September 2011

Lisa Lickel is a Wisconsin writer who lives with her husband in a hundred and sixty-year-old house built by a Great Lakes ship captain. Surrounded by books and dragons, she writes inspiring fiction. Her published novels include mystery and romance, all with a twist of grace. She has penned dozens of feature newspaper stories, short stories, magazine articles and radio theater. She is the editor in chief of Creative Wisconsin magazine. Lisa also is an avid book reviewer, blogger, a freelance editor, and writing mentor. She loves to encourage new authors.

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Title: Fatal Judgment Guardians of Justice Book 1
Author: Irene Hannon
Publisher: Revell
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release date: January 2011
ISBN: 978-0800734565
Reviewed by: Lisa Lickel

Fatal Judgment unfolds with the best of romantic thrillers.

Contemporary, up-to-date, tastefully handling technology and terms without overloading or trying to impress the reader, Fatal Judgment will satisfy both romance- and suspense-seeking readers. But for a bit of a “slow mo” before the assassin gets directly involved with the judge, I loved this story.

Widows and widowers with secrets always make for sympathetic characters. When you put them together, add guns and a body count along with special touches of the dark side of reality, Fatal Judgment unfolds with the best of romantic thrillers. Irene Hannon does an excellent job with her characters, whose inevitable romance unfolds with all the depth of emotion, self-examination, alibis, and patriotic dedication to making life better that a reader could want.

We grieve from the start when an assassination attempt on Judge Liz Michaels goes very wrong and are pulled into the professionalism of U.S. Marshal Jake Taylor, who must keep his past impressions and exhaustion in check when he is called to duty. As Taylor realizes how ill his best friend must have been before his apparent suicide, he is able to see how much Liz suffered at his hands.

When the judge, Liz, has no choice but to submit to round-the-clock surveillance, she works with the marshals to uncover her mysterious threat while questioning the wisdom of letting anyone close to her heart again. A real tear-jerking scene is Taylor’s revelation of the day of his wife’s death and how it affected him.

Hannon shows the soft side of professionals who realize faith is the ultimate motivation for any action, be it for selfishness or for good. Her touches of prayer and reasons to return to faith never preach and are subtly present throughout the story.