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The book starts out on a decent note, but soon goes downhill. The author uses an already overused storyline: heroine is pursued by evil (mob, terrorist group, whatever) and she thinks she can protect those she loves by hiding. Hero is there to save her but she refuses to let him help. blah, blah blah. This book is not worth the time.

Caleb Stone watched as they beat her viciously with a lead pipe, over and over. Her screams will live with him forever, as well as the guilt. Though he did nothing to stop the terrorists from beating her, he saved a school of children from a bomb. Even so, the guilt ate at him.

Lana Hancock hated Caleb Stone for a long while until she learned the truth of why he did nothing to save her. She still did not like him, but she did not hate him anymore. After a year of healing and recouperating, she was finally getting the threads of her life back, until the day he walked into her office.

Just looking into his eyes brought the terror and the memories back full force. Lana wants him to leave, but Caleb assures Lana he is staying because he is sure that she saw something that could identify the terrorists. She isn't safe and he was going to stick to her like glue until the danger was over, whether she liked him or not!

Lana did see something when she was attacked. The terrorists would look for her or endanger her family if they knew she could identify them. Next time she may not make it out alive, so she says nothing. Caleb knows she is lying and hopes to gain her trust so she will confide in him.

Before long, incidents begin to happen to those close around Lana. Crimes of coincidence? Caleb and Lana think not. As the stakes get higher, Caleb and Lana get closer. She learns to trust him, to get some control back into her life. As the sparks begin to fly, so do the emotions and the roller coaster of events that lead to a very high-charged adrenaline packed climax.

I find this author to have a compulsive reading style, easy to digest, fast-actioned, unputdownable. I devoured this book, and have no compunctions about reading more of her works, but at the end of the day, this remains enjoyable but not outstanding for a variety of reasons.

First of all, while Lana, the heroine, works well as a victim of PTSD, her motivations for creating the conflict that stretches throughout the book are thin. She trusts Caleb early enough in the book that it makes little sense for her to continue lying to him about Kara. When that single choice is the only thing from keeping things from happening, it's very hard not to roll one's eyes.

I also had problems with the villain of the piece. Kara is the acting antagonist, but there's little done with the one behind her, except to add a slight layer of menace to the proceedings. His involvement is never adequately explained or explored, and Kara is too cliched to carry the weight all on her own.

That being said, the action is non-stop, and the chemistry between Lana and Caleb palpable. I really liked him, especially when Grant showed up on the scene and Caleb got possessive. These carry the story further along than it might otherwise get due to the shallow characterizations.

Wow - read the other reviews and some are quite harsh. Simply, I agree it slowed a bit in the middle but I'm glad I read it.

Laura is not dumb she's tramatized from being tortured almost to death and recovering from all her friends dying??? Not all characters are Super Women but she redeems herself at the end of the book.

The author wrote this clearly to focus on Caleb and anguish he lives with having to choose between children dying or watching Laura get tortured which results in his dealing with his own demons and being forgiven for not being able to choose Laura. but no fail...he is most definately a wonderful superhero

I wouldn't have given this book a 10 but I'm starting the next book TODAY!!!

Appreciate the great consistent authors - they are rare