Mercy

Amazon.com Review Bestselling author Julie Garwood has a new calling--contemporary romantic suspense fiction. While longtime fans of Garwood hope she won't forsake the historical romance genre that has been so successful for her, this versatile author is coming into her own as a creator of amazingly complex and detailed suspense novels. In Mercy , Theo Buchanan, the brother of FBI agent Nick Buchanan from Heartbreaker , Garwood's first foray into suspense fiction, meets surgeon Dr. Michelle ''Mike'' Renard when he throws up on her designer dress at a New Orleans gala. Dr. Mike saves Theo's life with an emergency appendectomy, enabling him to return to Boston and his job as a federal prosecutor. But Theo can't stop thinking about Mike and her little hometown on the bayou. After concluding an investigation and trial that brings down a powerful organized crime syndicate, Theo receives several death threats and his boss recommends he keep a low profile. What better place to go incognito than Bowen, Louisiana, where the catfish practically throw themselves at your fishing pole and where a certain pretty young doctor is opening her new practice? But when Theo arrives, he finds life in Bowen isn't quite as idyllic as he thought. Someone has ransacked Mike's new office and seems dead set on harming her. As Theo struggles to protect Mike, he uncovers a ring of upper-crust criminals willing to do anything, even murder, to keep their dirty little secret--all $40 million of it--from being discovered. What connection could they possibly have to Mike? And why does everyone under the age of 18 keep calling Theo ''Coach''? Join perennial favorite Garwood on a journey into the quirky, close-knit communities of the Louisiana bayou and the journey a man and woman devoted to their careers undertake as they fall passionately in love. --Alison Trinkle From Publishers Weekly After last year's bestselling Heartbreaker, her first venture into contemporary romantic suspense, Garwood turns out another of the same genre with equally crowd-pleasing results. Set alternately in posh New Orleans and in a swampy Louisiana bayou, the novel begins with the mercy killing of sickly, bedridden Catherine Bodine, wife of affluent attorney John Russell. John is the 30-something leader of what he and his three friends call the Sowing Club, their own high stakes embezzlement group, a secret society bound by a pact that will guarantee them millions in cash by the time they are 40. A shift to the romantic plot line introduces Department of Justice lawyer Theo Buchanan, doubled over in pain at an awards ceremony in New Orleans. Brilliant and striking surgeon Michelle Renard comes to Theo's rescue, performing an appendectomy, capturing his heart and leaving before Theo can thank her. Determined to show his gratitude, Theo follows the beautiful doctor to the backwater town of Bowen, La. Upon arrival, he finds Michelle distraught because she's being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic ransacked. Theo hangs around to investigate and gets to know a slew of colorful country folk determined to feed him gumbo, cull free legal advice and make him the new high school football coach. Sparks fly furiously between Theo and Michelle, but bullets fly, too, when it becomes clear that Michelle is the one person who can hinder the Sowing Club's greedy ambitions. Garwood serves up a well-paced and absorbing read sure to satisfy readers who seek a bit of danger in love. Doubleday Book Club and Rhapsody Book Club main selection. (Sept.)Forecast: This strong offering will hit bestseller lists hard and early and deservedly so. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Justice Department attorney Theo Buchanan, devoted to his crime-fighting career, encounters a group of four white-collar professionals calling themselves The Sowing Club. Their sophisticated crimes have amassed millions of dollars in a Cayman Islands bank account. Buchanan follows them down the dark road of their passions and obsessions.

Publishers Weekly

After last year's bestselling Heartbreaker, her first venture into contemporary romantic suspense, Garwood turns out another of the same genre with equally crowd-pleasing results. Set alternately in posh New Orleans and in a swampy Louisiana bayou, the novel begins with the mercy killing of sickly, bedridden Catherine Bodine, wife of affluent attorney John Russell. John is the 30-something leader of what he and his three friends call the Sowing Club, their own high stakes embezzlement group, a secret society bound by a pact that will guarantee them millions in cash by the time they are 40. A shift to the romantic plot line introduces Department of Justice lawyer Theo Buchanan, doubled over in pain at an awards ceremony in New Orleans. Brilliant and striking surgeon Michelle Renard comes to Theo's rescue, performing an appendectomy, capturing his heart and leaving before Theo can thank her. Determined to show his gratitude, Theo follows the beautiful doctor to the backwater town of Bowen, La. Upon arrival, he finds Michelle distraught because she's being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic ransacked. Theo hangs around to investigate and gets to know a slew of colorful country folk determined to feed him gumbo, cull free legal advice and make him the new high school football coach. Sparks fly furiously between Theo and Michelle, but bullets fly, too, when it becomes clear that Michelle is the one person who can hinder the Sowing Club's greedy ambitions. Garwood serves up a well-paced and absorbing read sure to satisfy readers who seek a bit of danger in love. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heartbreaker comes a thrilling novel of passion and obsession featuring attorney Theo Buchanan.Like his FBI agent brother Nick, Theo Buchanan is devoted to his crime-fighting career. Unlike his brother, he works the other side of the desk as an esteemed Justice Department attorney and rarely sees on-the-field action—until he comes to the aid of Dr. Michelle Renard, a beautiful and brilliant surgeon in Bowen, Louisiana, who recently saved his own life. Michelle's medical clinic has been vandalized, and the investigation uncovers a deadly ring of criminals bent on preserving their secrecy at any cost. They call themselves the Sowing Club: four white-collar professionals whose sophisticated crimes have amassed millions of dollars in a Cayman Islands bank account. The group is bound by a pact to leave the cash untouched until they accumulate a certain amount, but their leader, John, is distracted by and nearly bankrupt from his wife's grave illness. Knowing what must be done, John turns to his three friends to mercy-kill his wife, but the line between mercy and murder quickly vanishes.... As the relentless and cold-blooded Sowing Club sets out to silence Michelle, the one person who has information that could destroy them, Theo confronts the lies, greed, and evil that bind the lethal foursome—and risks more than he ever has before. Michelle saved his life...now can he save hers? Attorney Theo Buchanan-brother of seasoned FBI agent Nick Buchanan, the hero of HEARTBREAKER-is in New Orleans to receive an award for his work with the Department of Justice. When he becomes unexpectedly ill at the gala ceremony, a beautiful stranger rushes him to the hospital and ultimately saves his life. The woman-a brilliant surgeon named Michelle Renard-intrigues Theo, but before he can learn more about her, she leaves New Orleans and returns to her small clinic on the Lousiana bayou. Theo seeks her out to thank her, but finds more than he bargains for. When he arrives in the little town of Bowen, he discovers that Michelle is being followed, her house has been broken into and her clinic has been destroyed. Theo is in a position to return the ulitimate favor. Michelle saved his life...now can he save hers? Behind the threat is a secret society that will stop at nothing to satisfy its greed, including murder. From the time they became friends in prep school, the four who secretly call themselves the Sowing Club have been ruled by their ambitions and their depravity, bound by a pact that will guarantee them millions in cash. One woman, however, stands between them and their ultimate prize...one woman who can destroy them...and they will do whatever it takes to silence her. For Michelle Renard, there will be no mercy. (From the Author's web-site.) Justice Department attorney Theo Buchanan investigates the actions of an elite group of criminals who call themselves the Sowing Club, and as he uncovers clues about the members' identities, Theo learns that the woman he loves may be their next target After his life is saved by Michelle Renard, a beautiful surgeon from backwoods Louisiana, Theo Buchanan seeks her out to thank her, and becomes caught up in her battle against an evil secret society out to destroy her