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43 Light Street #21
The Man From Texas
HE HAD COWBOY CHARISMA THAT OUGHTA BE CRIMINAL
He'd woken up weeks ago in a seedy hotel room -- with no memory and a suitcase filled with cash. "Luke" knew nothing of his past, the money, or the killers who wanted it back. But with the reflexes of a cat burglar, the instincts of a fugitive, and the deadly shot of a gunslinger, Luke couldn't trust the cops. Hannah Dawson was his only hope.
As a former cop, Hannah had devoted her life to putting away bad guys like the darkly sexy, mysterious stranger she was now attracted to -- undeniably, inexplicably, and helplessly. She was in danger herself, but was it from the killers on their trail...or from Luke?
He'd woken up weeks ago in a seedy hotel room -- with no memory and a suitcase filled with cash. "Luke" knew nothing of his past, the money, or the killers who wanted it back. But with the reflexes of a cat burglar, the instincts of a fugitive, and the deadly shot of a gunslinger, Luke couldn't trust the cops. Hannah Dawson was his only hope.
As a former cop, Hannah had devoted her life to putting away bad guys like the darkly sexy, mysterious stranger she was now attracted to -- undeniably, inexplicably, and helplessly. She was in danger herself, but was it from the killers on their trail...or from Luke?
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 19, 2002
About the author
Rebecca York
421 books452 followersRuth Glick (born 1942) is a best-selling author of healthy cookbooks and has also written dozens of romantic suspense romance novels under the pen name Rebecca York.
Ruth earned a B.A. in American Thought and Civilization from George Washington University and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Maryland. Although she always wanted to become a writer, Glick was convinced that her lack of spelling skills meant that her goal was unattainable. As a stay-at-home mother, she took a community college course to help her choose a career. The course made it very clear that writing was her primary interest. Glick began writing articles for newspapers and magazines, but after several years decided to try writing fiction. Her first book, a kids' science fiction book, was finally purchased by Scholastic Inc..
Since then, Glick has become a highly successful author of over 50 romantic suspense and paranormal novels. Many of her novels are published under the Harlequin Intrigue line, and in June 2003, she became one of the first authors published under Berkley's new Sensation imprint. Before 1997, she often collaborated with Eileen Buckholtz and Kathryn Jenson.
Glick also is a highly regarded author of cookbooks focusing on healthy eating. She sometimes hires trained chefs to test the recipes that she creates, and makes sure that every recipe is tested at least three times before it appears in one of her cookbooks.
Glick is the head of the Columbia Writers Workshop. She and her husband, Norman Glick, live in Columbia, Maryland, where Ruth collects rocks, and enjoys cooking, walking, reading, gardening, travel, and Mozart operas. They have two grown children, Elissa and Ethan, and two grandsons (Jesse and Leo).
Ruth earned a B.A. in American Thought and Civilization from George Washington University and an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Maryland. Although she always wanted to become a writer, Glick was convinced that her lack of spelling skills meant that her goal was unattainable. As a stay-at-home mother, she took a community college course to help her choose a career. The course made it very clear that writing was her primary interest. Glick began writing articles for newspapers and magazines, but after several years decided to try writing fiction. Her first book, a kids' science fiction book, was finally purchased by Scholastic Inc..
Since then, Glick has become a highly successful author of over 50 romantic suspense and paranormal novels. Many of her novels are published under the Harlequin Intrigue line, and in June 2003, she became one of the first authors published under Berkley's new Sensation imprint. Before 1997, she often collaborated with Eileen Buckholtz and Kathryn Jenson.
Glick also is a highly regarded author of cookbooks focusing on healthy eating. She sometimes hires trained chefs to test the recipes that she creates, and makes sure that every recipe is tested at least three times before it appears in one of her cookbooks.
