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Cat Dupree #1

Nine Lives

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They say cats have nine lives. Lucky for Cat Dupress, she's got seven left.

Bounty hunter Cat Dupress first cheated death when she was thirteen. The second time left her orphaned and scarred. And the only thing that will diminsh her lust for revenge is finding the man who left her for dead as she watched him murder her father. Every job she takes is an opportunity to invade the criminal world that hides the tattoed man who ruined her life. And she hopes to hunt him down on her current mission into the rugged deserts of Mexico, where there is no law to watch her back.

Without her knowledge, bondsman Wilson McKay is on the same job, and trailing Cat is the fastest way to find his man. He's willing to share resources -- and the reward -- especially if that means getting to know the lonely woman beneath Cat's tough, take-no-prisoners exterior. Life's taught Cat that the surest way to land on her feet is to work alone, but Wilson might be the man to change her mind -- when they're not competing for jobs or ready to kill each other.

425 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Sharon Sala

279 books2,188 followers

Biography



Sharon Sala is a Native Oklahoman and still lives within a two hour drive of where she was born.
First published in 1991, she is a New York Times/USA Today, best-selling author with a 135 plus books published in seven different genres, including Romantic suspense, Mystery, Young Adult, Western, Fiction, Women’s Fiction and Non-Fiction.

Industry Awards include:
Eight-time RITA finalist. (Romance Industry award)
The Janet Dailey Award.
Five-time Career Achievement winner from RT Magazine.
Five time winner of the National Reader’s Choice Award.
Five time winner of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence.
Heart of Excellence Award.,
Booksellers Best Award.
Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award RITA, presented by RWA.
Centennial Award from RWA for recognition of her 100th published novel.


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5 stars
801 (40%)
4 stars
663 (33%)
3 stars
366 (18%)
2 stars
94 (4%)
1 star
33 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
Profile Image for Linda .
1,879 reviews310 followers
June 7, 2020
Nine Lives refers to Catherine, ‘Cat’, Dupree and the fact she survived two near deaths in her childhood. It is not surprising that those incidents molded her personality. Unfortunately, she became a product of the foster system and it shows in her ability to trust.

