The Surrogate Book

To a penniless twenty-year-old like Jamie Long, surrogate motherhood seemed both an act of altruism and a financial opportunity. But once pregnant and under contract to Amanda Hartmann, the head of a famous evangelical family, Jamie realizes that she's getting more than she bargained for. Whisked away to the vast, isolated family ranch, she's closely supervised and carefully cut off from the outside world. She learns the family's dark secrets -- and sees the enormity of their ruthlessness. When Jamie hears Amanda's plan to claim the baby as her natural-born child, she begins to suspect that her own life is in danger and resolves to flee.

Alone with a tiny newborn, she calls on the one man in the world she can trust -- her high school crush, Joe Brammer. Their love unites them in a struggle to escape, and soon enough their flight becomes a fight for their lives.

Brilliantly weaving some of today's most controversial social issues into a captivating page-turner, The Surrogate is Judith Henry Wall's greatest triumph to date.

Library Journal

Wall (A Good Man) has taken a stab at a thriller. The Surrogate starts out well enough, with a missing infant and a girl on the run; unfortunately, it does not live up to its beginning. Pretty 21-year-old Jamie Long was orphaned at a young age, used by her stepsister, then shoved onto her elderly grandmother, who raised her with an iron fist but lots of love. When her grandmother passes away, Jamie drops out of college and, drowning in debt, makes a deal with the devil: she becomes a surrogate mother for a famous evangelical woman. This agreement leads to Jamie's becoming a virtual prisoner on a Texas ranch, eventually escaping, and running for her life. Wall suspends disbelief by throwing in a last-minute rescue by a childhood crush. Except for Jamie, none of these characters is fully developed, yet with the fast-paced plot, steamy sex scenes, and aura of evil, this book makes an entertaining beach read. Recommended for large public libraries.-Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park, MD Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.