Product Details

• Published on: 2007-09
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 720 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The seven deadly sins help propel this provocative, sex-fueled thriller from bestseller Brown (Ricochet). Foster Speakman, an eccentric Texas paraplegic millionaire, offers $500,000 to Griff Burkett, a disgraced former NFL quarterback fresh out of prison after serving a five-year sentence for racketeering, to impregnate Foster's wife, Laura. Foster insists the child be conceived naturally (The way God intended). Broke with no prospects, Griff takes the job. Meanwhile, Stanley Rodarte, the crooked detective behind Griff's arrest, is bent on pinning an unsolved murder on him and takes to terrorizing Griff and those close to him in the hopes of nailing him when he self-destructs. After Griff's stint as stud takes a bad turn, the ex-footballer must track down the one man who can secure his freedom. The tension builds as lust, greed, pride, wrath and envy threaten to undo everyone in this tightly told tale of modern temptation. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Griff Burkett faces hatred from the public after his release from prison for point shaving. Foster Speakman, a wealthy businessman who is paraplegic, wants to pay Griff to father a child with his wife, Laura, and pass the child off as Fosters own. The thick Texas accent that Victor Slezak provides Griff is tinged with a defensiveness that captures his resentment of the service he agrees to provide for the Speakmans. Lauras tones reflect her conflicted feelings toward Griff. Soon murder draws the two together, and as the story continues, Griffs evolution from a bitter, hardened man to a caring one is reflected in his voice as he falls in love with Laura. Slezaks ability to imbue each character with a distinctive voice is impressive. S.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable, but still more to be desired
This book is a tough one to comment on since the story is very unlikely, and even if it was likely the characters don't capture the reader in the beginning since the reader does not get to know much about what motivates them and can't figure out why they act the way they do........

Griff is actually not so bad, but the reader doesn't know that till the end. He actually liked Laura a lot from their first meeting and dreamed of her, but the reader finds that out in the end.

Laura has decided to sacrifice herself for the ideas of a demented husband because she feels guilty, but the reader also doesn't find that early enough, so one keeps wondering what kind of a person she is.

When things between the characters "supposedly" got to a new dimension, so that after their fourth meeting they care for each other and that fact would help explain their actions and feelings (like the way both felt when she miscarried), the scene ends.

So the reader has to wait till the end to have Griff "replay in his mind" that particular afternoon. It is at the end that the reader gets to understand that it has been about more than sex for the best part of the book. I would have preferred to have a better insight in the feelings and thoughts of both Griff and Laura and I would have enjoyed the book a lot more. Still the suspense and the unusual plot make it an Ok read.

Diana

Capitalist vices
Diana: Some things are not for sale.
John: Such as?
Diana: Well you can't buy people.
(Quotation from the movie "Indecent Proposal")

This book pulls a switcheroo on the "Indecent Proposal" plotline, where a wealthy man offers a cash-strapped couple one million dollars in exchange for certain favors.

Short Attention Span Summary (SASS):

1. Ex-quarterback Griff Burkett has just been released from prison
2. He's admitted to receiving a payout for influencing the outcome of a game to facilitate some unsavory characters
3. He may also have murdered somebody
4. He's definitely not a nice guy
5. A wealthy businessman is desperately seeking an heir
6. He's confined to a wheelchair
7. His young wife is prepared to go to any length to fulfill his wish
8. The businessman makes Griff an indecent proposal in exchange for a decent cash payment and his silence.
9. Apparently, some people CAN be bought
10. Griff has a dangerous and ruthless enemy who enjoys seeing him suffer
11. Griff suffers
12. Intriguing premise turns absurd, and despite some page-turning action, the ending is rather preposterous

If you can get past the fact that all the major characters in the book are unlikeable, the beginning and middle sections of the book are entertaining, albeit unbelievable and unlikely, but when you get down to the ending, the story unravels untidily while attempting to tie off the loose ends.




Amanda Richards

Something Missing Here
Disgraced Cowboys quarterback Griff Brukett regains his freedom after five years in a federal prison for racketeering. Broke with no prospects of a job insight, Griff is surprised when he is summoned to the Speakman mansion for an interview. Foster Speakman an eccentric paraplegic millionaire offers him a substantial sum of money to impregnate his wife Laura "the natural way"and demands his utmost secrecy. He takes the job....but things do not go as planned......

Meanwhile, even though five years have passed, Police Investigator Rodarte is determined to prove that Griff is responsible for the death of a syndicate bookie and he wants a conviction at any cost. The syndicate is also convinced that Griff has their money that went missing at the time of the bookie's death and they are equally determined.....

I have been reading Sandra Brown for a few years and the writing is usually brilliant and entertaining. In this novel something was amiss; the main characters Griff and Laura lacked emotion, not much chemistry between them. Romance; forget about finding it, sex Bing Bang lets get the job done is about all you get. The story line is a little far fetched and predictable but again there is nothing as engaging as pure fiction. Although this book is not Brown's best, a bit of a disappointment I still enjoyed reading it.