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A review by paulabrandon
In the Lawman's Protection by Janie Crouch
1.0
I left a lot of comments while reading this book, because I just couldn't believe how awful and stupid what I was reading actually was.
The entire book is predicated on "hero" Ren McClement acting on an opinion without a single shred of evidence, and that opinion not making a lick of sense.
This whole mini-series has been about Damien Friehof, some sort of criminal mastermind, stalking, injuring and killing members of Omega Sector and their loved ones in retaliation for the death of his wife Natalie, killed in a bank robbery SWAT shoot-out that Omega was involved in.
Now, it turns out that Natalie is still alive. She faked her death in that shootout and has been in hiding for six years, sure that Damien would kill her if he found her. (And kudos to Crouch for at least giving us an idea of how Natalie faked her death).
Ren McClement, who we are to assume is the most super duper agent of them all, as he created Omega Sector, has two possibilities upon learning Natalie is alive:
a) Natalie has been in hiding for six years because it's common knowledge that Damien Friehof is a terrorist, madman, and general all-around psychopath.
b) Natalie is actually working for Damien, despite the fact that everything Damien has done is because he thinks Natalie is dead.
Of course, Ren goes with (b), despite having zero evidence of this. Despite the opinion of a behavioural analyst agent who says it's more likely Natalie is a victim. Despite it making zero sense whatsoever that Damien would be carrying out a revenge plot because he thought Natalie was dead if she was actually alive all along and helping him out.
It was something I just couldn't get my head around.
Anyway, Ren has gone with opinion (b) and it's important to find Friehof because he's gotten hold of some canisters with a deadly pathogen and is once again set to kills thousands of people. He wants to find out if Natalie can tell them of Friehof's whereabouts (under his bizarre assumption she's working for Friehof, that is). Let's look at a couple of options that Ren could have taken:
a) Bring Natalie into Omega custody and question her, where they could easily verify why she's staying in a nice house and why she's working in all these fancy buildings. After all, Omega Sector, as the book itself puts it: "A multi-organisational law enforcement task force made up of the best agents our country has to offer." They've been able to hack into confidential medical records in the past! Not hard to verify anything Natalie tells them.
b) Scare Natalie into going on the run, and set up an elaborate scenario that forces Natalie into taking a train trip. Drug Natalie, fake the train crashing, drag her into the snowy wilderness, risking death via mountain lion attacks, pneumonia, and infection, before bringing her in front of the media to use her as bait and ensure that Damien Friehof comes after her once he knows she's alive, DESPITE thinking that she's already in contact with him and that HE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS ALREADY.
Sorry, I was trying to be level-headed and caps free while writing this review, but the bizarre, utter stupidity of the plot and its characters thinking just gets me all riled up again!
Anyway, you can probably tell that Ren goes with plan (b).
Around the 50/60 page mark is when Ren drugs Natalie and fakes the train crash. I wrote in my comments that this book was 1 star from that point on. I found this utterly deplorable. The HERO DRUGS THE HEROINE. I will not abide that. It is not acceptable in any way, shape or form. The book spends some time trying to convince us that he had to do it for his job, and that Natalie understands this, but I did not buy it. Drugging somebody without their knowledge is a sick, degrading act and is punishable by law. I absolutely hated Ren for this action and for his general stupidity throughout the book. And his use of the endearment "Peaches" to describe Natalie.
Yuck.
Once again, I reiterate: Ren has concocted a plan ultimately designed to convince Damien Friehof that his dead wife is alive and lure him in. This is despite Ren's assumption that Natalie has been assisting Damien for six years and will call him after the fake train crash, which would suggest that Damien indeed already knows his wife is alive. So why would he be getting revenge for her death? Why would they need to convince him she's alive if they think they're already in communication????
My head hurts just thinking about it.
And to carry off this fucking stupid, mind-boggling plan, the HERO DRUGS THE HEROIN.
When she's freaking out later, Ren is thinking it's a weird phobia of snow or a reaction to stress. Not that he's drugged her, without her knowledge or consent, and without knowing if she might have some reaction to whatever drug he's injected her with. Unless he's looked up her medical records (as this agency tends to do). But that still doesn't excuse DRUGGING HER WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT. I don't care what he thinks she's done!
I didn't just dislike this book. I hated it. The plot was stupid. The hero's motivations and behaviours made no sense, and his actions were utterly disgusting. I don't find the hero drugging the heroine, under any circumstances, to be acceptable, much less romantic. Good grief!
Ren's actions completely break Natalie's spirit. And because Omega keep coming up with utterly fucking stupid, poorly thought-out plans, she's of course captured by Damien and subjected to alarming abuse. All because of the "hero". It left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. No amount of grovelling could make up for what Ren has done, but this is Harlequin, so you know what happens....
See my comments about what else I found wrong with this book. I don't want to write about it anymore. I'm stunned at all the 4 and 5 star reviews.
This book has caused me to drop my Intrigue subscription. I've still got piles of books into the future months (allowing me to catch up!), so once I've read those, maybe I'll pick the subscription up again. But I might skip any of the ones written by Janie Crouch, even if she has now apparently moved on from Omega Sector.
