Book Review -- Mean Streak by Sandra Brown

Mean Streak by Sandra Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sandra Brown is a master of suspense and intrigue. Her books are always set out to bring the worst out of the readers deduction capabilities. After reading a Brown novel when you look back you say how was I so wrong about that? How could I have missed this? How the heck did that happen? The questions that you have once you read through to the end of the novel are along similar lines and none of them provide you any answer other than the obvious one - WE ARE TRAINED TO THINK THE WORST OF A PERSON.

Mean Streak is as the title says, its about the mean streak possessed by everyone the protagonist, the antagonist, the side kicks, the hero, the heroine.. I mean literally everybody. The book has so many twists and turns that it feels as if the reader is on a roller coaster ride, hurtling from one ride to another and thinking where the heck is my stomach? This is only the third novel that I have read from Brown following The Crush and The Alibi earlier. Both books were good solid suspense page turners and I must say Mean Streak does not disappoint either.

Mean Streak deals with the kidnapping/murder plot of Dr. Emory Charbonneau who is a regular do gooder. When she gets kidnapped while training for the upcoming marathon that she is organizing the needle of suspicion falls on her husband who's been having an affair with Emory's friend behind her back. While things seem relatively straight forward, nothing is as it seems including an enigmatic stranger who save Emory when she is concussed. It is only natural that our Dr. falls head over heels in love with the stranger who would not even give her his name. Thus begins a cat and mouse game where the reader is left wondering just who is the suspect there. Everybody seems to be the suspect except for our fair maiden. While the needle of suspicion points sorely at the enigmatic stranger the husbands hands are not so clean as well.

Brown takes the reader on a rollicking ride of suspense interspersed with her trademark steamy scenes. While they come across as a bit crude and written for the peanut gallery, I am docking a star for them being out of place in an otherwise crisp storyline.

Overall the plot is good and keeps the reader hooked up until the end to guess who the murderer/kidnapper is. I would rate this one a good 3.5 stars.


View all my reviews