Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
FBI Agent Sloane Burbank is on extended medical leave having come close to bleeding to death and suffering a severe hand injury. When the Feds offer her an office job the field agent declines. Instead decides to become a private consultant providing self defense seminars using the Krav Maga methodology to universities. She finds teaching quite enjoyable.
Hope Truman arranges for Sloane to visit her at her expensive Manhattan apartment to discuss the disappearance of her daughter Penny almost a year ago as the NYPD and FBI put their investigation on simmering, which means they will get back to it if workload allows; in other words cold case. Hope begs Sloane to find her daughter hopefully alive; Penny has been Sloane's best friend since elementary school so she drops everything to investigate. Sloane uses her FBI background to learn what the agency knows. That takes her to her former lover, Derek Parker, who remains the agent in charge on paper. Currently he works on deadly gang warfare in Chinatown as part of an Asian Criminal Enterprise Task Force. Derek is outraged to be forced back on a cold case especially with Sloane, but they soon learn other females, all with connections to Sloan, have vanished without a trace over the last year, but neither sleuth can understand why.
This engaging romantic suspense thriller stars two likable protagonists and a TWISTED killer who worships Athena "the true warrior". The story line is at its best when the lead pair follows clues that continually link back to Sloane. Derek is an interesting male lead as he slowly turns from resentment and outrage to protectiveness and love. Although the romantic subplot between him and Sloane seems out of place even with their history and readers will know why Sloane, mystery fans will enjoy this tense thriller.