This is part of the FBI Thriller series. I always find these fairly enjoyable. Primarily because they're fairly ridiculous. They're always light, easy reads - despite the fairly large number of casualties.
I liked this one especially because it brought back good ol' Judge Dredd, aka Ramsey Hunt. We first meet him in The Target, just after he's earned that moniker. His courtroom is invaded by drug dealers with automatic weapons. He gets a little pissed and takes them out himself. Hence: Judge Dredd.
We meet him while he's on vacation, getting away from the media coverage of his heroics. While there, he finds little Emma, who was kidnapped by a psychotic pedophile. I actually felt really bad for Emma (yes, I know she's a fictional character), poor girl kept thinking she was safe and then got slammed with more. Oh, and her grandfather is a Chicago crime boss. And of course Emma's Mom, Molly, and Ramsey fall in love.
The series main characters are Sherlock and Savich - a married FBI agent couple. One aspect of the series I like is that the author isn't afraid to minimize Savich/Sherlock's role in the story. While they did that in The Target, not so much here. Here, we start with a very vague threat to Savich "for what you did, you deserve this." Right after, Ramsey is shot, very nearly killed.
And this is where I get irritated. Here are these 2 big bad FBI agents, and they don't ever make the connection between the 2 events. Never even think to explore it. They latch on to a theory and keep trying to make the evidence fit the theory. Now, while theory one does have it's merits, and catching the bad guys is important, they just cannot look at anything else. That is, not until another threat shows up. By that point they're so far behind the baddies its sad.
The romance here is between a US Marshall handling security for Ramsey and the FBI agent in charge of investigating the shooting. It's a fairly uneventful love affair. There are some cute moments when they get competitive about Marshalls vs. FBI. And when he's ready to get serious and she panics. But overall it's nothing super impressive.
One thing: I really wish I worked in place with the number of attractive men in these books! I mean - Gah! - it's like average people just don't exist! lol
Generally, it's not a great story. Mainly I like it because Ramsey and Emma are back (Emma's a piano prodigy now!). The bad guys are typical. The plot is only confusing because they don't seem to pay much attention to the evidence. Yeah, there are 2 baddies, and yeah, they team up, but it still leaves the plot a little lack luster.
That's not to say you shouldn't read the book. It's a nice light read. It doesn't take long, and it is entertaining - don't let me mislead you. Just don't expect something...earth shattering. :)
Backfire, Catherine Coulter
No comments:
Post a Comment