***This review may contain spoilers***

Susan Payson is an abused wife who testified against her ex-husband to put him behind bars. Why? Because after being married only seven months, this maniacal, drug dealing cartel boss beat her so severely she lost their unborn baby.

Five years later, Susan has rebuilt her life in witness protection. Her new identity has allowed her to work as a nanny, attend art school so she can realize her dream of becoming a children's book illustrator and gather a support group of close friends. While her emotional health is still fragile, everything else is good.

Until she learns her ex has just escaped from prison. His one thought is to finish what he started all those years ago…kill Susan.

The FBI quickly arranges for her to assume a new identity until they can capture him. Using the alias Rachel Carson, she is whisked away to a remote cabin on a sprawling ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

After renting a car at the airport, Susan begins the arduous drive over an icy mountain pass to the ranch. Along the way, she discovers a vehicle smashed against the craggy mountain wall. Frantically trying to help the unconscious driver, Susan discovers the door is jammed and so she must wait for help.

Deputy Sheriff Cade Garner has had his share of troubles, too. His best friend and deputy was killed in the line of duty six months earlier so it is especially distressing when he rushes to the scene of an accident on a mountain road and finds the man's widow dead at the scene. With the assistance of a passerby, they break through the car window and rescue the small baby in the back seat.

While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Cade learns the woman helping him is a newcomer named Rachel Carson. As luck would have it, she is a nanny and on her way to live in a cabin on his parent's ranch. And since Cade is the godfather to the orphaned child, he now must take responsibility for her care until she turns eighteen. That means he needs a nanny. Fast.

He asks Rachel if she would like a job and she immediately accepts. As he drives Rachel and the baby to the ranch, he reveals that his wife and small daughter were killed in an accident two years ago.

All this happens in the first fifty pages. Five deaths - two of them babies. A savvy deputy who asks a woman to be his nanny after knowing her less than an hour without even as much as a reference or background check. The same deputy assuming guardianship of a baby who must surely have grandparents or other family…unless, of course, they were killed during the past five years, too, and the author didn't want to drive up the body count.

I found the beginning of Deadly Identity so contrived and unrealistic that it made keeping an open mind difficult through the remaining pages.

This is not a bad book. The characters are interesting even if they are a bit predictable. The relationship between Susan/Rachel and Cade unfolds nicely with the right amount of sizzle and conflict. They stay true to their archetypes.

The villain is a malevolent sociopath. Someone this depraved is not redeemable but an attempt was made to explain "why" he became that way…son of meth parents, father beat him, he married Susan in an attempt to have the family life he was denied as a youth. Why soften such a well-written criminal?

One twist I did enjoy was the villain undergoing plastic surgery to disguise his identity. It was a unique turn I didn't see coming. Good job.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary category romance. While HQN is known for single title, I felt this particular title would have benefited from editing to fit the shorter category length.

Ms. McKenna tells a good story. I didn't think this was one of her better tales.

Reviewed by: Deb