May 12, 2008
Dark secrets that can destroy lives propel bestseller Coulter's solid 12th FBI thriller (after Double Take
). When a small plane carrying FBI Special Agent Jackson “Jack” Crowne makes a crash landing in mountainous Parlow, Ky., his friends FBI Special Agents Dillon Savitch and Lacey Sherlock fly by helicopter from Washington, D.C., to the scene. Jack survives the crash, aided by Rachael Abbott, a young woman who's returning to Parlow, her childhood home, after escaping an attempt to drown her in a Maryland lake. After Rachael reveals that she's the illegitimate daughter of the late Maryland senator John James Abbott, whose siblings she suspects are trying to kill her, the FBI agents agree to help. As further attempts on Rachael's life occur, the attraction grows between her and Jack. Despite a somewhat predictable plot, master of romantic suspense Coulter exposes the cost of obsessive regard for family honor and family shame with her usual flair.