Blind Tiger

Bestselling author Sandra Brown sets Blind Tiger in 1920 in fictional Foley, Texas, where the terrain and climate make it "an ideal place to make corn liquor." As the story opens, Laurel Plummer's husband, Derby, is a soldier who came home from World War I a changed man. The "dashing young man" she married returned a "quarrelsome stranger." Their daughter, Pearl, is just a month old, but they are traveling a hundred and fifty miles in the middle of the night. Derby, who has lost another job, abruptly announced that they were moving to Foley to live with his father. Laurel is dismayed when they arrive to find that his father, Irv, resides in what can best be described as a "shack" with a dirt floor. He had no idea that Derby survived the war, much less that he would be arriving with a wife and infant daughter. When Laurel asks why Derby has brought them to such a desolate place, he promises, "You'll thank me later," and then takes action that forever alters the trajectory of Laurel's life. But Brown soon reveals Laurel to be strong, resilient, and determined to forge a decent life for herself and little Pearl.

As Laurel is attempting to settle into life with her father-in-law and daughter, Thatcher Hutton, who also served in World War I, has just returned from Europe, intent on resuming his life as a cowboy on a ranch in the Texas Panhandle. "He hadn't cheated death in France to die in a railroad car" so he leaps from a train to avoid a fight with three hobos, but not without sustaining a cut on the palm of his hand. In need of water as he's walking toward his destination, he stops when he sees Laurel struggling to hang sheets on "a makeshift clothesline strung between the back corner of the shack and the outhouse." As Laurel gives him water, they discover that Thatcher and her husband served in the same regiment. He observes her agitated demeanor. "She was strung up a whole lot tighter than her clothesline." As Thatcher continues walking toward town, Laurel rushes back inside to check on Pearl who has been ill for more than week. But Laurel and Thatcher will meet again.

Trouble finds Thatcher immediately. He rents a room in a boardinghouse and finds a job on a ranch, but is accused of murdering the wife of the local doctor. Thatcher briefly encountered the woman when he first arrived in town, but now she has gone missing and is presumed dead. Because a nosy neighbor observed Thatcher speaking with her, he is accused and arrested.

Meanwhile, Laurel and Irv form a tentative alliance. Taking in his daughter-in-law and granddaughter has upset the equilibrium of his solitary existence, and Laurel is determined that they will move into more suitable housing. Soon Laurel learns where Irv goes when he leaves the shack and what he is up to, and since she is extremely bright and very clever, she envisions how they will earn enough money to improve their living conditions.

Thatcher quickly discovers that he has made his way to a town that runs on rampant corruption and the civic leaders are willing to do whatever is necessary in order to protect their influence and empires. They are driven by greed, as well as lifelong social standing and local politics about which Thatcher is uninformed. Matters become more complicated for him once the criminal charges are dismissed and he is released from jail, because the local sheriff convinces him to serve as a deputy. Thatcher knows the position will enhance his ability to investigate the disappearance of the doctor's wife. Foley was never supposed to be his ultimate destination. But his future, like Laurel's, inescapably differs from the way he imagined it because he learns there is no longer a ranch and respected employer for him to return to. And Thatcher has a hard time resisting his attraction to Laurel.

The joy that Brown says she derived from creating the story and her characters is evident on every page of Blind Tiger. It is a clever, intricately-plotted tale full of surprising twists and developments -- and yes, romance. Brown deftly transports readers to the small town of Foley and a long-ago way of life where a vivid cast of supporting characters provide intrigue, mystery, and some unexpected heartbreak. At the center of it all are Thatcher, the principled, quiet man who finds himself caught up in drama he did not go looking for, but from which he cannot extricate himself without ensuring Laurel's safety and, hopefully, taking her with him. And Laurel, who is resolved, in part because she finds herself with nothing left to lose, and develops an affection for Irv and his friends. She is willing to take great risks and, convinced by her brilliance and determination, they permit her to team up with them in their moonshining business. Both Thatcher and Laurel have experienced devastating loss and disappointment, but are focused on securing their futures and wondering if happiness is still possible. They are dreamers -- charming, sympathetic, and endearing. Fully developed, multi-layered, and likable but flawed, Thatcher and Laurel, along with the cantankerous Irv, make the story engrossing, as well as suspenseful. They are the soul of Brown's masterful and engaging adventure in which the danger her characters face is real, and Brown places them in peril to great dramatic effect as she propels the story forward at an unrelenting pace. With Laurel running a moonshine operation, while Thatcher is a deputy sworn to uphold the law, the conflicts between them may derail any possibility of a happy ending for the two. That is, if they survive after Laurel and her partners enrage the locals whose bootlegging market they are encroaching upon.

Historical fiction is a bit of a departure for Brown, but readers will never suspect that. With Blind Tiger, Brown is in top form, delivering a story about a wild time in American history that is both a masterfully constructed and engaging adventure.

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for a hardcover copy of the book to review.