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    Hour of Need
    Hour of Need
    Hour of Need
    Audiobook10 hours

    Hour of Need

    Written by Melinda Leigh

    Narrated by Cris Dukehart

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A 2015 Daphne du Maurier Award finalist from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

    While fighting in Afghanistan, Major Grant Barrett receives devastating news: his brother and sister-in-law have been murdered in Scarlet Falls, the sleepy suburb of Grant’s youth. Emotionally scarred from war, the career soldier returns home on emergency leave to temporarily care for his orphaned nephew and niece. But when someone tries to kidnap the kids and their teenage babysitter, Grant knows it’s not a random act…and neither were the murders.

    Already devastated by her neighbors’ violent deaths, Ellie Ross is shattered by the attempted abduction of her teenage daughter so she desperately turns to Grant for help. As they navigate a deadly search for the truth, they struggle with growing feelings for each other and Grant’s impending return to Afghanistan.

    But time is running out. The killer is growing bolder by the hour, and Ellie and Grant must find him before the children become his next victims.

    Bestselling author Melinda Leigh delivers another gritty mystery simmering with spine-tingling passion in this first Scarlet Falls novel.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 9, 2014
    ISBN9781501210259
    Hour of Need
    Author

    Melinda Leigh

    #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker. After joining Romance Writers of America, she decided writing was more fun than analyzing financial statements. Melinda’s debut novel, She Can Run, was nominated for Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers. She’s also garnered Golden Leaf and Silver Falchion Awards, along with two nominations for a RITA and three Daphne du Maurier Awards. Her other novels include She Can Tell, She Can Scream, She Can Hide, She Can Kill, Midnight Exposure, Midnight Sacrifice, Midnight Betrayal, Midnight Obsession, Hour of Need, Minutes to Kill, Seconds to Live, Say You’re Sorry, Her Last Goodbye, Bones Don’t Lie, What I’ve Done, Secrets Never Die, and Save Your Breath. She holds a second-degree black belt in Kenpo karate, has taught women’s self-defense, and lives in a messy house with her family and a small herd of rescue pets. For more information, visit www.melindaleigh.com.

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    Reviews for Hour of Need

    4.5/5

    130 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      great story, would have gotten 5 stars but the sexual content was a bit too excessive, cheapening the book

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Suspense: ★★★
      Romance: ★★
      Audio: ★★★☆

      The suspense is alright, but honestly, I think the book is kind of overrated. The ending did catch me off guard a bit, though. The slow pace of the storytelling just feels like a downer. Plus, the bad guys in the story are so flat. First off, the contract killer, who's supposed to be this big, scary dude, is actually a total idiot who fails at everything. Yet, everyone in the book is terrified of him. It just doesn't feel believable. Then we have the murderer, whose story is way too short to make us have any feeling of sorry or pity. And get this, the main villain doesn't even utter a single word throughout the whole book!

      The romance part is a total disaster. I don't feel any chemistry at all between the two main characters. So, the sex scenes end up being incredibly awkward. Honestly, I'd rather they didn't include any of them.

      系列第一本不太好看。懸念部分還行，但並非引人入勝那種。慢節奏的敘事令我想打瞌睡。反面人物的描寫非常平面，而且智商堪憂，各種不切實際的行動令我一點都感覺不到危險。真兇的故事也倉促，我都同情不起來。然而真正邪惡的角色竟然在故事線裡面都沒有說過一句話，故事也沒有交代這些人的結局。
      兩個MC之間的感情描寫更是失敗。完全沒有感受不到他們之間的化學反應，但作者硬是安排了兩場車。
    • 5/5
      The book was very well written, the suspense was held almost to the end. Great story! Narrator was awesome.
    • 5/5
      HOUR OF NEED was an exciting and fast-paced romantic suspense novel. Major Grant Barrett is called home from his tour in Afghanistan when his brother Lee and Lee's wife Kate are gunned down on the street in an apparent robbery. They leave behind six-year-old Carson and infant daughter Faith. The kids' babysitter is next door neighbor Julia who lives with her mother Ellie and Grandmother Nan. Grant and Ellie have met when Grant was on leave and Lee and Kate hosted a number of barbecues trying to get the two of them together. But it was definitely the wrong time then for the two of them. Grant is single-mindedly focused on making General and make his father the Colonel proud of him. Ellie isn't interested in a relationship with another guy who'll leave as Julia's father did when Ellie was a pregnant 17-year-old. Now their lives get more and more entwined. Lee was a lawyer who had taken a controversial case involving the suicide death of a teenager named Lindsay who was bullied by two other girls. The police couldn't do anything because all of the evidence disappeared courtesy of someone with good computer skills. Coincidentally, the father of one of the bullies just happens to be a computer expert. Ellie works as a secretary in the same law firm Lee worked in and her daughter skates at the same club where Kate coached and Lindsay and the bullies took lessons. We get to see the viewpoint of the petty criminal turned murderer who killed Lee and Kate and who is still trying to recover the files that Lee had about the bullying case. He is keeping watch on the house and makes a number of attempts to get in to search and to kidnap Carson and Julia. Carson saw him on the night his parents were killed and Julia fits into the murderer's sick fantasies. Someone is also threatening the people Ellie loves if she doesn't locate the missing file and deliver it to that person. Add in a colicky baby and Grant's hard to locate brother and sister and you have a very stressful time for both Grant and Ellie. While trying to find out what happened to Lee and Kate, Grant also has to figure out what will happen to Carson and Faith when his 30-day bereavement leave is over. I'll admit that Leigh had me following a bunch of red herrings as I tried to puzzle out the identity of the killer and the reason for the killing. I couldn't stop reading until I got to the stunning conclusion. Fans of romantic suspense won't want to miss this excellent title.
    • 4/5
      Hour of Need
      4 Stars

