Throwback Thursday: Close Encounters by Sandra Kitt

Author: Sandra Kitt

First published in 2000 by Signet.  Re-issued by OPen Road Media in 2013

Lee Grafton is a divorced cop and the father of a teenage girl. Carol Taggart is a newly single professor. Their lives collide one night when Carol is caught in the crossfire of an undercover drug sting gone south. Shot and seriously wounded, she finds an unexpected friend in Lee . . . unaware that the man she’s falling for could be the shooter.

Twenty years on the street do nothing to prepare Lee for the night that changes his life. Determined to make amends, the special-operations lieutenant finds himself irresistibly drawn to Carol. But Lee soon faces a new threat. With his career and heart on the line, he races to prevent Carol from becoming a victim once again.
 
Close Encounters deals with a lot of different issues that still hold up to be relevant 13 years after it was first published.  Taken on the surface, it is a sweet romance suspense between a policeman and the woman he mistakenly shot in a botched sting operation.  Lee and Carol have an intense chemistry that they can't deny. I thought they were a great couple and I found myself rooting for them to work out.  

Woven into the story, the author has included the issues of race relations between the police and the minority community. I thought it was interesting how the police automatically assume Carol is was more than an innocent bystander after she was shot all because of her skin color. The story also deals with the realities of interracial couples, was well as white couples raising a black child.    There is a lot packed into the story and I do recommend it.  I think it is a great addition the Throwback Thursday!