Review: 'Low Pressure' by Sandra Brown

Genre: Romantic suspense

Each year on Memorial Day the employees of Lyston Electronics were invited to attend a company barbecue and celebration held at a local park. The event was well attended and enjoyed by all. The barbecue was well underway when a small but intense area of low pressure moved in over the park, bringing a destructive tornado that resulted in devastation, multiple personal injuries and deaths. Susan Lyston, the teenage daughter of the company's owner, was among the deceased and at the time of autopsy it was determined she succumbed not to injuries from the storm but to strangulation. Susan Lyston was murdered.

Eighteen years have passed since that fateful day and novelist Bellamy Lyston Price writes her critically acclaimed novel, Low Pressure, under the pseudonym T.J. David. Bellamy had enjoyed her novel's success under the protection of the pen name. Then, thanks to a sleazy tabloid, the fact that the novel is actually a true story is exposed. Low Pressure is an account of the events surrounding her sister's murder, including the investigation, the arrest of a young man she was associated with, the trial, his ultimate conviction and imprisonment. Bellamy sowed the seeds of doubt in her narrative. Was the right man convicted? Or is her sister's murderer still out there somewhere?

Thanks to the frenzy of media attention Bellamy's novel comes to the attention of those intimately associated with the murder investigation. Bellamy has poked a rat's nest and the rodents begin to emerge — some are very nasty and not appreciative of the fact that she has brought the circumstances surrounding what was a contentious case into the limelight again.

Crack pilot Denton Carter gets a call from his friend and mentor Gall about a booking to fly a family from where he keeps his small plane near Austin to Houston. A member of the family is very ill and requires medical treatment. Dent needs the money to make a payment on his plane so he accepts the charter. When he arrives at the hangar he is less than impressed with his passengers. Owner of Lyston Electronics Howard and wife Olivia are waiting on the tarmac along with an all-grown-up, very attractive Bellamy. Dent had last seen the family 18 years previously, when he was accused of murdering his then-girlfriend Susan. Despite being exonerated, the stigma from the investigation and the accusations against him have stuck to Dent like a bad smell, even after close to two decades.

Dent nearly tells them to take a hike, but it's obvious that Howard Lyston is at death's door and requires treatment. Plus, Dent needs the money, badly, so after some heated discussion with Bellamy, he agrees to fly the family to Houston. Dent hasn't read Low Pressure, but a copy is conveniently left in his plane. The steam is coming out of Dent's ears when Bellamy returns to the Houston hangar for the flight home. Why did she write it? Why open the wound again after all these years?

Bellamy had deeply personal reasons for writing the book. The events of that day, and Susan herself, have haunted her. As it turns out Dent needs to know the truth, too: Bellamy's family and the police put him through the ringer when Susan was murdered. He wants his name cleared. So, under the unlikeliest of circumstances they forge an uneasy alliance to ferret out the truth. It's also increasingly clear Bellamy requires protection — she is being stalked and threatened with increasing regularity.

"Get this straight." He took a step, bringing them closer. "I don't play nice, Bellamy. I never have."

After a taut moment, she broke his hard stare. "All right. For the time being, at least, we'll help each other. But where do we start? Who do we start with?"

He went to the chair she'd left empty moments earlier and held it for her. "We start with you."

Sandra Brown meticulously develops a stellar cast of characters, weaving them into a tense, gritty thriller that offers numerous plot twists leading to stunning revelations and a nail-biting conclusion. Brown snagged my attention from the first few pages, keeping me spellbound as the events surrounding the murder, including the Lyston family's dirty secrets, tumbled from the pages.

Bellamy was 12 years old when Susan met and dated Dent Carter, a James Dean-like bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Bellamy had a major crush on Dent, and he hasn't lost any of his sensual bad-boy appeal. Bellamy is articulate and very straight-laced, and readers can expect an opposites-attract theme. While this isn't an overtly erotic novel, the attraction between the protagonists is charged with intense sexual chemistry and tension that builds to an inferno of desire. Dent helps Bellamy chase away her demons in more ways than one.

A couple of years ago a friend recommended that I put Sandra Brown's Slow Heat in Heaven on my reading list, saying it was one of the best books she'd ever read. I complied but never had time to get to the novel. I'm now wondering why I waited so long to enjoy this talented author's work. I highly recommend Brown's Low Pressure. Its multilayered, intricate and suspenseful storyline is enriched with vivid descriptions and crisp dialogue. If you enjoy romantic suspense, Low Pressure is a book you'll want to read in one sitting.

Lea Franczak cannot remember a time when she didn't have a book in her hand. She's read and enjoyed multiple genres but is especially partial to contemporary and erotic romance (with or without D/s themes), dark gritty romantic suspense and paranormal romance. Lea also writes reviews at Book Lovers Inc. and is active on Goodreads.