      When his brother and sister-in-law are murdered, Major Grant Barrett returns home to Scarlet Falls to care for their orphaned children. But after a break-in and a kidnapping attempt, Grant and his neighbor, Ellie Ross, realize that someone in the sleepy town is desperate enough to kill to keep their secrets.

      This is a solid mix of romance and suspense. The investigation into the deaths of Lee and Kate Barrett is compelling. with several suspects and motives to choose from. There are some tense moments and exciting action scenes although some of the twists and turns of the plot are predictable.

      Grant and Ellie are an appealing couple and their romance is satisfying albeit somewhat underdeveloped as the suspense takes up the lion's share of the narrative. My one small caveat is that Ellie's reluctance to tell Grant about the threats against here is dragged out for too long.

      All in all, Melinda Leight's direct writing style is very engaging (the children and the dog are an added bonus), and I look forward to continuing with the series.
    • 4/5
      Major Grant Barrett must return home when news of his brother's and sister in law's murder reach him in Afghanistan. After he retrieves his niece, Faith, and nephew, Carson, from Child Protective Services, he takes on the task of caring for two children he barely knows. In the meantime, next door neighbor, Ellie Ross, has been threatened if she can't find a missing file that had something to do with a recent case that Grant's brother had been working on. Ellie desperately wants to protect her family by turning over the file, but the threats continue to come closer and closer to home and she has to weigh her fear with her need to trust Grant with what she knows. Hour of Need is a good beginning to the Scarlet Falls series. By the end of the book, we realize just how many suspects there really are in this mystery, but throughout most of the story, there is just one. The romance between Grant and Ellie is a bit awkward with the characters jumping from attraction to much more fairly quickly. Also, more time could have been devoted to Grant's obvious PTSD, which is barely touched on during the story. However, overall, Hour of Need does have a solid plot with adequate character development, making it an enjoyable read. 3 1/2 stars
    • 2/5
      First off, be prepared, this is 95% murder/mystery and 5% romance. Adjust expectations accordingly.

      The writing was really good with good characters, the beginning was interesting and engaging, middle slow and dragged out without a lot of story movement, and the ending was full of about 20pgs rushing to explain/reveal the murder/mystery twists and turns as if the author only had 5 seconds to relay the information. The romance aspect was forced, tagged on, and pretty non-existent; this is what I usually show up for so I was kind of disappointed.
    • 4/5
      I read the second and third books of this trilogy before this one. It was okay, there were not a lot of things that I already knew that the story was spoiled, but if you can read them in order, that is what I would recommend.

      The story begins with Lee and Kate Barrett being shot and killed while out for dinner. Left behind are their two young children, three siblings and a father with dementia. Major Grant Barrett returns home from Afghanistan to care for his niece and nephew until one of his siblings is in a position to do so. He’s reeling from shock and grief over their murders, and he feels out of his element caring for two small children. Grant’s main objectives are bringing his brother’s killer to justice and the welfare of his brother’s orphaned children. He thinks this the worst of his problems until the house is burglarized, someone tries to kidnap the teenage babysitter and the children, and his neighbour, Ellie, the babysitter's mother, is threatened. What was Lee into? Who is looking for casefiles of a civil suit? Why is a killer after the children? When Hannah and Mac arrive home and band together, the Barrett family will not stop until they know the children are safe and the murderer is behind bars.

