Deadline

by Sandra Brown

2014

Status

Available

Genres

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Vision (2014), Edition: Reprint, 496 pages

Description

Already coping with battle fatigue following his return from Afghanistan, journalist Dawson Scott receives a tip he cannot ignore about a potentially huge story involving the son of terrorists at-large for forty years. Dawson Scott is a well-respected journalist recently returned from Afghanistan. Haunted by everything he experienced, he's privately suffering from battle fatigue which is a threat to every aspect of his life. But then he gets a call from a source within the FBI. A new development has come to light in a story that began 40 years ago. It could be the BIG story of Dawson's career one in which he has a vested interest. Soon, Dawson is covering the disappearance and presumed murder of former Marine Jeremy Wesson, the biological son of the pair of terrorists who remain on the FBI's Most Wanted list. As Dawson delves into the story, he finds himself developing feelings for Wesson's ex-wife, Amelia, and her two young sons. But when Amelia's nanny turns up dead, the case takes a stunning new turn, with Dawson himself becoming a suspect.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member gpangel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Deadline by Sandra Brown is a Grand Central Publication and will be released on September 24, 2013. Amelia is a widow with two children. She has removed herself from public life as much as possible. Her deceased husband, Jeremy, was murdered by his lover's husband and now

Amelia is having to testify at his trial. This has brought out reporters and other media, causing Amelia to attempt to keep a low profile. However, she never suspects someone would go so far as to move in right next door and break in to her home and spy on her. Which is exactly what Dawson did, and he got he caught- by Amelia. Dawson, like Amelia's former husband, is suffering for PTSD. Dawson was a reporter covering the war effort. He came home with horrible nightmares and has resorted to popping pills and drinking too much. When he gets a phone call about covering this trial, he has other reasons for agreeing to it. He never expected to be so drawn to Amelia or her two boys. Amelia is furious at being spied on, so she and Dawson get off to a rather rocky start. But, Amelia's boys just love Dawson and before long, Amelia grudgingly opens up to Dawson a little. However, there have been some rather odd occurrences going on around Amelia's home. She suspects Dawson at first, but he swears he knows nothing about it. Then during a storm, when Amelia's nanny goes into to town for some supplies and never comes back, the investigation opens up the possibility that Jeremy may not have been murdered by his lover's husband after all. While we are pondering on all that, we are given excepts into Jeremy's childhood through a diary his mother kept. Jeremy's parents were vigilantes and his father was particularly cruel. Jeremy didn't fit in with that lifestyle so his parents gave him to a friend to raise. Things might have been alright with Jeremy, but he came back from the war a changed man. Or did he?Since Jeremy's father, Carl, was never found, was it possibly the two of them finally met after Jeremy became an adult? What impact would it have on him to know his father was a killer? Amelia never knew anything about Jeremy's past, but she is quickly getting a lesson from Dawson of all people. This would have to be one of the most different novels by Sandra Brown that I have read. This one called attention to the horrors and realities of war. The PTSD suffered by men and women who see things we couldn't possibly imagine and the effect that has on their coping mechanism. The plot is twisted. So many lives were manipulated by one hard, cold, killer. A man hunt that has lasted for years, the danger Amelia and her sons are in, and the secrets Dawson are keeping, has the suspense mounting. The feelings that develop between Dawson and Amelia can only grow once Dawson is able to come to some kind of peace in regards to his past. Not only about his PTSD, but about his heritage. I loved the way he managed to use his gifts as a reporter to bring about closure, not only for himself, but for many others as well. This is a multi-layered story with Brown's usual twist and turn type romantic suspense, but there were many other issues at hand in this one. I recommend this one to all the lovers of romantic suspense and mysteries, but this one could also appeal to those that like women's fiction and contemporary romance. Another solid effort by Sandra Brown. This one is an A.

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LibraryThing member DPLyle

Sandra Brown has built her stellar career on gritty stories that always involve high tension: political, social, personal, psychological, and, of course, sexual. Often with anti-hero protagonists, chilling antagonists, and a cadre of deeply drawn supporting characters, her stories are

edge-of-the-seat, deep-into-the-night tales. Deadline is such a story.

Dawson Scott is a highly-respected journalist, freshly back from war-torn Afghanistan where he brought back a bag full of soldier stories as well as a dose of PTSD so severe he must self-medicate with alcohol and psychotropic drugs to fend off his nightmare-driven insomnia. The last thing he wants is another story about a damaged soldier. But retiring FBI agent Gary Headly, who is Dawson’s godfather, convinces him to dig into the love-triangle murder of Marine Jeremy Wesson and Darlene Strong by Darlene’s husband Willard.

