Catherine Coulter, Double Take

Double Take

Catherine Coulter

Putnam, Jun 2007, $25.95

ISBN: 0399154248

It has been six months of being the "black widow" feeding frenzy for the media, but now Julia Ransom can whistle for the first time since her renowned husband, the medium Dr. August Ransom was brutally murdered. In San Francisco, she looks forward to dinner with her late spouse's friend Wallace Tammerlaine but now leisurely walks on Pier 39 to the rail looking out at the Bay when a man punches her in the jaw and takes out a knife. Another person shouts FBI so he tosses her into the Bay. Special Agent Cheney Stone saves her life. He calls his pal SFPD Captain Frank Paulette to take charge of a professional hit attempt probably connected to August's unsolved homicide.

At about the same time as the Julia assault across the country, though three years have passed, Maestro, Virginia, father of two boys, Sheriff Dixon Noble has begun to move past his grief for his wife Christie who disappeared three years ago, thanks in part to meeting Ruth. However, he learns of Charlotte Pallack, who is a dead ringer of his spouse. He travels to San Francisco to see firsthand this Charlotte though he has no hope she is his beloved Christie who he assumes is dead. Soon these seemingly divergent cases connect bringing agents Savich and Sherlock joining with Dix, and Cheney as they investigate the murky otherworld of psychics while an apparent serial killer is sending the mediums to join their spirit compatriots on the other side.

DOUBLE TAKE is a terrific S&S FBI thriller refreshed by the appearances of Cheney and Dix (who appeared in the previous tale POINT BLANK). The storyline is fast-paced and ties up a major loose end from POINT BLANK (what happened to Christie?). The psychic connection adds a bit of fun and mysticism to the mysteries. Though the motives will prove too standard, fans will enjoy Catherine Coulter's latest suspense thriller.

Harriet Klausner