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When she hears that her younger brother Danny has committed suicide, Sayre Lynch relents from her vow never to return to Destiny, the small Louisiana town in which she grew up. She plans to leave immediately after the funeral, but instead soon finds herself drawn into the web cast by Huff Hoyle, her controlling and tyrannical father, the man who owns the town’s sole industry, an iron foundry, and in effect runs the lives of everyone who lives there.
As she feared, Sayre learns that nothing has changed. Her father and older brother, Chris, are as devious as ever, and now they have a new partner-in-crime, a canny and disarming lawyer named Beck Merchant, who appears to be their equal in corruption.
Soon, Sayre is thrown in closer contact with Beck and becomes convinced that something more sinister is at play than her father’s usual need to dominate people and events. As she sets out to learn just what did happen to Danny, she comes to realize that there are many secrets in Destiny—secrets that hide decades of pain and anger, and that threaten at any moment to erupt and destroy not only her father and brother, but perhaps Sayre herself.
Underneath the rigid control that the Hoyles exert over the town, trouble is brewing. Old hatreds foster plans for revenge, past crimes resurface, and a maverick deputy sheriff determines that Danny Hoyle’s death was not suicide, but murder.
As tensions mount, threatening to ignite a powder keg of long-held hostility, Sayre finds herself inextricably drawn into a struggle with striking laborers, her unscrupulous father, and her own emotions over the love/hate relationship that is growing with Beck, a man apparently with his own agenda, and mysteries of his own.
As she has shown in the dozens of bestselling novels in which she has combined hard-edged suspense with intense emotion, Sandra Brown is a master storyteller, and in her new novel she is at her very best.
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First of all, thanks to Sandra Brown who sent me this nice book through the Goodreads giveaway. :)
Ten years ago Sayre Lynch escaped Destiny, her small Louisiana hometown. She was determined not to come back at any cost, even refusing to receive calls from her family. But when her brother Danny died, Sayre has to return to Destiny to attend his funeral. She planned to leave right after the funeral ends, but things are more complicated that she thought it would be.
When investigators hint that Danny might have been murdered, Sayre extends her stay to find out how her brother died. She has to face her tyrannical father, Huff Hoyle, along with her equally devious brother, Chris. The existence of their brilliant and canny attorney, Beck Merchant, complicates her effort in finding out the truth.
Despite her ill opinion on Beck, Sayre finds herself strangely drawn to him. Their loyalties is on the different sides, weaving a complicated love/hate relationship between them. The more she wants him, the more she realize that Beck would do practically anything to cover for her family.
Sayre doesn't know that when she set foot in her father's steel mill, she will soon discover a complex strings of events that eventually lead her to the past. Hatred, revenge and crimes buried a long time ago are about to resurface...
I especially love the characters and how they got developed throughout the story. Sayre is a fantastic heroine who can stand on her own feet, and her chemistry with Beck is really interesting. Huff is the perfect tyrannical father with a painful past, which explains why he became who he is now. Minor characters have clear personalities and didn't easily blend into the background. Oh, and Frito is really adorable!
The plot is full with intriguing twists and turns, though some of them are predictable. Love the plot twist at the end of the story though, which really caught me off guard. While it's a little slow in solving Danny's murder, overall it has a nicely built plot. The ending is tragic, but is ironically perfect.
This is a really good and fun read, filled with a great deal of suspense and drama. I should read more of Sandra Brown's books when I have the time and resource. :)
