Praise for Brenda Novakâs White Heat
âWith distinctive characters and a nail-biting plot, Novakâs
White Heat is easily a Best of 2010 contender.â
âSuspense magazine
âNovak expertly blends romantic thrills, suspenseful chills and
realistically complicated characters in a white-knuckle read that is certain to keep readers riveted until the last page.â
âBooklist
âWhite Heat is a strong, suspenseful readâ¦
an intense, gritty story.â
âAll About Romance
âFirst in Novakâs new romantic suspense âthrillogyâ featuring
agents of the private security contracting firm Department 6, this gripping, twisted tale draws readers into a brutal, starkly drawn world of white heat and dark deeds.â
âLibrary Journal
âA fast-paced thriller guaranteed to keep you
entranced to the climactic end.â
âFresh Fiction
âBrenda Novak has written the best high-action thriller
of 2010â¦. Once again, Novak has proven she is the queen of romantic suspense.â
âMidwest Book Review
âNovak writes an excellent romantic suspense
that will keep you on the edge of your seat⦠a chilling take that readers wonât want to put down.â
âRomance Reviews Today
âIf itâs by Brenda Novak, itâs h-o-t, and White Heat
is definitely thatâ¦. This is a very well crafted kickoff to the authorâs Department 6 series.â
âReader to Reader
To Investigative Officer David Doglietto.
Thanks for taking a large chunk of your day off to give me a tour of Soledad Prison (which was fascinating), for answering all my questions and emails, for reading this book when it was in manuscript form and correcting my mistakes, and for teaching me so much about what itâs really like âinside.â Your knowledge and follow-through was so helpfulâand your generosity is inspiring. Thanks, Dog
Dear Reader,
I rarely watch TV. I donât have anything against it. For me, itâs all about opportunity cost. If Iâm watching television, I canât be doing other things that are more important to me. So I miss out on even the most popular shows. For instance, Iâve never seen Seinfeld, Friends, Sex and the City, Survivor or Lost. I missed Prison Break, too, until I went to Utah to visit my daughter and she insisted on showing it to me on DVD. âYouâll love it,â she said, and she was right. I found the characterization, plotting, acting and dialogue fantastic. I was so captivated, in fact, that I rented every season and watched the whole thing. But, when it was all over, I decided there was one thing about Prison Break I wouldâve done differently, and that was the romance between the two lead characters. The writers took a very minimalist approach and yet, for me, it was the most interesting part of the whole show.
Soâ¦I decided to write my own romance set inside the high-risk, high-conflict world of a maximum security prison, and I chose one of the most notorious prisons in AmericaâPelican Bay in Northern California (Californiaâs Siberia). With such a backdrop, I needed some very special characters, and I think I managed that with Peyton and Virgil. Virgil is probably one of the most tortured heroes Iâve created and yet I fell instantly in love with him. I hope you will, too.
I always enjoy hearing from readers. Feel free to write to me at P.O. Box 3781, Citrus Heights, CA 95611 or via email at www.brendanovak.com. If you have a computer, be sure to sign up for my mailing list so I can alert you when I have a new book coming out and you can take advantage of all the monthly giveaways and other freebies. Every May I hold an annual online auction for diabetes research at my website, so log on and register for that, too. So far, together with all the generous people who have supported me, weâve raised over $1 millionâand weâre not done yet!
Iâd like to extend a special thank-you to Michelle Thomas. Not only has she supported my writing, sheâs been a huge support to my efforts to raise money for diabetes research. Her name appears as a character in this novel because she was generous enough to purchase the privilege in my last auction.
I hope you enjoy the story!
Brenda Novak
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Isolation is the sum total of wretchedness to a man.
âThomas Carlyle
Peyton Adams eyed the three men whoâd driven to the public library with her from the prison, as well as the two theyâd secretly come to meet. She knew what she had to say wouldnât be popular, especially with the warden, who was growing desperate enough to try anything, but she felt duty-bound to express her opinion. âI say no. Itâs too risky. Maybe if we put him in the Security Housing Unit we could protect him, but not in general population. No way.â