** Sleepwalker by Karen Robards was provided to me free-of-charge by Simon & Schuster, Inc. through a GoodReads, FirstReads Giveaway. **

Karen Robards pumps out a rocking thrilling ride with Sleepwalker. The story centres on two main characters, Micayla “Mick” Lange, a tough-as-nails female cop in Detroit, Michigan and Jason Davies, a mysterious thief who encounters Mick when breaking into her Uncle Nicco’s mansion. The pair become unlikely allies when they stumble upon incriminating photos implicating Mick’s uncle, forcing them to team up to evade gangsters intent on recovering the stolen money and on covering up a heinous crime.

Haunted by dreams of the murder of her mother when she was a child, Mick becomes torn between her duty to turn Jason over to the authorities and her feelings of increasing attraction toward Jason. Robards spins a riveting, heart-pounding tale of the pursuit of this unlikely pair by the cold, ruthless gangsters, all the while brilliantly building the tension between Mick and Jason. The mysteries and secrets underlying the plot will keep you guessing: Who killed Mick’s Mom? Who is Jason? Will Mick and Jason survive? Will they fall in love?

This is my first Karen Robards book, but it is not my last. Robards writes for the female audience, developing a character who is attractive, tough, smart, ethical, and yet vulnerable. While I usually don’t like when female characters throw aside all sense of self, morality, and/or self-control for a man, Robards still manages to pull off a female character who is likable, tough, AND falls in love. The male character is also likable (ok, ok, he is a thief, but I couldn’t help liking him anyways). I really liked the way that Robards changes the perspectives from chapter to chapter so the reader is aware of the growing feelings between Mick and Jason.

One of the things I do feel I need to comment on because it was striking to me is the colourful language Robards used throughout the book. I’ll refrain from giving examples of Jason’s *ahem* manhood, but I do want to give a few examples. In describing Jason’s ‘scent’: “His smell was heady and comforting, familiar already, she discovered, and she classified it simply as man.” lol I love that! Other examples of eye-catching phraseology and metaphors include “...the atmosphere...crackled with peril...”; “...a rabbit warren of interconnecting streets”; “...a tiny bit of hope struggled for life inside her, like a crocus butting its head against a crust of snow”; in Jason’s description of Mick: “A pretty, delicate-looking, big-eyed thing with a to-die-for body and the soul of Elliot Ness.”

At one point, Robards uses the fable of the frog and the scorpion as a metaphor to describe Mick’s dedication as a cop. Just as the scorpion cannot help its nature as it stings the frog who is helping him cross the river, it is in Mick’s nature to turn Jason in to the authorities, even if there is a personal cost to following this course of action. I just felt that Robards writing style just made the book that much more enjoyable.

So, at the end of the day, I was totally riveted by this story. I’m only giving it four stars because, while it is extremely entertaining, I can’t say it’s life-changing.