Book Review: Blind Tiger by Sandra Brown

Blind Tiger by Sandra Brown
Length: 512 Pages
Genres: Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense
Rating: 4 out 5 Stars

Trigger Warnings in this book for Violence, Graphic Scene of Rape and Assault

I've been hearing tell of a romantic thriller set in Texas during the Prohibition which also contains a cowboy hero with a heart of gold and a hairy chest (my own kryptonite), so of course I had to pick up Blind Tiger by Sandra Brown! Don't be frightened by the heftiness of this book, it is long, yes, but also packed full of amazing details of the time period which really make the setting come alive. As a born and bred Texan I also delighted at seeing some of our more dialectal phrases being used e.g. being on someone like a "duck on a junebug"! It was no surprise to me that Ms. Brown is a true Texan as well.

Thatcher Hutton has mustered out of the army post-WWI and is traveling home to the ranch where he works via hitching rides on trains. When a brawl with some hobos, ornery after losing money to him in a card game, forces him to jump from the train, a little worse for wear, he happens upon a shack. He stops for water, to ask for directions to the nearest town, and just so happens to meet Laurel Plummer, a young widow.

Laurel is still reeling after the abrupt suicide of her husband. Left with a newborn baby, she has no one to turn to, except her father-in-law, Irv. He doesn't have much, but he cares for her and the baby as best he can. When Thatcher appears, Laurel can't deny the instant attraction and electric connection they have. But Irv is suspicious of Thatcher because, secretly, he's running an illegal moonshine business and the law is sending in agents to pick through them like vultures over bones.

Thatcher has, unfortunately, arrived at a very bad time. The local doctor's young wife, heavily pregnant and hated by the locals for being a German, has gone missing--right after talking to him. With murders happening left and right, a moonshine war brewing and all sorts of seedy shenanigans running deep in the town, Thatcher and Laurel must decide which side of it all they're on and hopefully not kill each other in the process.

I really enjoy historical romances that move beyond just the romance, that feature a cast of authentic and highly readable characters, that informs you as much as it titillates! This book was full of action, but also emotion, and contains not only a smart female character but a kickass hero who will not only be a gentleman but a law unto himself should Laurel get hurt. Fans of westerns as well as romances would enjoy this and I love how it's in a sort of unusual time period for a western--most are set in the 19th century, at least in my experience. Highly recommend!