Penny Rudolph Life Blood

Life Blood

Penny Rudolph

Poisoned Pen, Sep 2007, $24.95

ISBN 9781590583463

Rachel Chavez lives over the downtown Los Angeles parking garage she owns. Rachel becomes upset when she finds two young Mexican children locked inside a van parked in her garage.

Stunned, she gets the kids out of the vehicle and rushes them to Jefferson Hospital. However, she is informed one died while the other one who is badly dehydrated clings to life and will remain at the hospital. The next day, Rachel returns to Jefferson to see how the survivor is doing only to learn there is no record of either child. While the hospital administration wants Rachel to leave, the shocked woman ignores them and begins a search for the still living child who has vanished somewhere in the endless corridors of Jefferson.

The latest "blood" suspense thriller (see THICKER THAN BLOOD) is an entertaining tale as Rachel and two of her buds search the labyrinth known as Jefferson Hospital in search of the missing surviving child. The story line is fast-paced although somewhat seemingly implausible as the trio of females run across other nefarious secrets hidden by the hospital as if the quest itself is not enough to fill the story line. Still fans will care for Rachel and her cohorts to rescue the child, but they wonder from what.

Harriet Klausner