Catherine Coulter

Here’s the review that I mentioned a couple of days ago. It’s a first novel by a new writer on an uncommon topic. I hope you are interested enough to pick up a copy.

Harriet has sent a review of the new Catherine Coulter novel. It looks like it will be another winner for her.

Still not feeling well. Still have a bad sore throat and congestion, but I haven’t seen any pigs flying. I think that’s still a good thing.

LITTLE LAMB LOST, Margaret Fenton, Oceanview, 424.95, 254 pages, ISBN: 9781933515519, reviewed by Barry Hunter.

Margaret Fenton has a Masters degree in Social Work and I feel her expertise and experience in this field add to the realism and understanding and the characters that take place in this sad, but well done mystery.

Claire Conover works in DFCS in Birmingham and feels that she is making a difference in her job. That is until she receives the dreaded call that one of her children has died and the mother is arrested for the murder. To make matters worse, the mother pleads guilty and is sentenced to prison. Claire can’t let it go, even after being told to let it go.

Claire starts digging into the background of the case. She becomes the focus of a newspaper reporter that might cost her job. She tries to find the source of the GHB that killed the child and who the mother is protecting.

From the nightclubs to the old money mansions and the new experimental drugs, Claire finds that there is a lot to hide that could ruin more lives or cause her to lose her own. Fenton has done an outstanding job with the characters and the story. She shows there are people out there who care and I hope Claire Conover graces the reading list again, and soon.

Knock Out
Catherine Coulter
Putnam, Jun 2009, $26.95
ISBN: 9780399155840

FBI agent Dillon Savich is on line in a bank when robbers enter with guns blazing. They have done this before killing guards and customers. This time Savich kills three of the robbers. As Lissy escapes, with the help of the getaway drived, she vows to kill Savich for killing her mom. However, she is caught and taken to a hospital for her injuries. Victor, using an FBI badge, frees her.

Savich and his FBI partner wife Lacey Sherlock tries to help Titusville Sheriff Ethan Merriweather protect Joanne Backman and seven-year-old Autumn, who is a strong telepath from her odious Uncle Blessed who can control minds when he looks into a person’s eyes. Autumn contacted Savich telepathically. The Feds capture Blessed, but he escapes. He plans to abduct his niece to take her to a place where her psychic skills can grow to the point where the cult he founded can use her. Meanwhile Savich and Sherlock return to DC where Lissy and Victor have surfaced. As soon as they leave, Blessed grabs Joanne and Autumn. Only a miracle might save the pair from being Blessed.

All of Catherine Coulter’s thrillers are excellent, but this one is special as the heroes are caught with conflicting cases. Both subplots are fully developed so that the audience understands the internal strife Savich especially feels as he and Sherlock want to capture the deadly bank robbers as well as Blessed; the laws of physics make achieving both impossible. Autumn will win the hearts of the audience from the moment she mentally contacts Savich after seeing his heroics on TV. Whereas the Lisa-Victor story line is typical of an FBI thriller, Autumn is refreshing as an ESP element augments the entry. Readers will enjoy S&S and want Autumn to return to assist them on a future case; if she survives her uncle.

Harriet Klausner