Knock Out

Coulter, Catherine.  Knock Out.

An FBI/paranormal adventure that began well, but deteriorated quickly.  FBI agent Dillon Savitch is in his local bank during a bank robbery; the bad guys/gals are really bad, but Savitch manages to save the day.  This story line then becomes a bit superfluous as the novel progresses.  It crops up intermittently and is eventually solved, but has nothing to do with the other story line. 

The paranormal thread was initially intriguing; Autumn, a seven-year-old little girl, begins communicating telepathically with Agent Savitch, but as her Uncles Blessed and Grace enter the scene, the story begins to feel like a parody of evil.  If a family as perverted, powerful, and insane as the Backman's existed, it is doubtful that they would limit themselves to their tiny kingdom of Bricker's Bowl; with their powers, they could have taken over the world.  Of course, they were all crazy, and well, not too bright.

Fiction.  Mystery/Paranormal.  2009.  417 pages.

Out of Nowhere

Mortman, Doris.  Out of Nowhere.

Cynthia Baird discovers a money laundering scheme which results in the murder of her brother by a drug cartel.  Nevertheless, Cynthia agrees to testify at the trial.  The drug cartel is vengeful, however, and both Cynthia and her daughter Ricki must go into the witness protection program, WitSec.  All ties to to family, including those to Cynthia's ex-husband Lionel Baird, Ricki's father, are severed, and Baird believes that his former wife and his daughter were killed in an explosion.

The story picks up again years later with a young forensic photographer, Max (Amanda Maxwell, formerly Ricki Baird).  Max is a very private person in many ways; her life in WitSec has taught her to be less than forthcoming about many things and the threat of violence from the drug cartel keeps her ability to trust at a minimum.

In spite of the possible consequences, Max develops a relationship with her father, a wealthy and powerful man who has mourned the deaths of his former wife and daughter over the years.  She has also developed relationships with two attractive men, and when the money laundering/drug cartel story once again makes the news, Max has a lot to worry about.  And then her father is murdered....

I enjoyed this one.

Fiction.  Mystery/Suspense.  1998.  455 pages.