Pure Dynamite
Lauren Bach
Zebra, Oct 2004, $6.50, 352 pp.
ISBN: 0821776312

A storm has caused havoc throughout North Carolina so prison labor helps with the clean-up. Two members of a "chain" gang, Adam Duval and Lyle McEdwin, escape together. Since Adam orchestrated the escape, Lyle promised that his father and three brothers (ranked 1-4 by the FBI) will hide them. Lyle contacts his brother Nevin who tells him to go to a storage facility in Durham. Lyle stupidly engages in a shootout with an off-duty cop. Lyle and the cop are wounded before the two prisoners flee.

Lyle needs medical help so Adam finds the Bay Meadow Clinic about to close for the night with only Dr. Renata Curtis inside. Nevin calls and says bring Renata with them to keep Lyle alive. Adam calls his FBI contact Stan to say everything has gone wrong in their efforts to capture Lyle's father Willie. Only Stan and former FBI head Falco know that Adam is undercover. As they follow Nevin's instructions, Adam and Lyle flee with Renata as a hostage. Struggling to keep her safe and complete the mission, Adam and Renata fall in love.

The suspense hooks the audience from the start and never decelerates until the final confrontation. Adding to the high tension are Adam and Renata, who both know that the time and place are wrong, but yet it feels so right. Though treachery adds a surprise, terse spin, it feels inconceivable; still readers will immensely appreciate this tight thriller that needs a warning label for its graphic sexual encounters between the stars. Great romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner