Amazon.com Review
Anna Corbett is deaf and mute, but she's not stupid. When the young widow is told by her aging father-in-law, Delray Corbett, that Jack Sawyer has been hired to work their eastern Texas ranch merely as an extra pair of hands, Anna knows that it's really the news of criminal Carl Herbold's recent prison break that has Corbett hiring the tough drifter. Carl Herbold, along with his brother Cecil, swore vengeance against Corbett, their stepfather, for cooperating with the police when the two were convicted of armed robbery. The Herbold boys were also suspected of another crime--the murder of young Patsy McCorkle--but Ezzy Hardge, then sheriff of Blewer County, Texas, never found the proof needed to go to trial. Twenty years have passed, and the McCorkle murder remains a mystery. A man obsessed, Ezzy Hardge continues to search for clues that will convict the Herbolds of the monstrous murder. Soon, Carl and his brother will take their revenge. But Anna and her 5-year-old son, David, are unaware of the degree of viciousness with which the Herbold brothers can strike. Only hired hand Jack Sawyer knows the real danger, and his growing love for Anna and David keeps him close despite the impending onslaught. Yet the longer he remains in Blewer, the more he risks revealing his past--and one particular secret that may destroy his only chance at Anna's love. In Unspeakable, Sandra Brown once again flexes her "literary muscle," providing a fast-paced, spine-tingling tale of passion, conspiracy, and stark brutality. It's a story that unfolds through the eyes of diverse, compelling characters, and culminates in a delicious ending you won't expect. --Kate Breslin
From Publishers Weekly
A 20-year-old unsolved murder in a small East Texas town sets the stage for this fast-paced and romantically charged, if stiffly written, thriller, the latest (after Fat Tuesday) from the prolific Brown. Everyone in Blewer, Tex., assumes that the nefarious Herbold brothers, Carl and Cecil, murdered Patsy McCorkle two decades ago, but neither was ever charged with the killing. Carl, the more menacing brother, has spent those decades in an Arkansas prison for an unrelated crime. But now Carl has escaped and Blewer residents fear he might come back to town. Local rancher Delray Corbett has more to fear than mostAthe Herbolds are his estranged stepsons. So when drifter Jack Sawyer swaggers onto Delray's ranch looking for work, Delray hires him, thinking that Jack's presence will ease his mind regarding the safety of his deaf, widowed daughter-in-law, Anna, and her five-year-old son, David. But Delray doesn't know that Jake has a closer connection to Blewer, and to the Corbetts, than he's letting on. Brown's deftly plotted narrative twists and turns without losing hold of its suspense. Her characters are fully fleshed out, and she pays particular attention to Anna's situation as a deaf woman facing ignorance in a rural community. Some graphic sex and violence and the voices of these east Texan good (and bad) ol' boys animate this harrowing tale of crime, revenge and redemption. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections.
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