Synopses & Reviews
When Dr. Rennie Newton is summoned to jury duty, she brings to the courtroom the same level of competence that she displays in the operating room. Her commitment to precision compels her to deliver a not guilty verdict in the murder case against notorious contract killer Ricky Lozada.
It will be the most regrettable decision in her life...because Rennie's trial with Lozada doesn't end with his acquittal.
Her carefully structured life begins to crumble when a rival colleague is brutally slain. Lozada's menacing shadow looms over the murder, but it's Rennie the investigators focus on as a prime suspect. The privacy she has cultivated and protected at all costs is violated by the police as well as Lozada. And when he begins an earnest courtship, it becomes terrifyingly clear that he is obsessed with having her.
Wick Threadgill is a detective on indefinite leave from the Fort Worth PD, who has his own, personal agenda for the contract killer. Temperamental, bitter, and driven by loyalty and love, Wick is determined to destroy Lozada.
In order to defeat Lozada -- and save their lives -- Rennie and Wick form an uneasy alliance. Mistrustful of each other, they know only one thing with absolute certainty, when this killer strikes, they won't see it coming.
The Crush will take you on a tortuous path through a twisted sociopath's eerie obsession, a haunted man fragile hopes for redemption, and a woman's heart as she struggles to face the greatest fear -- to open herself to love.
Synopsis
Dr. Rennie Newton thought she was doing the right thing when she voted to acquit contract killer Ricky Lozada while serving on a jury. But when Lozada is released, he begins calling her and leaving flowers. Suddenly Rennie's carefully structured life begins to crumble when a rival doctor at her hospital is murdered and suspicion falls on Rennie. Detective Wick Threadgill, who believes in Rennie's innocence, steps in to protect her. But will he get there in time to stop a twisted sociopath's deadly obsession?
About the Author
Sandra Brown is the author of fifty-six
New York Times bestsellers, most recently
Play Dirty which was published in August 2007 by SimonandSchuster and debuted at number two on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. Her other recent bestsellers include
Ricochet (2006),
Chill Factor (2005),
White Hot (2004),
Hello, Darkness (2003),
The Crush (2002),
Envy (2001), all of which have jumped onto the
Times bestseller list in the number one to five spot. Her new novel
Smoke Screen will be published on August 12, 2008.
Brown began her writing career in 1981 and since then has published nearly seventy novels, most of which remain in print. As of 1990, when Mirror Image made The New York Times bestseller list, each subsequent novel, including reprints of earlier books, have become Times bestsellers. Her novel The Witness was recently optioned by Twinstar Entertainment for a major motion picture. Brown now has seventy million copies of her books in print worldwide, and her work has been translated into thirty-three languages.
A lifelong Texan, Sandra Brown was born in Waco and raised in Ft. Worth. Before embarking on her writing career, she worked as a model at the Dallas Apparel Mart, and in television, including weathercasting for WFAA-TV in Dallas, and feature reporting on the nationally syndicated program "PM Magazine." She is much in demand as a speaker at book festivals and charity functions throughout the year. Court TV (now tru TV) also sought Brown to host the 2007 premier of its popular series "Murder by the Book."
Awards and commendations include a 2008 honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Texas Christian University, the 2007 Texas Medal of Arts Award for Literature, the American Business Women's Association's Distinguished Circle of Success, B'nai B'rith's Distinguished Literary Achievement Award, and the A. C. Greene Award. Brown is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Authors Guild, Mystery Writers of America, Literacy Partners, and is a founding member of International Thriller Writers. She will be honored as the ITW's "ThrillerMaster" in 2008.
She and her husband live in Arlington, Texas.