Genre: Romantic Suspense
Setting: Bordertown, Arizona
POV: 3rd Person
Sensuality: Warm
Violence: Some, but most of it occurs off page
Format: Digital
Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley
Why I Read It: I enjoyed White Heat, the first book in the Hired Guns trilogy
My Grade: A-
Body Heat is the second book in Brenda Novak’s trilogy of loosely connected books featuring operatives from a private security company named Department 6. The series is being released back-to-back between August and October 2010. It is not necessary to read them in order as the books stand alone very well.
Twenty-nine-year-old Sophia St. Claire is Chief of Police in Bordertown, Arizona. Her position is tenuous. She was promoted at the expense of the more popular candidate, Leonard Taylor. Sophia uncovered evidence that Leonard had coerced an illegal immigrant into having sex with him in return for his silence. While the majority of the town council had sided with Leonard, the scandal cost him his job and earned Sophia her promotion.
As its name implies, Bordertown is located on the US-Mexican frontier. Many of the towns residents are of Mexican descent, but there is still a great deal of tension between them and the whites. The tension has reached epic proportions in recent months. A local (white) farmer was murdered, ostensibly while confronting a UDA (undocumented alien) who was on his land. Since then, someone has been murdering Mexicans who sneak across the border in hope of a better life. The case is particularly difficult for Sophia to investigate as most of the townspeople – including local law enforcement officials – have little sympathy for the victims.
Roderick Guerrero is a former SEAL and currently working for Department 6. When he receives a phone call from his estranged father, he finds himself reluctantly agreeing to return to Bordertown and help investigate the murders. Rod is the illegitimate son of a wealthy white farmer who had an affair with Rod’s Mexican mother while she was working as a farm labourer on his land. Bruce ignored Rod for most of his childhood, and did nothing to stop his two legitimate sons from bullying Rod. Now that Rod is a war hero, Bruce suddenly wants to make up for lost time.
Rod is not thrilled by the prospect of working with Sophia St. Claire. His remembers her as a spoiled rich girl who broke his heart by standing him up for the Homecoming dance. He’s surprised she’s become a police officer as it doesn’t fit his image of her at all. He figured she’d marry well and have a few kids by now. To his amazement, he finds his former classmate has transformed from a cheerleader into a tough-talking, tattooed biker chick.
Sophia is equally surprised by Rod’s transformation. She remembers him as being a lanky kid with a bad attitude. Now he’s all muscle and drop-dead gorgeous. Sophia’s life took a dramatic change for the worse after Rod left town, but she survived and made a decent life for herself. She’s deeply ashamed of the way she treated Rod all those years ago.
Despite a rocky start, Rod and Sophia agree to join forces on the investigation into the murders of the Mexican UDAs. They are both uncomfortably aware that the murderer is likely to be a local. Their mutual attraction soon leads to an affair, but neither of them expect it to develop into love.
Body Heat combines interesting characters and a compelling plot. Rod and Sophia are an unusual couple for a romance novel, especially Sophia. She’s not a kick-ass heroine, but she is tough and capable of looking after herself. Rod is a great hero. He’s strong, dependable and sexy. Despite the massive chip on his shoulder regarding his past, he’s a sympathetic character.
I know very little about the tensions on the US-Mexican border and I had no idea at how much damage local farms suffer as a result of UDAs passing through. While it’s a sensitive political issue, Brenda Novak did a good job at showing both sides of the story.
I thought the romance in Body Heat was more fleshed out than in White Heat. I definitely felt more connected to the characters, and this enhanced my reading experience. I enjoyed Body Heat and I definitely plan to read Killer Heat, the third book in the Department 6 Hired Guns series.
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Oh nice review. I’m really in the mood for some good romantic suspense lately.
You make this book sound very tempting — I always enjoy going back in time and reflecting (fiction*wise) — and going forward, maybe change
I think I’ll wait for all three to be available tho.
@Fiction Vixen: I’m very picky about romantic suspense and these are the first books I’ve read by Brenda Novak. I definitely plan to investigate her backlist.
@Janet W: The series is described as a trilogy, but the books are very loosely connected. Each one stands alone well.
I liked White Heat a lot, but am reluctant to read Body Heat, because of the hot topic of the plot. I was fearing, with this particular subject being such a toxic and heated political issue, that surely 1 viewpoint would have to be more prominent in the story, even though Novak has said she tries to not push her views on her readers. Your review makes me less hesitant. If the story is more character driven, than political issue driven, I’d read it.
@Janet: Hmm…the message I took away from the book was that there are two sides to the story. She does a good job of describing farmers’ frustration at illegal immigrants destroying their land and threatening their livelihoods, but she also shows the perspective of the illegals. I don’t live in a border state and I realise it’s a hot button issue for many people, so maybe you’d react differently to this book than I did. That said, I think the romance in Body Heat is the strongest in the trilogy, and it’s well worth reading for Rod & Sophia.
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