Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - # 2 March 2003 Best-selling and prolific author Johnston excels at both historical and contemporary romances and now makes her hardcover debut with a particularly timely tale. Luke Creed, introduced in The Loner [BKL Mr 15 02], is about to get a partnership in his prestigious Houston law firm, but his ambition has cost him his marriage and custody of his daughters. On a visit home he runs into his old high-school sweetheart, Amy, and realizes immediately that he still has feelings for her. But she has escaped a difficult marriage, and love is the last thing on her mind. Luke returns to Houston and a new case, which involves a woman who is suing the drug company he represents, concerned not with money but with getting the drug her daughter was taking before she died taken off the market. Her attorney? Amy. When Luke realizes his daughter is taking the same drug, he risks everything to help Amy to investigate the many deaths associated with this drug, a dangerous quest that draws them together even as complications multiply. ((Reviewed March 15, 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews
Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2002 November #2 Back after The Loner, obsessive lawyer Luke Creed is about to pay The Price for serving corporate interests. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Review 2003 April #2 Romance veteran Johnston makes her hardcover debut with another Bitter Creek novel (The Loner, etc.), in which Houston lawyer Luke Creed tracks down unethical businessmen in between joy rides on his Harley and attempts to woo his old high school sweetheart. Is the wonder drug D-Free a lifesaver for young diabetics or a dangerous cash cow for Hyland Pharmaceuticals? The mother of a child who died while using D-Free is suing Hyland, and Luke is part of the company's defense team. But he has an even greater stake in the case: one of his two daughters, eight-year-old Brynne, is diabetic and takes D-Free. To complicate matters further, his love interest, Amy, is representing the plaintiff. The hale Texan (who has a ranch and still calls his women "baby") is not afraid to face corporate bullies, even when they include his workaholic female boss. On the romantic front, Luke has his work cut out for him when the lonely yet stubbornly independent Amy rebuffs him. Johnston's characters brim with humanity as they navigate law firm politics and drug approval procedures, child-raising and custody battles. The recycled subplots and soap opera dramatics are predictable, but Luke's position as Hyland's defense attorney adds moral complexity. Readers will find themselves turning the pages, if only for more glimpses of a modern cowboy as captivating in the courtroom as he is on his hog. (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Book
