Burning Spiral
Edita A. PetrickRomantic suspense
Available from Cerridwen Press
ISBN: 9781419914660
August 2008
| When Carly and her partner Bill are sent to the Chicago suburbs to investigate a murder, they are dumbfounded. The victim has a hole blown cleanly through the middle of his torso, and no weapon can account for it. Suspicion falls on the local military research facility and Colonel Lejeune joins the investigation, followed by the FBI and CIA. Apparently and experimental explosive has been stolen from the lab and the mob wants to use it to make a point. Carly’s ex-husband is about to run for Congress and wants to separate her children from her completely. His new wife is twenty years his junior, surgically enhanced, and about to inherit a huge fortune. Carly’s anger over her situation threatens to ruin her life, but Ben Lejeune has another life in mind for her.
There is a lot going on in this novel. The murder mystery is bizarre at times and clever all the time. The author does a good job describing the chaos involved when different agencies try to “cooperate” with each other. Carly and Bill are a good team, balancing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Ben is a great character, all military with a sense of humor and a great capacity for love that Carly really needs at this time in her life. Her husband is horrible even for a politician, mercenary and opportunistic; he cares for no one but himself. His wife is bionic Barbie, with almost as much personality, but it is fun to read about her chasing the security guards around the estate. This is a very good suspense novel with realistic characters in a slightly unreal situation. The climactic scene is very exciting with an eerie paranormal twist, and the ending is satisfying on many levels.. The love scenes are also well-written and very passionate. This is one book I will be reading again soon.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Maura Frankman |
