Preview of Standoff Summary:

Most themes in Standoff are related to power. Brown is writing within a long tradition of female novelists presenting female protagonists who have both a certain innate power because of their indomitable personalities and a social power that is a result of their understanding of how people and society work, including how women are expected to behave and what they can actually do if they try. This tradition goes back at least as far as the eighteenth century, when Fanny Burney described the exploits of such characters as Evelina and Camilla. In Tiel McCoy, readers see a typical Sandra Brown heroine, yet one of Brown's great strengths is her ability to create and develop protagonists that readers recognize but can also accept as individuals. Tiel has experienced personal tragedy and has had bad luck with love; she has tried to compensate by being professionally successful. Her physical attraction...