Ridley Pearson, Cut and Run

Cut and Run

Ridley Pearson

Hyperion, April 2005, $23.95, 416 pp.

ISBN 0788667264

U.S. Marshall Roland Larson has guarded Hope Stevens for forty-one days waiting for her to be placed in the Witness Protection Program. She has information about the Romero crime family that could put them away for life. So far they have tried to kill her three times and although they failed, they will keep on trying so it is imperative that she gets a new identity quickly so she can be alive to testify at their fraud and murder trials.

Before she disappears, Hope asks Larson to go into the program so they can be together. The next day she is gone and nobody will tell Larson where she has been relocated to or the name she is now using. Six years later, Hope is out of the program and on her own with her five year old daughter Penny. The Romero family has gone underground and wants to locate her now because their brother Donny is due out of prison unless she comes forth to testify. They kidnap Penny to use as a bargaining chip but Larson has found Hope and he is determined to get Penny, no matter what the costs.

Action, adventure, and romance are blended together to become one of the best books Ridley Pearson has ever written. The characters touch a chord in the readers' hearts especially Hope who wants her daughter safe at any cost to herself. Larson wants Hope and Penny out of harm's way and with him while Penny has to be brave beyond her years to survive the kidnapping. The brilliant characterizations, the fast paced storyline and the romantic sizzle between two protagonists make CUT AND RUN a book to put on the keeper shelf.

Harriet Klausner