Rules of Contact

Christy Award–winner Heitzmann leaves the vineyard landscapes of the Secrets series and goes subterranean for a gutsy departure from romance mystery to explore the depths of human depravity. When a medical resident's career and life caves, she falls prey to ruthless men following savage “rules of contact” that brutalize her and others in the dark place where she lands. Claire Boudreaux must learn to trust her captor, Rafe, in order to save her life, and she must teach him a new set of rules that could save the lives of others. Though Claire and her former boyfriend, McKee Gallagher, had drifted apart, their desire to right the horror of the underground world they uncover brings their dreams back together. Heitzmann takes readers through a raw and surreal labyrinth of sexuality, rape, brutality and murder to show that these actions rise out of the heart of a darkness so vile that only coming face to face with it and dying for others can overcome it. This postmodern suspense novel where everything is not as it seems and plot twists keep coming till the very end is provocative and shockative. (Feb.)