Glick is the head of the Columbia Writers Workshop. She and her husband, Norman Glick, live in Columbia, Maryland, where Ruth collects rocks, and enjoys cooking, walking, reading, gardening, travel, and Mozart operas. They have two grown children, Elissa and Ethan, and two grandsons (Jesse and Leo).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 21, 2007
Not my favorite of my mom's books, but I still enjoyed it. It was published in 2001, but I can see that people are still reading and enjoying it in 2008.
April 17, 2018
The Man From Texas
August 22, 2001
The new 43 Light Street miniseries, Mine to Keep, kicks off in "The Man From Texas," the latest by Ruth Glick writing as Rebecca York. A man wakes up in a hotel room with no memory and one million dollars in cash. Picking the name Luke Pritchard out of the phone book, he seeks help from private investigator Hannah Dawson to help her find out who he really is. Former cop Hannah finds herself drawn to this stranger. But is he a hero or a criminal?
Obviously, most readers probably know the answer to that one without reading the book. Unfortunately, they can probably guess everything else about this plot before it happens too. "The Man From Texas" is the polar opposite of the last 43 Light Street book, "Amanda's Child." I started out loving that book, then ended up strongly disliking it as it went along. This time, I started out hating "The Man From Texas," then grew to like it more and more as it went along. The first hundred pages, though, were rough going. I almost didn't make it past the first paragraph:
"It was an indecent hour of the evening, at least as far as Hannah Dawson was concerned. Too early for sleep. And too late to save her immortal soul."
Her immortal soul? Sheesh. That kind of melodrama sets entirely the wrong tone for this story, and the paragraph is gibberish. Whether it's "too late to save her...soul" has nothing to do with the lateness of the hour, while "too early to sleep" does. The sentiment is obvious, but the sentence itself doesn't make sense. Within the first five pages, the heroine turned me off, when the author explained exactly why she's in fear for her immortal soul. It's simply ridiculous; she didn't DO anything! No one with any sense would be this concerned about their "soul" over what happened, or didn't happen, to her. Hannah's supposedly tragic past includes a mean, mean former lover who said some mean things to her when the tragedy struck. How mean! The problem is, I agreed with everything he said. It sounded more like the hard truth than anything mean, mean, mean, and the heroine's pouting and inability to grasp that showed what an idiot she was. We're supposed to feel bad for her that she's not a cop anymore. It's hard to feel any sympathy when she's such a pathetic mope and obviously not cut out to be a cop if she's going to let such a non-incident get to her. She also seems to be severely brain damaged (I loved when she starts out by asking Luke where he got the money. I wanted to scream "HE HAS AMNESIA! HE DOESN'T KNOW, YOU TWIT!"). Unlike "Amanda's Child," where the hero's high-handedness toward a strong heroine annoyed me, I couldn't blame Luke for telling Hannah what to do. She needed all the help she could get. Luke was fine, though the way he didn't think twice about spending money he wasn't even sure was his was ethically questionable.
The author gives too much information up front. I had the entire story figured out before Page 100, making most of what came afterward and the truth about Luke too predictable. And for those who haven't read the other 43 Light Street books (and the Peregrine Connection books), the barrage of characters from those books can be overwhelming. I can't think of any 43 Light Street book that did as much name dropping as this one. Every time they turned a corner, they seemed to find someone else. (Although, those waiting for news from certain old characters might not find them here. Most of the ones mentioned are the regular faces. In other words, don't expect to hear about anyone from "Whispers in the Night" or "Trial By Fire." I think they've been kicked out of Baltimore.)
Needless to say, I wasn't seeing much good in this story. Then something strange happened. The heroine got progressively stronger as the book went along, finally proving her worth toward the end. The cliffhangers became more natural and less forced or silly. And though the story never became any less predictable, it was at least well told, moving at a fast clip and offering some moving moments along the way. The action is high, and the sexual tension between the leads begins to feel more natural. The inclusion of past characters seems less intrusive and more fitting to the plot, and the suspense is kicked up a notch. While I'd figured out much of the storyline, seeing how it would all be resolved became more compelling as the author added more complications and danger to her characters. I did have one big question in the end and the coincidence that ties everyone together strains credibility. But if you're enjoying a book enough, things like that don't matter so much. In the beginning, I wasn't. In the end, I was.