The entire book is predicated on "hero" Ren McClement acting on an opinion without a single shred of evidence, and that opinion not making a lick of sense.
This whole mini-series has been about Damien Friehof, some sort of criminal mastermind, stalking, injuring and killing members of Omega Sector and their loved ones in retaliation for the death of his wife Natalie, killed in a bank robbery SWAT shoot-out that Omega was involved in.
Now, it turns out that Natalie is still alive. She faked her death in that shootout and has been in hiding for six years, sure that Damien would kill her if he found her. (And kudos to Crouch for at least giving us an idea of how Natalie faked her death).
Ren McClement, who we are to assume is the most super duper agent of them all, as he created Omega Sector, has two possibilities upon learning Natalie is alive:
a) Natalie has been in hiding for six years because it's common knowledge that Damien Friehof is a terrorist, madman, and general all-around psychopath.
b) Natalie is actually working for Damien, despite the fact that everything Damien has done is because he thinks Natalie is dead.
Of course, Ren goes with (b), despite having zero evidence of this. Despite the opinion of a behavioural analyst agent who says it's more likely Natalie is a victim. Despite it making zero sense whatsoever that Damien would be carrying out a revenge plot because he thought Natalie was dead if she was actually alive all along and helping him out.
It was something I just couldn't get my head around.
Anyway, Ren has gone with opinion (b) and it's important to find Friehof because he's gotten hold of some canisters with a deadly pathogen and is once again set to kills thousands of people. He wants to find out if Natalie can tell them of Friehof's whereabouts (under his bizarre assumption she's working for Friehof, that is). Let's look at a couple of options that Ren could have taken:
a) Bring Natalie into Omega custody and question her, where they could easily verify why she's staying in a nice house and why she's working in all these fancy buildings. After all, Omega Sector, as the book itself puts it: "A multi-organisational law enforcement task force made up of the best agents our country has to offer." They've been able to hack into confidential medical records in the past! Not hard to verify anything Natalie tells them.
b) Scare Natalie into going on the run, and set up an elaborate scenario that forces Natalie into taking a train trip. Drug Natalie, fake the train crashing, drag her into the snowy wilderness, risking death via mountain lion attacks, pneumonia, and infection, before bringing her in front of the media to use her as bait and ensure that Damien Friehof comes after her once he knows she's alive, DESPITE thinking that she's already in contact with him and that HE KNOWS WHERE SHE IS ALREADY.
Sorry, I was trying to be level-headed and caps free while writing this review, but the bizarre, utter stupidity of the plot and its characters thinking just gets me all riled up again!
Anyway, you can probably tell that Ren goes with plan (b).
Around the 50/60 page mark is when Ren drugs Natalie and fakes the train crash. I wrote in my comments that this book was 1 star from that point on. I found this utterly deplorable. The HERO DRUGS THE HEROINE. I will not abide that. It is not acceptable in any way, shape or form. The book spends some time trying to convince us that he had to do it for his job, and that Natalie understands this, but I did not buy it. Drugging somebody without their knowledge is a sick, degrading act and is punishable by law. I absolutely hated Ren for this action and for his general stupidity throughout the book. And his use of the endearment "Peaches" to describe Natalie.
Yuck.
Once again, I reiterate: Ren has concocted a plan ultimately designed to convince Damien Friehof that his dead wife is alive and lure him in. This is despite Ren's assumption that Natalie has been assisting Damien for six years and will call him after the fake train crash, which would suggest that Damien indeed already knows his wife is alive. So why would he be getting revenge for her death? Why would they need to convince him she's alive if they think they're already in communication????
My head hurts just thinking about it.
And to carry off this fucking stupid, mind-boggling plan, the HERO DRUGS THE HEROIN.
When she's freaking out later, Ren is thinking it's a weird phobia of snow or a reaction to stress. Not that he's drugged her, without her knowledge or consent, and without knowing if she might have some reaction to whatever drug he's injected her with. Unless he's looked up her medical records (as this agency tends to do). But that still doesn't excuse DRUGGING HER WITHOUT HER KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT. I don't care what he thinks she's done!
I didn't just dislike this book. I hated it. The plot was stupid. The hero's motivations and behaviours made no sense, and his actions were utterly disgusting. I don't find the hero drugging the heroine, under any circumstances, to be acceptable, much less romantic. Good grief!
Ren's actions completely break Natalie's spirit. And because Omega keep coming up with utterly fucking stupid, poorly thought-out plans, she's of course captured by Damien and subjected to alarming abuse. All because of the "hero". It left me with a sick feeling in my stomach. No amount of grovelling could make up for what Ren has done, but this is Harlequin, so you know what happens....
See my comments about what else I found wrong with this book. I don't want to write about it anymore. I'm stunned at all the 4 and 5 star reviews.
This book has caused me to drop my Intrigue subscription. I've still got piles of books into the future months (allowing me to catch up!), so once I've read those, maybe I'll pick the subscription up again. But I might skip any of the ones written by Janie Crouch, even if she has now apparently moved on from Omega Sector.