Mar 31 2008
REVIEW: Unlawful Contact by Pamela Clare
Dear Ms. Clare:
I admit to having some reservations about starting this book because I had a real hard time with the heroine in Hard Evidence. However, the gritty and realistic feel that emanated from the pages of this book were captivating and made the book hard to put down. I read that you had gone into lockup overnight so as to experience what it was like incarcerated. Even that short time clearly had an impact in the writing of this story.
Marc “Hunt” Hunter and Sophie Alton had a moment in high school and then Hunt disappeared from Sophie’s life, seemingly forever. Fast forward twelve years and Sophie is a journalist celebrating the release of a female inmate whose life Sophie had been following through her writing and Hunt is a felon doing hard time for the murder of a federal agent. Sophie had begun reporting on Megan’s life in prison when she heard about the stillbirth of a different inmate’s baby. When Megan was released, Sophie was to meet her and help Megan adjust to post incarcerated life and to reunite Megan with the baby she birthed in prison. Except, Megan has fled in violation of her parole. Now everyone is out searching for her. Sophie is determined to find her first and get to the root of Megan’s initial incarceration and her troubled statements about prison abuse.
Sophie’s search for Megan leads her to inmate Hunt, Megan’s brother. Sophie doesn’t realize that this man is her old high school sweetheart. Marc knows. He’s torn between his feelings for Sophie that lingered even beyond high school and that have kept him sane while being imprisoned. He hates that he has to use her to gain his freedom but his sister’s life is on the line and he is determined to try to save her when he couldn’t before. When Sophie comes to prison to see if Hunt has any leads on Megan’s whereabouts, Hunt uses this opportunity to take Sophie hostage and flee from prison.
Marc’s desperation is a tangible thing throughout the book. He’s desperate to save his sister. He’s desperate for a normal life which in another parallel universe would include Sophie. He’s desperate for freedom. All of these desires converge upon him, battling internally for dominance.
Sophie’s understandably fearful, outraged, and then becomes sympathetic. It helps, in part, that Sophie is not Marc’s captive for the entirety of the story. Because she is free of him, it does seem that she chooses to believe in him, not out of some Stockholm Syndrome, but because of the facts that she sees piling up in his favor. Her journalistic ears are twitching and the roadblocks that are being thrown in her investigatory path are only making her hungrier for the story.
The real problem I had in this book was the sugary, over the top, full of babies epilogue. I understand that Marc and Sophie had a difficult path to their HEA, but I didn’t need the long epilogue full of past characters and children to make me believe in it. B.
Best regards,
Jane
This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or Powells or ebook format.
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Mar 31, 2008 @ 15:29:51
I cannot wait to read this book! I have to admit, I like long, baby filled epilogues, I’m weird that way I know! LOL I read over and over that people don’t like them, so I know I’m in a minority~so I am looking forward to the epilogue (and since I read the last few pages of a book first. . . .) ;o)
Mar 31, 2008 @ 16:34:15
I’m a huge Pamela Clare fan. She writes great romantic suspense. Have this and can’t wait to get started on it.
Mar 31, 2008 @ 16:55:00
I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while too. I was privileged to read bits and pieces of it as Pamela struggled through the writing and knew this would be a fantastic story once it’s done. Congrats, PC!
Mar 31, 2008 @ 16:59:37
I really enjoyed this one too – and yeah – I can see the rather to sugary baby thing at the end.
And – at the risk of touting my own horn – it’s not mine I want to tout – she is doing a great two-part interview today and tomorrow on my blog
Mar 31, 2008 @ 18:39:37
I, too, was fortunate enough to get to read this early, and I can’t recommend it enough. As Jane said, the authenticity is just incredible, and my adrenaline was pumping through pretty much the whole book (for all sorts of different reasons, if you know what I mean ;) ). Definitely a “must read!”
Mar 31, 2008 @ 18:51:14
I put this in my cart to buy as a ebook. This will be my first time reading her work. Reading about her experience in jail is what prompted me to try this book. Fascinating reading, btw.
Mar 31, 2008 @ 20:26:13
Keishon – Clare’s actual experience really bleeds onto the page. I didn’t read the actual accounts until after I had read the book. It’s alot like one of those “ripped from the headlines” tv shows, except its a book and contains a lot of realistic experiences.
Mar 31, 2008 @ 21:45:22
I’ve really been looking forward to this novel because of Pamela’s posts about her prison experience on The Good, The Bad, and The Unread.
On the State of the Epilogue - Dear Author
Jul 12, 2011 @ 04:00:22
[...] going to use birth control for the first ten years of their marriage and an epilogue in Unlawful Contact which features babies and barbecues.)This epilogue ruined the book for a friend of mine and while [...]