Now an adult (late 20s?), she is a bounty hunter and a good one. She works for an older guy, Art Ball, and has one best friend, Marsha Benton. They are her extended family. When Marsha goes missing, Cat drops everything.

~~~~~
I liked Cat; she was surprisingly different than most heroines in the RS genre. Strong and committed to those she loved , you definitely wanted to have her on your side. Relationships with men were brief and only for one purpose. When 42-year-old lifelong bachelor Wilson McKay, who owns his own bail bond agency and is a bounty hunter, falls for her, he is in for one heck of a ride. Cat is unlike any other woman he has known before.

I think those readers who enjoyed earlier RS stories by Linda Howard and Sandra Brown will enjoy this trilogy. Be aware, though the story has closure the ending is typical Cat Dupree. If you find yourself reading the book and enjoying it have Cut Throat ready so you can follow this couple.
Profile Image for Wendy.
1,152 reviews13 followers
February 12, 2009
(This review previously posted in 'Cut throat'. Big oops!

This is a re-read for me as I want to catch-up before reading the 3rd in this ?trilogy? This is an excellent romantic suspense. I love both Cat and Wilson. The chemistry throughout the book is spot-on.

I find Cat's abrasiveness great. Some don't like it, I in fact find that it is a 'natural' part of her persona after all the things she's been through she's not exactly going to be sweetness and light.

Now that I have the 3rd in the series, I like that this first one was left with a mini-cliffhanger and no real resolution to Cat and Wilson's relationship. In that way it is a real serial book. However, on first reading, and having to wait for yonks to get the second book, it was a tad frustrating. I can't wait to get my teeth into the next one. (Oh I am reading too much PNR!)

This is not a light read like say, Christina Skye. But it is not heavy either, like a Karen Rose. It is not graphic or gruesome but a nice in-between book. Great story, great sex, great characters!
Profile Image for Paula Brandon.
1,163 reviews33 followers
December 14, 2019
Cat Dupree is a bounty hunter in the business because she thinks the work will eventually lead her to the man who murdered her father, and slit her throat when she was 13. However, the bulk of this novel is Cat hunting down rich Mark Presley, the married man she believes killed her best friend, Marsha, who was pregnant with this baby.

As it turns out, I've already read Cut Throat, the second book in this trilogy, which actually involved Cat tracking her father's murderer, along with lots of vignettes to pad out the word count. This, too, has a few vignettes of Cat and Wilson McKay, another bounty hunter, tracking various people, to pad things out, along with flashbacks and dream sequences.

It's not a very good book. There is little suspense, and no surprises. I didn't like the characters. When the book opens, Wilson McKay has just finished having sex with a hooker "bought" for him by his friends. Yuck. When there's a fire and she panics, he punches her and knocks her out. Great hero, huh? As for Cat, she's a snot to every single person around her. She spends the entire book being a bitch to Wilson, who moons over her endlessly, and gets stroppy when she's mean to him. Rinse and repeat.

The identity of her father's killer randomly and arbitrarily pops up in the last quarter of the book. We never learn why he killed her father, and I know that his motive is never explained in the next book either! While this is decently paced, and I can fairly say it's far from the worst thing I've read, it was predictable, obvious and unremarkable. I have no need or desire to read the final installment of the trilogy.
Profile Image for Katy.
1,292 reviews297 followers
June 19, 2011
Not only is the blurb on the back of the book misleading, it is almost COMPLETELY wrong - I don't think the person writing it actually read the book, but just received a synopsis from someone whose cousin's best friend's husband's uncle's secretary read it without actually understanding it (perhaps the secretary only really understands Spanish yet was forced to read it in English?). I mean - good GRIEF! Anyway ...

Cat Dupree has used of 2 of her 9 lives - first by surviving a car accident she was involved in with her mother at the age of 8, and then by surviving having her throat slit by a tattooed man who then killed her father when she was 13. She has dedicated her life to finding the killer and as such has become a skip tracer (aka, bounty hunter) for a bail bondsman. When her best friend Mimi (Marsha) Benton tells her she is pregnant with her boss' child and he has threatened her, and subsequently goes missing after saying she would be by to see Cat in a couple of hours, Cat is certain that Mimi's boss has killed her. Most of the book is taken up with Cat's search for Mimi and also Cat getting to know Wilson McKay, another bondsman who finds himself falling for her and helping her, despite her tough-as-nails, trust-no-one facade. When the Mimi's boss does a runner to Mexico, Cat is on his tail, with Wilson a couple hours behind. The ending does have quite a coincidence, but hey, wouldn't want to leave things unresolved, would we?

The action is terrific, the romance doesn't interfere with the overall story, and the characters are very well-done. I hope to see more about Cat in future books.
Profile Image for Carolyn.
2,207 reviews
June 13, 2022
This is a terrific romance/suspense story. It doesn't take long from the beginning of the story for the action to start and pretty much continues throughout the book. It concludes with a heart-stopping, page-turning chase towards the end of the book. It was intense and just fabulous!

