Colleen Thompson, Fatal Error

Fatal Error

Colleen Thompson

Leisure, Nov 2004, $6.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0843954213

Though her husband Brian ran off with the banker's wife, Jessica Beecher, everyone in the small southwest Texas community blames schoolteacher Susan Maddox while providing casseroles and sympathy for the other cuckolded person, Hal. Some feel she killed her spouse, although the runaways were sighted in New Mexico. Even his mother spreads rumors that Susan is at fault for her favorite son vanishing.

Being fired from her teaching job and thinking the sheriff is an idiot, Susan asks the enemy for help. She wants Brian's brother, Luke to break into a hard drive that her husband used to see if there is any evidence on it to exonerate her. Luke and Susan were attracted to one another back in high school, but her mother interfered and she ended up married to his sibling, to whom she remained faithful, although she never forgot her first love. As someone tries to kill her to stop her from looking into the disappearances, Luke steps in to keep the woman he loves safe.

This is an exciting romantic suspense with an intriguing twist that will surprise readers although it is obvious Colleen Thompson does a terrific job of hiding the truth. The lead couple is a fine pairing as she seeks to clear her name while he has no choice but to help her. Adding depth is the powerful look at small-town living where innuendos and rumors can ruin a successful career as happened to Susan, teacher of the year last year and unemployed this year, though no proof exists that she did any wrong. FATAL ERROR is a fine tale that sub-genre fans will take pleasure in reading.

Harriet Klausner