I would give the first hundred pages two stars and the last 150 darn near five stars. That probably works out to a four. All I know is that in the beginning I was ready to give up on this series. The way the book ended, I can't wait for the next book, "Never Alone," in two months. Anyone having trouble with the beginning of this book, don't give up. It gets better.
August 22, 2001
The new 43 Light Street miniseries, Mine to Keep, kicks off in "The Man From Texas," the latest by Ruth Glick writing as Rebecca York. A man wakes up in a hotel room with no memory and one million dollars in cash. Picking the name Luke Pritchard out of the phone book, he seeks help from private investigator Hannah Dawson to help her find out who he really is. Former cop Hannah finds herself drawn to this stranger. But is he a hero or a criminal?
Obviously, most readers probably know the answer to that one without reading the book. Unfortunately, they can probably guess everything else about this plot before it happens too. "The Man From Texas" is the polar opposite of the last 43 Light Street book, "Amanda's Child." I started out loving that book, then ended up strongly disliking it as it went along. This time, I started out hating "The Man From Texas," then grew to like it more and more as it went along. The first hundred pages, though, were rough going. I almost didn't make it past the first paragraph:
"It was an indecent hour of the evening, at least as far as Hannah Dawson was concerned. Too early for sleep. And too late to save her immortal soul."
Her immortal soul? Sheesh. That kind of melodrama sets entirely the wrong tone for this story, and the paragraph is gibberish. Whether it's "too late to save her...soul" has nothing to do with the lateness of the hour, while "too early to sleep" does. The sentiment is obvious, but the sentence itself doesn't make sense. Within the first five pages, the heroine turned me off, when the author explained exactly why she's in fear for her immortal soul. It's simply ridiculous; she didn't DO anything! No one with any sense would be this concerned about their "soul" over what happened, or didn't happen, to her. Hannah's supposedly tragic past includes a mean, mean former lover who said some mean things to her when the tragedy struck. How mean! The problem is, I agreed with everything he said. It sounded more like the hard truth than anything mean, mean, mean, and the heroine's pouting and inability to grasp that showed what an idiot she was. We're supposed to feel bad for her that she's not a cop anymore. It's hard to feel any sympathy when she's such a pathetic mope and obviously not cut out to be a cop if she's going to let such a non-incident get to her. She also seems to be severely brain damaged (I loved when she starts out by asking Luke where he got the money. I wanted to scream "HE HAS AMNESIA! HE DOESN'T KNOW, YOU TWIT!"). Unlike "Amanda's Child," where the hero's high-handedness toward a strong heroine annoyed me, I couldn't blame Luke for telling Hannah what to do. She needed all the help she could get. Luke was fine, though the way he didn't think twice about spending money he wasn't even sure was his was ethically questionable.
The author gives too much information up front. I had the entire story figured out before Page 100, making most of what came afterward and the truth about Luke too predictable. And for those who haven't read the other 43 Light Street books (and the Peregrine Connection books), the barrage of characters from those books can be overwhelming. I can't think of any 43 Light Street book that did as much name dropping as this one. Every time they turned a corner, they seemed to find someone else. (Although, those waiting for news from certain old characters might not find them here. Most of the ones mentioned are the regular faces. In other words, don't expect to hear about anyone from "Whispers in the Night" or "Trial By Fire." I think they've been kicked out of Baltimore.)
Needless to say, I wasn't seeing much good in this story. Then something strange happened. The heroine got progressively stronger as the book went along, finally proving her worth toward the end. The cliffhangers became more natural and less forced or silly. And though the story never became any less predictable, it was at least well told, moving at a fast clip and offering some moving moments along the way. The action is high, and the sexual tension between the leads begins to feel more natural. The inclusion of past characters seems less intrusive and more fitting to the plot, and the suspense is kicked up a notch. While I'd figured out much of the storyline, seeing how it would all be resolved became more compelling as the author added more complications and danger to her characters. I did have one big question in the end and the coincidence that ties everyone together strains credibility. But if you're enjoying a book enough, things like that don't matter so much. In the beginning, I wasn't. In the end, I was.
