Unspeakable - Softcover

Anna Corbett is deaf and mute, but she's not stupid. When the young widow is told by her aging father-in-law, Delray Corbett, that Jack Sawyer has been hired to work their eastern Texas ranch merely as an extra pair of hands, Anna knows that it's really the news of criminal Carl Herbold's recent prison break that has Corbett hiring the tough drifter. Carl Herbold, along with his brother Cecil, swore vengeance against Corbett, their stepfather, for cooperating with the police when the two were convicted of armed robbery. The Herbold boys were also suspected of another crime--the murder of young Patsy McCorkle--but Ezzy Hardge, then sheriff of Blewer County, Texas, never found the proof needed to go to trial. Twenty years have passed, and the McCorkle murder remains a mystery. A man obsessed, Ezzy Hardge continues to search for clues that will convict the Herbolds of the monstrous murder. Soon, Carl and his brother will take their revenge. But Anna and her 5-year-old son, David, are unaware of the degree of viciousness with which the Herbold brothers can strike. Only hired hand Jack Sawyer knows the real danger, and his growing love for Anna and David keeps him close despite the impending onslaught. Yet the longer he remains in Blewer, the more he risks revealing his past--and one particular secret that may destroy his only chance at Anna's love. In Unspeakable, Sandra Brown once again flexes her "literary muscle," providing a fast-paced, spine-tingling tale of passion, conspiracy, and stark brutality. It's a story that unfolds through the eyes of diverse, compelling characters, and culminates in a delicious ending you won't expect. --Kate Breslin

Carl Herbold enjoys being bad. After all, he is terrifyingly good at it. Stimulated by violence, he and his brother, Cecil, had easily graduated from juvenile delinquents to full-blown killers. And Carl, now serving a life sentence in an Arkansas penitentiary, carries out a daring escape with a fellow inmate and is on his way back to where he began - Blewer County Texas. Anna Corbett had been widowed right before her son was born. Beset by debt, deafness and personal tragedy, she faces the toughest challenge of her life - holding on to the ranch that is her son's birthright - unaware that she is at the center of Carl Herbold's vengeful plan... Along with Ezzy Hardge, a retired lawman, who is haunted by the one crime he sacrificed everything to solve but could not... And drifter Jack Sawyer, the seemingly easygoing cowboy whose past is shrouded in mystery. Carl Herbold's prison break draws them inexorably toward a day of reckoning: Ezzy, an over-the-hill peace officer seeking redemption; Jack, a man stalked by dark secrets he can no longer outrun; and Anna, a beautiful woman locked in silence and self-imposed isolation. All must grapple with their own demons before their tumultuous confrontation with a diabolical killer.