Category: Mystery

Flashpoint by Catherine Coulter – Review

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Flashpoint (FBI Thriller #27)Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Series: FBI Thriller #27
Publication Date: 7/2/24
Period: Contemporary
Number of Pages: 400

This fast-paced, excellently written book has thrills, excitement, and twists and turns on every page. The characters are well-developed – even the new ones – and the recurring characters keep growing and developing with each new book. I am so glad this series keeps growing and growing because I can’t wait to devour each new addition.

As always, we get a dual storyline, but this one also has a bit of a side storyline – and all are engrossing and excellently done. An extra plus for this book is the lovely surprise at the end.

Storyline A: A year ago, Lady Elizabeth Palmer was almost killed in a bombing of St. Peter’s Cathedral in London. That was scary enough, but now someone is trying to murder her – AGAIN! MI5 in London is investigating, but Lady Elizabeth doesn’t feel safe and flees to the US for three months of intensive self-defense classes with a famed FBI instructor. As soon as those instructions are completed, she heads to Washington, DC to find Agent Sherlock and beg for her help. While Sherlock can’t work her case, she is assigned to Agent Rome Foxe, who is reluctant but finally agrees after some threats on Savich’s part. Then, we are off on a multi-continent, multi-agency chase with more red herrings than you can shake a stick at. The final pages will leave you with your jaw dropped and a shocked ‘I didn’t see that coming’ look on your face.

Storyline B: Archer Navarro is a grieving widower who has finally found love a second time and is off to Europe for a honeymoon with his new wife. Days after they leave, the news breaks that Archer is suspected of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from his investment firm. Archer goes to ground but makes sure his brother, Rebel, and his son Tash, know he isn’t guilty. Of course, neither of them ever believed he was. The evidence is mounting and comes to implicate Rebel also. With fully traceable electronic evidence and hand-written signatures, how will they ever prove their innocence? Who is guilty? Why are they targeting the Navarro’s? With the Philadelphia FBI agents fully convinced of their guilt, it will be all but impossible to prove their innocence without the help of Savich and Sherlock.

Side story: While the side story is interwoven with the Navarro storyline, I thought it was a lovely addition and wanted to address it separately. Tash Navarro is a thin, pale, waiflike seven-year-old who has always been bullied at school. He’s lonely and still grieving his mother who passed away two years earlier. His father has just remarried and his step-mother doesn’t want him around. He isn’t sure if his father will send him away to school as his stepmother wants, but he is grateful that he will get to spend the summer with his uncle Rebel while his father honeymoons. You will love Tash, who has psychic abilities, just as his new friend Autumn does. If you have read earlier books in the series, you will remember Autumn and her parents – if not, there is enough background so you don’t feel lost. I love how Autumn helps Tash accept his abilities and they work to help find his father. I also love how Autumn and her parents help Rebel accept his nephew’s talents. It is a lovely tale of differences, acceptance, and love – and I am so glad Tash was included in the book.

This was another excellent addition to the series and I’m already anxiously awaiting the next book – I hate waiting a whole year! If you are looking for an exciting, non-stop action tale to read, then I definitely recommend this one.

Panic: An Alexander Gregory Thriller by LJ Ross

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Panic: An Alexander Gregory Thriller (The Alexander Gregory Thrillers Book 5)Barbara’s rating: 3.4 out of 5 Stars
Series: An Alexander Gregory Thriller #5
Publication Date: 5/2/24
Period: Contemporary London and Cambridge
Number of Pages: 254

Let me get this over with, right here at the beginning, I thoroughly DISLIKE cliffhangers! This author’s books usually pull me into the story so deeply that I cannot put the book down until I’ve read the last page. I cannot tell you why, but that just wasn’t the case with this story. It took me almost a week to read it and when it ended in a cliffhanger, I just threw my hands up. Had I known about the cliffhanger when I was halfway through the book, I would have just stopped reading at that point instead of slogging on through. The writing was fine and the story could have been one of the most exciting yet – but, that wasn’t the case. In some places, the movement of the storyline seemed almost nonexistent. I almost always give this author’s work a 5-star rating, but I just couldn’t do it this time – and that pains me greatly because it could have been so great.

We first met Dr. Naomi Palmer in the third book of the series, Bedlam, where Gregory checked into a highly secure mental hospital in America at the request of the FBI. Naomi and Gregory formed a bit of an attachment there and that attachment has grown since their separation. Now, Naomi has written a book and has come to England to promote it – and to promote her relationship with Gregory as well. We always knew Gregory had a soft, mushy, vulnerable side – but he didn’t know it. Now, he does. What we don’t know at the end of this book, is whether that soft, vulnerable side will survive or be crushed by events that didn’t finish playing out in this book.

Several years ago, Dr. Gregory Alexander and Professor William (Bill) Douglas profiled a sadistic serial killer for Scotland Yard. That profile was misused by the police and the wrong man was arrested, tried, and convicted. The true perpetrator was later found, and Carl Deere was set free. In reparations, Carl was paid millions of pounds and all records of him were erased – including his DNA profile.

One of the reasons Scotland Yard was so determined to arrest and convict Carl – even over the objections of Bill and Gregory – was because he closely matched that profile. He just hadn’t acted on any of those ‘urges’ yet. From prison forward, Carl had no reservations whatsoever about acting on those ‘urges’ – nor did he have any reservations about seeking revenge on those he blamed for incarcerating him. All of them, from the smallest role to the biggest, will receive the same punishment – the same sentence – death.

With the higher-ups at Scotland Yard in denial about the sudden spate of murders being related to Carl’s case, and their absolute refusal to have anything with criminal profiling, can Gregory and Bill manage to find and stop Carl? How many lives will be lost? Can Alexander save Bill from harm?

I can recommend this story if you have read other books in the series and enjoyed them. Perhaps you’ll love it with the cliffhanger and it will make you yearn for the next book that should solve the cliffhanger. I think that one of the things that bugs me about this book (and this series) is Scotland Yard – especially the leadership – looking like they are a bunch of bumbling twits. Scotland Yard is one of the premier law enforcement agencies in the world, but they won’t have anything to do with criminal profiling? Just how far behind the times are we supposed to believe they are? Most police forces – everywhere – even in small towns and villages – have what would pass for a criminal profiler. Why wouldn’t Scotland Yard? Anyway – while I didn’t get totally sucked into this story, I am looking forward to the next book, Amnesia.