Sleepwalker by Karen Robards

Sleepwalker by Karen Robards
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It’s not that Micayla Lange is afraid of the clinking she hears coming from the first floor of the empty McMansion she’s housesitting for her uncle Nicco. She’s a cop, after all. It’s just that finding out her boyfriend was cheating on her was enough drama for one night. Now she’s alone on New Year’s Eve, wearing flannel pajamas and wielding a Glock 22 as she zeroes in on the unmistakable source of the sound: Uncle Nicco’s private office. Jason Davis steals things for a living, so unexpected developments are a natural part of the job. Getting caught red-handed by a hot, pigtail-sporting police officer in what is supposed to be a gangster’s deserted house is just one more twist in the game. Kind of like finding incriminating photos in Nicco Marino’s safe, only to discover the cop — and the security cameras — have gotten a real good look at his face. Unfortunately for Mick, she also got a good look at the damned pictures. Her “uncle” might love her like family, but if he knows she’s seen evidence that implicates him in the murder of a city councilman, she doesn’t like her chances. Which is why she’s having a hard time reconciling her professional instincts with what she is rapidly concluding is an inescapable fact: She’s about to help a criminal get away with a suitcase full of stolen money. And she’s going with him. Mick and Jason’s race for their lives hurtles them through the dangerous Michigan wilderness on speedboat and snowmobile. As their adventure heats up and their enemies close in, Mick is torn between her duty to the force and the combustible passion engulfing her and her unlikely partner in crime. She’ll have to turn Jason in sooner or later . . . if they survive. But will they ever get a second chance at love?

My first and not last Karen Robards book is Sleepwalker. The time period of the main story is three days. Maybe less. The first part is a flashback of Mick and Jenny's mother's murder when Mick was 11 and she was killed in front of their eyes. Now 27, Mick has nightmares every few months and she sleepwalks, sometimes waking up to her own screams. Which is how Mick finds herself out of her bed on New Year's Eve while house sitting for an old family friend.

While returning to her room, she hears a sound. Now a Detroit cop, she runs to her room, grabs her Glock and interrupts a robbery in her "uncle's" safe. There is some good butt kicking and kicked butt and then the game changer when Mick comes across incriminating evidence against her "uncle." She's smart enough to realize she's in deep doo-doo and allows herself to be taken hostage and helps the thief escape. She plans on arresting him later.

I'll go ahead and let slip one nugget. Uncle Nicco is big time mob. Sorry if I spoiled it for you but you figure it out pretty quickly. Cop and robber become grudging allies while Nicco's thugs (and he has a lot) look for them.

Action packed, intelligently written, well researched. It's a great thriller story with a couple of surprises thrown in. Sexual tension is not a surprise because it was definitely there. So it's a thriller with cops and robbers. It's a romance with strong attraction and sex. Not overboard sex but enough to get the gist and vicariously enjoy.

This is not a children's book.

Overall, an enjoyable read with a strong storyline and well written characters. Loved Jason. Oh, how I loved Jason.