Dawson resists the story, thinking sitting in on the trial a waste of time. But since his godfather requested he do so and since his other option was to follow orders from his editor and cover a story about blind balloonists, he plops down in the courtroom, bored and disinterested. Until the beautiful Amelia, Jeremy Wesson’s ex-wife and witness for the prosecution, walks into the courtroom. After her direct testimony is completed, the trial recesses for a long holiday weekend after which she must return for what is anticipated to be a grueling cross examination. Dawson follows her to a small coastal South Carolina island where she and her two young sons are hiding from the media storm surrounding the sensational case. He leases the house next door in the hopes of an interview, not to mention getting to know her a better, unaware of how their lives will intertwine.

But is he the only one keeping an eye on Amelia? Is there more to the story than a simple double murder?

For Amelia, the long weekend is anything but relaxing. Odd things begin happening. Lost articles turn up in strange places, broken items are miraculously repaired. By whom? Why? The stranger next door, Dawson Scott, befriends her sons and her nanny, who later turns up murdered while a violent storm hammers the coast. Her only ally seems to be the kindly old man who has rented the house next to hers every summer for many years.

From Dawson, Amelia learns more about her ex-husband’s past than she ever wanted to know. More than she wants her sons to know about their father. And each revelation raises more questions. Is her ex truly dead? After all, he body was never found. Where is her long-missing father-in-law Carl Wingert, a domestic terrorist and one of the FBI’s Most Wanted. When last seen decades earlier, he was head of the Rangers of Righteousness and disappeared during a Ruby Ridge-type shootout with Agent Headly at Golden Branch, Oregon. Has he reentered Amelia’s life? Does he have a role in the double murder, or the strange happenings? Who killed her nanny? Who wants her dead? And more importantly why? Who can she trust?

The answer to each of these questions is revealed in a fast-paced conclusion that will keep the reader guessing until the end. Not to mention up late flipping pages.

This story is classic Sandra Brown. It is intelligently written, deftly paced, and convoluted to the point that each character must dig deep into his or her own past and current psyche to make sense of the chaotic world around them. Highly recommended.

DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Dub Walker and Samantha Cody thriller series

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LibraryThing member pammykn

AUTHOR: BROWN, Sandra
TITLE: Deadline
Date Read: 12/30/13
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/PUBLISHER/# OF PGS: Thriller/2013/Hachette/410 pgs
SERIES/STAND ALONE S/A

TIME/PLACE: Present/Georgia
CHARACTERS: Dawson Scott/journalist; Amelia Nolan/museum curator

FIRST LINES: What's with the hair?

COMMENTS: Good

thriller w/ a twist to the ending. Dawson Scott has returned from writing a story in Afghanistan and seems more insular than normal -- he is retreating into a daily regimen of pain pills & alcohol to forget what he saw in the war. His godfather, a soon-to-be retired FBI agent has some new information on the most memorable crime of his career from 1976. He engages Dawson to look into it in hopes of not only finding closure for himself but also to get Dawson to move on.

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LibraryThing member jbarr5

Deadline by Sandra Brown
Quite the mystery book as Amelia and her two young boys are at her father's house on the island. He had committed suicide and she can't believe it because he had so much to live for.
Steph, the nanny is with her to help out this summer with the boys but one bad storm and

she's dead now.
Amelia thinks her ex is still around as no body was ever found. She hated his war wounds-the PTSD and what it had done to him-thus the divorce.
Dawson Scott moves into the rental beach house next door-he spies on her and is hoping to cross examine her at the trial and he is a journalist with a deadline for a story. They do talk and she starts to trust him, he helps out with the boys and rescues her from the storm.
There are so many aspects to this story: drugs, death. Love following all the clues to the very end.
The story also follows the murders and how they continually get away with being off the grid and hiding for over a year.
Lots of hot spicy sex scenes also.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

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LibraryThing member Kathy89

Typical Sandra Brown novel. Woman and her two young children living on a deserted strip of beach when a journalist rents the next house. She assumes he's interested in her because of the trial she is testifying in, all the while she is afraid of her husband who she doesn't believe is dead and

thinks he's spying on her.

Lots of twists and turns and then you get to the end and there's another twist.

