The Crush

by Sandra Brown

Other authorsTom Wopat (Reader)

2002

Status

Checked out

Genres

Romance

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

CD Audiobook

Publication

Simon & Schuster Audio (2002), Edition: Abridged

Description

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.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member saucecav

During Jury Duty, Dr. Renne Newton convinced jurors Ricky Lozada, a gun for hire did not have enough evidence to put him away. From then on, he was infatuated with her and felt she was in love with him. He killed all five of her horses in revenge when she showed interest in the detective. She was a

surgeon and saved the detectives life. In the end, Ricky was shot and killed.

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LibraryThing member CLDunn

All of Sandra Brown's books are good. This book is about a killer and a member of his jury. Sent this book to SSG Kott who is a section chief in Iraq.

LibraryThing member cindyloumn

Sort of predictable but also not. You weren't quite sure what else she would throw in. A surgeon with a sordid past, and an ex-cop brought in to help get a killer who killed her brother.
11/16/03

LibraryThing member leo26

Very slow in the begining, about more than half way done with the book is where my intrest was.

LibraryThing member MsBeautiful

Did not keep my interest, not her best effort

LibraryThing member Bookmarque

The above is not entirely accurate. She gets the roses well after the trial. She does not immediately think that Lozada killed her rival. The “handsome young detective” assigned to her case isn’t even a cop. He’s an ex-cop with who screwed up the investigation of his brother’s killing at

Lozada’s hands. He is working on the case at the behest of his brother’s ex-partner who is a cop in Fort Worth where Rennie lives. Of course he’s kind of a hot head with more passion than common sense at times, but a heart of gold etc. etc. etc.

The story hung together pretty well but lacked intensity. The bad guy was just like all the other bad guys I’ve read about; delusional and cruel but sneaky enough not to get caught too often. Typical. Also typical was the ‘star crossed lovers’ bit that surrounded Wick and Rennie. She was a wild child as a young girl because she saw her father screwing her piano teacher. As revenge she went about seducing dad’s business partner. One day when he was at the house and her father walked in on them in a clinch, the partner was shot. Rennie took the blame but it didn’t take a genius to figure that dad really shot the guy. So Rennie has been carrying this burden of guilt over her sexuality and therefore is practically a virgin when Wick and she finally do it. No mention of how it must have hurt, of course.

Before the bad guy is trapped, he’s threatened her and killed a couple of people and her 5 horses. But then an obvious trap is sprung and fails to capture him. So another more devious trap is sprung using one of Lozada’s unwilling accomplices and he is caught. It is hinted that Wick and Rennie will live happily ever after. Yawn.

Tom Wopat did a pretty good job with characterizations and I usually forgot he was Luke Duke in a former life. I did keep singing the theme song to the Dukes of Hazzard though. Retch!

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LibraryThing member gogglemiss

Not the best of her books, despite the rating. I found the characters were far more stronger that eclipsed everything else. What I liked was the strong bond between Wick and Oren, the humourous banter that they shared, and the differences between them. What did hit a raw nerve was the senseless

slaying of the animals. The twist at the end was a total cop (!!!) out.

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LibraryThing member EvBishop

Interesting, fast-paced plots with fairly believable characters. I liked the book enough to pick up another one of Sandra Brown's books right away.

LibraryThing member retlibrary

Not up to standard that Brown usually sets. Too many plot elements were contrived and character flaws unconvincing. Satisfying ending, but sometimes tedious and irritating getting there. Her later novels are much better.

LibraryThing member BackyardHorse

Not one of Sandra's best, but still worth a read on a stormy night.

LibraryThing member Robert.Zimmermann

This was a good short story. I don't mind short stories, even very short ones like this, but I felt that it was lacking just a little bit to bump up my response to it.

Still a good piece to introduce you to the author, I'm sure. Just wasn't the story for me, I think.

LibraryThing member bhabeck

Read this book based on a recommendation (Blind Date with a Book) and thoroughly enjoyed it. I haven't read a book by Sandra Brown in....over a decade, I think, and forgot how much I liked her books.

This story includes a brilliant but emotionally damaged surgeon who is being stalked by a

delusional, cunning psychopath that has "a crush" on her. Enter the charming -but haunted- cop who comes to her rescue. (my current book crush ♥)

Rating: 4

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LibraryThing member dara85

Oren asks his old, friend, Wick to join him in a search for a killer of a doctor at the hospital. Their number one suspect is Dr. Rennie Newton. Dr. Newton served on a jury recently that acquitted Rick Lozada of murder. Lozada is convinced Dr. Newton is interested in him and he tries to woo her.

The lives of all the characters become tangled when a second murder follows. This is romantic suspense at its best.

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