I’ve liked a couple of this author’s more recent books but this, her first one from 2011, is downright aggravating. An ill-advised romance is shoehorned into the suspense of a battered wife on the run. A lot of cringe-worthy, unnecessary tropes are woven in. I skimmed a lot when the hot 46 year old ex-cop acted like a 14 year old. The woman is a standard waif who is good with horses. She and her green eyes attract every deviant within 100 miles. The politics angle is written like someone without much insight into politics. Everything is just too thin and attitudes are much too dated for 2011. I’d give it a pass for 1991 maybe.