A Somewhat Disturbing But Interesting Suspense -- Not Everybody's Cup Of Tea
Customer Rating: 
Let me start off by saying that the ratings on this book says something. I've seen items where the five stars and four stars well outweigh the lower rankings. On controversial books, the sign of it being effective is a lot of five stars and a lot of one stars, with little in between. While I'm in the largest group (I'm #22 of the five stars), the smallest group (the two stars) has a respectable number.
What does this mean? If you are one who relies on reviews to decide whether to get this book, read ALL the reviews. Don't base your decision on just mine unless you happen to be a fan of my reviews and consistently trust my opinion.
This is the third Catherine Coulter FBI thriller I've read. It is not Pullitzer prize writing, but it keeps my interest. I like the characters in her books, though for some reason I picture the leading men (Judge Ramsey Hunt here, James Quinlan from "The Cove", and Miles Kettering from "Blindside") as all looking the same, and I just realized I see them all looking like Barry Van Dyke (Dick's son) from Diagnosis Murder.
This book is more disturbing than the other two I read because of its child molestation story-line. Also, one thing I'll give away is that the molester is a former priest. This is the first Coulter novel I read that does not have a protestant minister as one of the bad guys -- this time it's a former Catholic minister. (I wonder if Coulter has any books where a minister is a good guy, or at least, where none of the villains are connected with Christianity.) Maybe the preachers she knows are all child molesters and child kidnappers and murderers, but most real preachers are nothing like that.
Also, this book does have some erotica which I skimmed over, and which is not necessary. Also, there is some cussing which I never consider a positive, though I'll add that it is not pervasive in this book.
One thing that cracks me up is the long distance mob battle between Mason Lord and Rule Shaker. With names like that, I wonder if Coulter read Dick Tracy comics or watched James Bond movies for research.
In her plot description, she promised a twist at the end that even the best mystery solvers would not expect. I don't consider myself great at solving mysteries, but I successfully guessed what that twist was. Maybe I would have been surprised if she didn't warn me of the twist.
This is not a perfect book. Many have pointed out the illogical way the judge acts in the situation, though if he did what he was supposed to there wouldn't have been a story. Having completed a novel, I noticed that Coulter is not always consistent with the point of view. But if you want to entertain yourself, this would work.
One other note. The other two books I've read in the series (and I'll add Hemlock Bay, which I started and decided to read later, maybe) had two different stories going on ("Blindside" had a third little situation unrelated to the other two); this one focuses on the main story.
I will conclude by saying that I do like the way the book ends.