I was a little put off at first with the lead character, Cat Dupree. It didn't take me long to understand why she was the way she was. She experienced two childhood traumas where a parent died in each case in her presence. The one with her mother was bad enough and would have seriously affected a young child. I don't know how any child would not be affected after the violent death of her father in her presence on top of the violent one of her mother. Never mind the fact that she herself had her throat slashed and had to watch her father be murdered before being left for dead herself. So, it is no wonder she is such a kick-ass, tough, loner. But, she is foremost a survivor. And, due to a very close friendship she made as a teen in a foster home with another teen, she is not totally alone. Of course, all that changes the day her dearest friend and the only person she considers her family disappears. And, oh boy, you should read what this bounty hunter does to find her friend and bring the person who committed a heinous crime to justice. Oh no, I wouldn't mess with this woman!

I loved Wilson, the rival bounty hunter who finds himself inexplicably drawn to Cat and aids her in her fight for justice. No matter how much she pushes him away, he will not give up on her. Even as he wonders why he can't let her go.

This was an terrific read! What a ride! Onto the second one in the series. ;)
Profile Image for Maggie Shanley.
1,414 reviews15 followers
February 22, 2022
It was good, but I kept wanting to kick Cat in the butt and as she could probably whip me with one hand in a handcuff, this was not a good match. I am continuing the series, I own the first three books, hopefully Cat will stop being such a douche bag to Wilson.
102 reviews2 followers
August 18, 2017
Short and sweet. A nice set up to the start of the relationship between. There was really never any mystery as we knew who killed Marsha all along but it was nice to see how Cat worked to prove it.
861 reviews2 followers
August 3, 2022
well written

Ms Sala is one of my favorite authors…this series from a few years ago popped up a few weeks ago and I procured the series. I’m so glad I did! This book is so well written … Cat and Wilson’s story is hard to put down. In this book, Cat searches for the murderer of her best friend…the boss whose affair produced a pregnancy and her friend’s untimely death. The details and the roller coaster ride of the story are what makes this an exceptional read.
Profile Image for Bronwyn Rykiert.
1,184 reviews41 followers
January 11, 2011
Cat Dupree had used two of her lives by the age of 13, first when she and her mother were in a car accident in which her mother died and later when she had her throat cut by an intruder, who then killed her father. After her father’s death she was put in the system until she was old enough to be on her own. In the last foster home she lived in she met Martha Benton, who became her family.

Cat was bent on finding the tattooed man who had killed her father and made it part of her life’s work to find him and to help her she became a bounty hunter.

Wilson McKay was also a bounty hunter and when his path crossed with Cat’s he noticed her. She trusted no-one but for some reason she found herself talking to Wilson. When she discovers her best friend Martha has disappeared, Cat is convinced that Martha has been killed because of the last conversation that they had. Cat is on the tail of her murderer and it takes her into Mexico and she only had Wilson for backup.

This was a fast pace story and really good read, a hard to put down book.
Profile Image for Saturnus.
167 reviews
June 12, 2012
Man kastas direkt in Cat Duprees värld, fullt av äventyr, spänning och död!
Profile Image for Mara.
2,508 reviews254 followers
October 11, 2017
I love porcupines. I think a chip on one's shoulder is a sign of a good character. I don't mind abrasive. All of these together with stupidity is way unacceptable. It's irritating as hell.
Add:
-- this book is a cheap OCR version with plenty of unchecked signs rather than letters
-- there were a few mistakes (once he's 40, then 38)
-- she's the most brilliant of the brilliantest detective out there, she solves cases in days on her amazing powers...
-- revenge is acceptable on some conditions, the fact you are a dumb chick isn't one. She gives the police no time to do anything, and as a reader I wasn't given reason for her distrust. She's been unlucky, but not mistreated. I understand gun shy on a relationship, but lack of trust on the system needs backstory.

It may have been a meh experience, but it never improved, and at the end it wasn't that good either. At 85% I so wanted to DNF. So no, a 1 star for me.

I'm not sure this is a romance, it's not a mystery nor a thriller. Sure as hell, whoever wrote the blurb never read the book. Nothing to do with the plot.
Profile Image for Laz the Sailor.
1,643 reviews82 followers
February 19, 2023
This is a weak 4 stars, as the plot and characters are very good. The strong woman with the broken past, and the honest man who has her back as they chase the bad guys, overcoming large obstacles with little help from the secondary characters. I really enjoyed the story.

But the author didn't handle the perspectives well. Head-hopping happened from one paragraph to the next, but it wasn't 3rd-person omniscient either. A few other logistical issues threw me out of the story several times. It was almost like a movie script, where every angle and perspective is mashed together. The editor should have caught this.

The ending was thrilling, and there is a seed for the next story, which I will read.
Profile Image for Bks43v3r.
359 reviews
Read
October 24, 2023
Unrated

To be reviewed/rated later...maybe.

Contents
Intimacy: Not clean. There is one sex scene (I think it was chap. 11). It's not closed door but not overly descriptive, the little that I caught as I skipped over it. Also, possible trigger warning. See spoiler.
Language: There was some cursing. I did not maintain a count but perhaps a dozen, maybe a bit more.
Violence: Yes. There are murders, assaults and several fights. (See above spoiler.) However, nothing I felt that was gratuitous. Several deaths are described but not too graphically. (But that depends on the reader.)
Profile Image for Valerie.
556 reviews14 followers
February 11, 2018
Not sure if I like or dislike.

