Time to Run
Marliss Melton
Warner, Feb 2006, $6.50
ISBN: 0446614815

US Navy JAG Captain Bartholomew Garret runs a tight ship at home expecting his wife Sara to even alphabetize canned goods and his ten year son Kendel to be quiet when he is at home. When Kendel plays his music loud, an angry Bartholomew strangles to death his son's pet rabbit. Sara knows they must leave him before his mental abuse turns to physical abuse on them.

Chief Petty Officer Chase McCaffrey relaxes at Ocean Naval Base following completion of his latest assignment as a SEAL sniper. He notices Sara sitting outside Garret's office as her husband expects her to wait all day for him until he finishes his work. He asks Sara to give a package to JAG Lieutenant Renault who is tied up in a meeting. Because he is leaving to check his newly inherited Oklahoma ranch, he calls Sara to verify she gave the package to Renault. She begs him to take her and Kendel to Oklahoma. Chase takes them to his ranch and gets them new IDs. As the adults fall in love and he mentors her son teaching him to whittle. A supremacist group that his late stepfather belonged to and Bartholomew make it unsafe for Sara and Kendel.

Marliss Melton's latest SEAL romantic suspense is an exciting tale starring a fine lead couple and her likable son. The return of Hannah from IN THE DARK will be welcomed by readers who have not forgotten this strong FBI agent. Though Sara adapts too easily and Bartholomew has no redeeming qualities (one must wonder why the Navy let him obviously mentally abuse his wife), fans will enjoy this wonderful thriller.

Harriet Klausner