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LibraryThing member LivelyLady

Story of a magazine writer who grabs a story and shakes it like a dog with a bone til he gets what he wants. While this story of family abuse and PTSD is interesting, I find Brown's writing more of that of a dramatic-wanna be author. The romance underlined the story which by itself would have been

good, the drama that is. I think either romance or drama, but she can't do both.

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LibraryThing member Judy.Welker.Frick

Another suspenseful book by Sandra Brown. The story of a journalist (Dawson Scott) who recently returned from Afghanistan and is then sent to cover a murder trial. All the connections he has with Ameilia, her two sons, ex-husband, etc., that are revealed make this a great read.

LibraryThing member debralu

Good twist at the end..........didn't see it coming!

LibraryThing member soosthemoose

Very enjoyable book. Lots of twists and turns and just enough romance.

LibraryThing member anacskie

Wow! The twist and turn of this book left me breathless. This was definitely a good read. I was definitely surprise about Dawson. Romance and mystery thriller rolled into one. Love it! Ahhhh...can't wait to read another book from Sandra Brown.

LibraryThing member anacskie

LibraryThing member christinejoseph

current day — Dawson takes up search for 40 year old murder case — ending weird
long lost brother + parents one left behind to die Birth/then in hole — raised by friedns of FBI — agents takes place island setting outside Savannah —

Dawson Scott is a well-respected journalist recently

returned from Afghanistan. Haunted by everything he experienced, he's privately suffering from battle fatigue which is a threat to every aspect of his life. But then he gets a call from a source within the FBI. A new development has come to light in a story that began 40 years ago. It could be the BIG story of Dawson's career one in which he has a vested interest.

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LibraryThing member jothebookgirl

The book begins with a exciting prologue in Golden Branch, Oregon 1976. FBI agent Headly, and other ATF agents are engaged in an ambush attack on a house in the middle of woods where a group of vigilantes called The Rangers of Righteousness and their leader Carl Wingert are present. After the

attack nearly all the vigilantes are dead but Carl Wingert and his lover, Flora Stimel have escaped. As the crime scene is investigated, on. the mattress is blood and amniotic fluid.

Main character, Dawson Scott is a tall, handsome and well known journalist who returns home after nine months in war torn Afghanistan. Out of the blue, he is summoned by his godfather Gary Headly, soon to be a retired FBI agent to go to Savannah, Georgia and cover the trial of a man accused of killing his wife and lover, former Marine Captain Jeremy Wesson. Initially Dawson is reluctant but eventually agrees when Headly tells him that DNA of Jeremy matches the DNA of the DNA found on a mattress from the Carl Wingert's hideout in 1976.

When Amelia, Jeremy's ex-wife appears in court Dawson suddenly becomes more interested in the case. He then follows Amelia to her beach house in Saint Nelda's island where she is spending the summer with her young sons, Grant and Hunter and their young nanny Stef. He befriends them and another elderly neighbor Bernie. After a storm in which Stef turns up dead and Dawson is suspected of killing her.

This was a good book, but I was glad when it was finished. I loved the unexpected twists and turns, but not the sappy romance.

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LibraryThing member rmarcin

Predictable love relationship, as usual in Sandra Brown novels, but the final twist was completely unexpected. I enjoyed this.

LibraryThing member ftbooklover

Dawson Scott has seen too much during his career as a journalist. Since his return from Afghanistan, he has had recurring nightmares and is dependent upon anti-anxiety medication. When Dawson's godfather, FBI Agent Gary Headly suggests he cover the murder trial of Willard Strong who is accused of

killing his wife and her lover, decorated war veteran, Jeremy Wesson, via attack dog, Dawson can't understand Headly's interest. The revelation that there is a connection to the Golden Branch incident that has plagued Headly for most of his career ensures that Dawson will make the trip to Savannah for the trial. What Dawson doesn't expect is the instant attraction that he feels towards witness for the state and former wife of Jeremy Wesson, Amelia.

Deadline is filled with twists and turns throughout the story that make it tough to put down. Mystery, suspense, and romance are all a part of the plot, but not in equal balance, however, there is enough of each to satisfy the desire for all those narrative elements. The characters are likable but since the book is written from third person point of view, there is a feeling of distance while reading their stories. There is plenty of suspense and action to keep the story moving as more and more secrets are uncovered and clues are revealed. Overall, Deadline is an extremely well written romantic suspense, keeping the reader on pins and needles right up to the end of the book.

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