This book is written in a previously unknown cadence for me. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.....person. Every instance a new character was introduced we not only had their dialogue but their thoughts and feelings. If they had a conversation with someone the storyline jumped to that persons thoughts, feelings, actions. "That" person would then have a conversation with another person. The storyline would jump to third person.

Weird. But not sure how I feel about it. Obviously the author is not following any suggestion of literature/creative writing taught in college.

Storyline ending got predictable. Reading next in series to see if worth more.
601 reviews3 followers
October 16, 2018
I would give it 2.5 stars. The story was interesting and it was a quick, easy read. The writing was not the best. At times it was cheesy and cliched. Lines like, "I'm your worst enemy," and "Evil doesn't die that easily," were definitely cringeworthy. After reading the book, I found out the author is primarily a romance writer and has written quite a few Harlequin romances. I could definitely see the influence in Nine Lives.
Profile Image for NayNay.
430 reviews31 followers
April 4, 2019
Been wanting to read this book for a long time. Nine Lives is an exciting romantic suspense thriller that focuses more on the investigation and related escapades than the romance, but the feelings of love between the lead couple is always a heartbeat away. Readers of both genres will appreciate this fine tale. fans will enjoy Sharon Sala's solid suspenseful story. It is the perfect vacation read, the kind of book you can read in one sitting!


Profile Image for Bob.
1,984 reviews19 followers
August 29, 2021
Cat Dupree grew up in foster homes after her father was murdered and when she aged out of the system she worked to become a bounty hunter and was always on the lookout for the heavily tattooed man who killed her father and wounded her. When her best friend and also a foster kid goes missing Cat is sure her boss was responsible and sets out to find her and get revenge. A good read, fast paced action to keep you reading.
Profile Image for Jana Gundy.
1,919 reviews17 followers
May 25, 2018
A great suspense!

This book is so good and will keep you entertained. The back story on Cat is so heart breaking and then for her to deal with what happens in this one, the author really let's the emotions out. Wilson is a great side kick/love interest for Cat. A great book and you won't be disappointed in it.
Profile Image for Barbara.
1,352 reviews17 followers
May 27, 2018
Actual story doesn’t match the book description.

I have to agree with several other reviewers that the book description didn’t match the story. Still, I found that I enjoyed the actual story and, although we’re sort of left hanging at the end, I’ll probably read the other books in the Cat Dupree series.
Profile Image for Marta Hartman.
317 reviews2 followers
July 20, 2019
Wow!

Fast and easy read with plenty of excitement. Catherine Dupree is a skip tracer whose life experiences have made her build a life searching for a killer. When her best friend is murdered Cat becomes her advocate and investigator. And it wouldn't be a Sharon Sala book without romance!
181 reviews2 followers
July 23, 2019
Cat Dupree was a bounty hunter

She started in hopes of finding the man who had killed her father and slit her throat years ago.
She was worried about her friend Mimi who had told her the day before that she had been fired and was pregnant with her bosses baby. He had threatened her and told her to get rid of it or she would be sorry.
Now Mimi was missing.
13 reviews
February 10, 2020
I read this one to make sure it would be appropriate for my mother-in-law. It is a trilogy and I'll read all 3 to make sure they don't get too graphic. The story line was original in that the lady was a bounty hunter who wasn't all that needy and waiting to be saved. Our other hero, of course, is over 6 feet tall and built like Christopher Reeves. Go figure. All in all, a decent quick read.
Profile Image for Nancy.
203 reviews
April 5, 2020
I love a character that is strong minded, independent, a force to be reckon with and Cat Dupree fits this to the T. I also love a character that knows when to back off and knows when to be there, doesn’t take away or makes one feel that he is trying to take charge but just adding a helping hand and that fits Wilson. I can’t wait to read the next in this series.
Profile Image for Lyle Wichman.
140 reviews1 follower
February 9, 2023
Wow! Rip Roaring Blast!

Cat is a good friend and bad to have for an enemy! She has stumbled into a man who cares for her but she is afraid it won’t last and is constantly leaving him. This adventure is amazing with nonstop action. The characters are mostly unusual and half the time she and them break the law. She’s a bounty hunter and good at it. So is her man friend.
2,503 reviews
June 18, 2023
How interesting is the fact that events affect one's life! Cat has had two terrible events in her life that seem and do determine her reactions and actions. The author tells the story of Cat, a bounty hunter that grew up in the system. The story unfolds around these facts. I don't want to say anymore because I will give the story away.
Profile Image for Linda.
1,590 reviews
September 7, 2024
This is the first book in this series and it gives you information for the coming books. Car Dupree only has seven more lives left as she had escaped death twice but she still is a superb bounty hunter. When Wilson McKay meets Cat he is amazed at her ability and her independent personality. This is a very exciting story.
Profile Image for Claire  Coop.
6 reviews
September 5, 2017
Great!!! Edge of the seat excitement!!! Is there a sequel??? She has to catch her fathers killer!!!!!

What is the next step in the ( HOPEFULLY SEQUEL??? How much more is needed to get more of Sala
Profile Image for Carol.
752 reviews27 followers
July 8, 2019
Cat Dupree is a bounty hunter and when her friend Mimi goes missing she knows something is wrong. She gets some help from a new friend Wilson and an old friend Pete but she mostly does it all herself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews

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