      Grant is a great romantic hero. He is strong, protective, handsome, and determined to find his brother’s killer, but with tenderness that any female would find hard to resist. He was so good with the kids. Six-year-old Carson immediately latched onto Grant, his only security after finding out his parents were never coming home. Baby Faith was a colicky four-month-old that could test any parent’s limits with lungs loud enough to wake the dead. Family and neighbours took turns helping out with the children as Grant adjusted. Ellie was also a great character, a single mom trying to do what’s best for her family. She was scared to death over the threat to her family, and was not sure who to trust, but as she got to know Grant better, she realized that he would also protect her and her family. As Grant and Ellie got to know each other better, they remembered the tug they felt the last time they met. They tried to resist their feelings toward each other as Grant was heading back to Afghanistan after his leave ended.

      Hour of Need combined all the elements of romantic suspense that I love: danger, mystery, action and a solid love story. Grant and Ellie were likable, multilayered characters making this more than just an action packed mystery, but a story with heart and depth. The next two stories in this series, sharing the stories of Hannah and Mac are just as well written and entertaining.
    • 4/5
      This is the first book I've read by Melinda Leigh, and I liked it enough to immediately buy "Minutes to Kill" that takes place a few months later with a different crime to solve. A key factor for me is whether or not I care about the characters, and I did care about the folks in this book. It has a double murder that leads to the return of three siblings to care for the two orphaned children and attempt to solve the crime. The woman next door is drawn to the military guy, and their budding relationship unfolds in the context of dealing with the aftermath of the murders. So . . . a bit of crime solving, a bit of romance . . . that works for me when I'm looking for an escape.
    • 5/5
      Hour of Need by Melinda Leigh is a 2014 Montlake publication. This book is a solid romantic suspense novel that isn't afraid to address hot button issues in a thought provoking manner that challenges the reader to think about many things along the way. The plot has several twist along the way and surprises I never saw coming. Grant is burning out from too many tours of duty in Afghanistan, but nothing he has ever endured in war could prepare him for the news his brother, Lee, and sister-in-law, Kate, have been murdered. On leave, he returns to the states to claim his niece and nephew, reunite with his siblings and try to figure out who murdered his brother and why. Along the way he is also reunited with Ellie Ross, his brother's neighbor, a woman he is attracted to but has avoided pursuing because he knows he will have to leave home again. Ellie Ross is an employee who worked in the law firm where Lee was an attorney. Her teenage daughter, Julia, was babysitting the night the couple was murdered. But, now Ellie has been dragged into the case by her boss because apparently Lee took an important file home and he wants Ellie to try and retrieve it. But, Ellie isn't the only one looking for the file and soon she finds her family's lives are at stake if she doesn't find it ASAP. This sordid murder mystery revolves around the bullying case of teenager who ultimately committed suicide. Those responsible for bullying the girl would most likely never suffer any sort of repercussions for their cruelty, until Lee takes on a civil case the girl's parents filed. Grant believes the missing file and the bullying are in someway connected to his brother's death. He also suspects Ellie knows more than she is telling. Family's are complicated and Grant realizes too late that his family has not been all that close. The death of his brother and certain revelations he uncovers opens his eyes to the fact that while he is a military hero keeping his country safe, he has neglected to nurture his own family relationships. However, Grant is not the only one in his family that is so driven by ambition they hardly see one another. It was sad that a death and two vulnerable children would be the thing that brought them all together. The other theme the book explores is the bullying epidemic and the sad consequences it brings. The thoughts many had on the subject were disturbing, yet very typical. I recently found myself having a conversation about this very thing not too long ago and was aghast at the flippant attitude some people have about bullying, believing the victim should be stronger or taught to cope with the situation. In this case that attitude may have caused a delay in getting the victim help. These themes, although they play a key role in the story, do not overshadow the mystery or romance. Ellie is the single mom of a teenager and a caretaker for her grandmother, who is a delightful character. Ellie and Grant have met before and there was an attraction , but Ellie doesn't want a long distance relationship, nor does she want something temporary, which puts Grant out of the running. He is sure to be called back up for military service, but Ellie finds it harder and harder to resist him. The mystery is puzzling because we know some of the details but not enough to draw up any pat answers. There are many suspects with good motives but I never could have guessed how it would play out in the end. The last quarter of the book was riveting as all the pieces of the puzzle begin to snap into place and huge revelations and paranoia take hold putting everyone at risk. As I said in the beginning this story is very solid with a dark, twisty mystery, hot steamy romance, and a few themes that will give you pause. Obviously I really liked this one - 5 stars