cover image All Due Respect

All Due Respect

Vicki Hinze. St. Martin's Press, $5.99 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-312-97513-5

Hinze (Acts of Honor) has crafted a diverting, romantic thriller. Dr. Julia Warner-Hyde can't seem to escape the clutches of her abusive ex-husband, Karl, who nearly killed her three years before. Even in prison, Karl's threats are still real. When Julia's old lab partner, the kind and handsome Dr. Seth Holt, seeks her out in Grace, the small Alabama town in which the former rocket scientist is now teaching the first grade, she is torn. Should she risk leaving the safety of Grace to secure a top-secret project (the details of which may have been leaked to the highest bidder)? Julia knows that Seth's concern that millions of Americans' lives could be lost is not an exaggeration, but she is unsure whether she can trust him. How can she avoid explaining why she disappeared three years ago without a word? Will the Two West Freedom Coalition, a well-funded terrorist organization, manage to obtain the final pieces to the advanced technology that would allow it to hold the U.S. hostage? And will Karl find her? These questions interspersed throughout Julia's thoughts as she goes on with her day-to-day duties--are answered in the novel's exciting plot. (Oct.)