Catherine Coulter, Blow Out

Catherine Coulter, Blow Out - Okay, this FBI husband and wife team named Savich and Sherlock (right!) are confronted with a ghost who has little if anything to do with the book. Then a US Supreme Court Justice gets killed, in the Supreme Court building no less. Honestly, I want my money back! I have never read one of Ms. Coulter's books before and I can assure her I will never put myself through that again. My 12-year-old son can write much better. I don't even know where to begin. For instance, Savich wakes his wife Sherlock up out of a nightmare and says, "you were thrashing around". Have you ever heard of anyone who uses the word thrashing? Besides the pathetic dialogue, the story went absolutely NOWHERE!!! I read at least 2 books every week and I can never remember reading a worse book. Please be forewarned, this book is awful!

Blow Out

Catherine Coulter

Putnam, June 2004, $25.95 400 pp.

ISBN 0399151877

FBI agents Dillon Savitch and his wife Sherlock along with their son Sean enjoy a vacation in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains when a ghost asks him for help. The incident spooks Dillon but before he can do anything for the spirit of Samantha Barrister he and Sherlock return to Washington, D.C. because Supreme Court Justice Stewart Quinn Califano was murdered in the courthouse library. Someone bypassed the security guards and technological safety devices to perform an apparently professional hit.

Savitch and Sherlock find no clues that could lead them to a suspect. The victim was a moderate judge with no known enemies and never stirred up any controversy. The only wrong doing they can find is that he is having an affair with Eliza one of his legal aides. His other aides Danny and Fleurette thought their boss walked on water. When the culprit kills Danny and Eliza, the Feds use Fleurette to flush him out but that plan fails almost killing Fleurette, Savitch, Sherlock and Sean. While they try again to capture the killer, Savitch knows that when their ordeal is over, he has a ghost to put to rest.

Catherine Coulter can always be counted on to write an exciting romantic thriller. Her protagonists, Savitch and Sherlock are as deeply in love as they were in the first book in this series and their love for their son is a beautiful thing to behold. There is a lot of action and chase scenes in BLOW OUT but the author also concentrates on her characters and how they act and react to certain dangerous situations. This book is sure to make the New York Times Bestseller List.

Harriet Klausner