Review: Unlawful Contact

Book Review: Unlawful Contact, by Pamela Clare



When a young woman disappears, journalist Sophie Alton investigates and is led to the woman's brother, a convicted killer who is running from the law. Together, they follow a dangerous path toward the truth-and unforgettable passion.


Genre: romantic suspense

Publishing date: April 2008

Mature content: yes

Review: Unlawful Contact is a cleverly written book. The story is intense, both from the suspense and the romance points of view. But it has, in my opinion, one significant flaw: Sophie is a very silly woman. When she was a teenager she had a one night stand with the high school bad boy. A boy, we later realize, she knew nothing about, not even his real name. She was a nerd, he was hot and the timing was right. He leaves the next morning to join the army and that's it.

Years later, she's a journalist investigating the disappearance of a young mother recovering from drug addition and comes across her bad boy again. Bad boy who turns out to be the missing girl's older brother. And who, after a somewhat stellar military career, shot a DEA colleague three times in the chest, was convicted for murder and sentenced to life in jail. And who uses Sophie to escape from jail. 

Now, when they kiss for the first time after the prison break, while she's still playing the part of being his hostage, I chalked it up to old memories and nostalgia. By the second kiss, I started to cringe. Then they have sex (unprotected, too) and she decides not to take precautions to prevent pregnancy because she would like to have his baby. Really? He's a convicted criminal and by then she's also on the run from the law, so banning the expected happy ending, they could actually both end up in jail, and she wants to bring a child into that mess? I realize that her attitudes were necessary for the plot to wok, but as a woman and a mother, she was just out of line for me.

So, the basic plot is interesting, if not entirely original, the story flows well, the romance is hot and some passages are really gripping. But Sophie's character and decisions undermine the credibility of the story and made it a lot less convincing. 

Unlawful Contact is book three in the I-team series by Pamela Clare, but it can be perfectly read as a stand alone book - I didn't read the previous two books. And, given my disappointment with this one, I probably won't any time soon.

Happy Monday,

the book worm, book blog

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