I would give the first hundred pages two stars and the last 150 darn near five stars. That probably works out to a four. All I know is that in the beginning I was ready to give up on this series. The way the book ended, I can't wait for the next book, "Never Alone," in two months. Anyone having trouble with the beginning of this book, don't give up. It gets better.
June 4, 2011
Hannah Dawson - ex police detective, current employee of Light Street Detectives - last police case on a high attention drug case, and held a 17 year old boy in her arms as he died, thinking she might have shot him... second guessing self, not able to defend herself if necessary...
Luke Somerville - lousy childhood in Texas, with a father who beat and degraded him, mother abandoned him... a black operative with the Peregrine Agency - a secret agency like Mission Impossible, taking the missions where secretiveness is necessary... 2 years undercover trying to take Sedgewick down for drugs & illegal alien transports in Texas... something went wrong, and he wakes with amnesia and a bag with $1,000,000...\
Though no memory, his actions true to his training... he gets himself to Boston, and checks and choses Hannah to help him figure out who he is... for 3 nights, he goes to the bar where she hangs out... she is aware of him, he is aware of her... on her way home, she is attacked & does little to defend herself. Luke was following her, and rescues her...
and their association begins... there is attraction... mistrust... he is concerned he is a criminal, her instincts tell her he is not... she tries hypnosis, he regresses to childhood to a father who criticized and beat him...he chose a fake last name of Prichard, and she decides they should go to Prichard Texas... there some recognize him - both from his youth, and others from his recent illegal activity...
he goes back to his home (dad is died, house is empty), an attack by a truck ruins their car and almost kills Hannah... they are ambushed as they are going to the place where 'they' said he was... they make love... and finally her boss, Jed, and his boss, Addison of the Peregrine group, rescue them - only after he is shot in the leg...
and he asks her to marry him, that he will get out of ops, and for whatever reason, he gets to keep the million dollars, though he and Hannah may still be targets of Sedgewick.
Luke Somerville - lousy childhood in Texas, with a father who beat and degraded him, mother abandoned him... a black operative with the Peregrine Agency - a secret agency like Mission Impossible, taking the missions where secretiveness is necessary... 2 years undercover trying to take Sedgewick down for drugs & illegal alien transports in Texas... something went wrong, and he wakes with amnesia and a bag with $1,000,000...\
Though no memory, his actions true to his training... he gets himself to Boston, and checks and choses Hannah to help him figure out who he is... for 3 nights, he goes to the bar where she hangs out... she is aware of him, he is aware of her... on her way home, she is attacked & does little to defend herself. Luke was following her, and rescues her...
and their association begins... there is attraction... mistrust... he is concerned he is a criminal, her instincts tell her he is not... she tries hypnosis, he regresses to childhood to a father who criticized and beat him...he chose a fake last name of Prichard, and she decides they should go to Prichard Texas... there some recognize him - both from his youth, and others from his recent illegal activity...
he goes back to his home (dad is died, house is empty), an attack by a truck ruins their car and almost kills Hannah... they are ambushed as they are going to the place where 'they' said he was... they make love... and finally her boss, Jed, and his boss, Addison of the Peregrine group, rescue them - only after he is shot in the leg...
and he asks her to marry him, that he will get out of ops, and for whatever reason, he gets to keep the million dollars, though he and Hannah may still be targets of Sedgewick.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2012
part of a big series, but this is the first one I read. It was pretty self contains. Had a mild unresolved plot point at the end. Not sure if I want to read the next one or not. It was quick pleasant, mildly exciting read though
August 20, 2013
interesting plot, rumbles in fits and starts, quick read
June 30, 2016
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews