Four star rating for this one!

Wow, this story had me engaged from the beginning all the way until the end. There is nothing I love more than a strong female lead, and Anne Frasier certainly delivered.

The story starts with Jude Fontaine escaping from her captor after being held for three years. But it’s not just the fact that she escapes, its how she does it. Does she hold a gun up to him and then chicken out at the last moment and run away? No. Does she secretly find a phone and call the police and wait for them to show up and rescue her? No. This badass character takes advantage of a black-out and uses the taser that her captor has been using against her for months and turns it against him. Does she stop there? No. Jude Fontaine stumbles up the stairs to find his gun, right where she’s listened to him place it for the past three years and turns around and…. for once ladies and gentlemen, we have a female character who doesn’t choke! That’s right she turns around to where she can here her captor running up the stairs after her and pop pop pop! And that is how this story begins. And man did it grab my attention and keep it! And thus, Jude Fontaine has been dubbed my very first FIERY FEMALE!

Jude stumbles back in to the life she left, literally. She stumbles back to the house she shared with her boyfriend, who of course has moved on since she was taken, and then stumbles back to the police precinct where she used to work. Everything has changed. People weren’t expecting her to come back. Her position has been filled. Her boyfriend has moved on, and she’s been conditioned over the last three years to remain quiet and the only thing she’s had to occupy her time has been the body language of her captor and the mind of a police detective. Jude has become adept at reading people and immediately wants to jump back in to work.

Did she suffer at the hands of her captor? Yes. Did she have to shut down to survive his cruel tricks on her? Definitely. Is there probably a little something wrong with her brain after all this time? Sure. But I never saw her character weaken through the rest of the story and that was such a beautiful thing and the reason behind my four flame rating.

This is one of those books that makes me want to seek out other works written by the same author. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on Anne Frasier.