes up in a bed in a remote cabin with a knot on her head and a concussion and no idea what happened. So, a handsome, rugged man who won't give his name holed up alone with a beautiful woman in the wilderness with wintry conditions preventing her escape; no one is fooled, or scared. His threatening aura and refusal to give an explanation for her captivity notwithstanding, she is unafraid as he promises he won't hurt her. Is he her captor or her rescuer?

Dr. Emory Charbonneau, Atlanta pediatrician and heiress, is training for a fundraising marathon when she goes missing off the trail just outside of Drakeland, North Carolina. Her frantic husband, Jeff, seeks help from the local sheriff's office there when Emory doesn't return from her weekend practice run. Detectives Knight and Grange are concerned but quickly zero in on Jeff as a possible suspect in his wife's disappearance -- after all, isn't it usually the husband in a case like this? And, it seems that Jeff has a couple of motives for wanting his wife out of the picture. Meanwhile, an FBI agent has spent 4 years searching for a man whose legacy was a shooting that left 8 people dead. Is the man who holds Emory the one he wants?

The novel is fast-paced and flips between point of view as it moves toward its unsurprising climax when all secrets are revealed. This book would be perfect for a commute or vacation read as there's nothing but mindless entertainment here and sometimes that's exactly what the reader wants.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the e-book ARC to review.