Point Blank - Catherine Coulter

    2005; 355 pages.  Book 10 (out of 27) in the “FBI Thriller” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Crime Thriller; Suspense.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    It’s the chance of a lifetime.  FBI Agent Ruth Warnecki is sure of it.

 

    Legend has it that during the closing days of the Civil War, Confederate soldiers hid a bunch of gold in a place called Winkel’s Cave, near Maestro, Virginia.  Over the years, many others have looked for it but no one’s ever even found a trace.  Maybe it is just a legend.

 

    Now, on her day off, amateur spelunker Ruth Warnecki has decided to see if she can find the lost treasure.  She’s doing it on the sly.  She’s parked her car a good distance away.  She hasn’t brought along anyone else.  She hasn’t told anyone what she’s doing or where she’s going.

 

    Hmm.  What if something goes wrong, Ruth?

 

What’s To Like...

    Ruth Warnecki’s spelunking misadventure opens things in Point Blank, and the series’ two main characters in Catherine Coulter’s “FBI Thriller” series, the husband-&-wife FBI team of Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, show up in the second chapter with their own plot thread.  A pair of wisecracking psychopathic killers, for unknown reasons, have decided to target them.  The two storylines soon merge, although to give more details than that would be a spoiler.

 

    The story's setting is in the Virginia/Maryland area.  The dual plotlines aspect works well at keeping the book’s pacing at a rapid clip; so does a spate of local murders.  And  one detonation of Savich’s prized Porsche.  The writing style is a deft blend of crime-thriller and police procedural; two genres that I always enjoy.

 

    Character development is a prominent aspect of the Catherine Coulter's storytelling.  It was fun to meet Sheriff Dixon Noble, in whose jurisdiction Winkel’s Cave is located.  It was a refreshing change to see the FBI Feds and the local law officers working as one unit on a case.  The resulting investigation introduces a slew of possible suspects, plus one hyperactive toy poodle named Brewster.  This is only the second book I’ve read in this series, so I’m not sure whether any of these local characters are, or become, recurring ones.

 

    The ending ties up all the major plotlines, but is presented in such a manner to where the reader doesn’t figure out who the baddies are before Savich and Sherlock do.  My guess at the who and why of the perpetrators was totally amiss.  Things close with a hint of romance in the air,

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 4,124 ratings and 288 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.16*/5, based on 14,287 ratings and 456 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Savich raised his face to the steel-gray sky, breathed that fresh wild air deep into his lungs.  He could feel Moses Grace was close.  He punched up the incoming call.  “Savich here.”

    “Hello, boy.  This here’s your nemesis.  Ain’t that a grand word?  Claudia read it to me out of a book, said that’s what I am to you.”

    Savich stilled, his mind working furiously.  He knew, he simply knew.  “Who is this?”

    “Why, this is the poor old man you’re trying to hunt down and kill, and bury real deep, Agent Savich.”  (pg. 56)

 

    Ruth put a smile on for Cynthia when she jerked the front door open.  “Well, what do—Dix, hello.  Do come in.  Oh, you.  So you’re still here.  Sorry, but I don’t remember your name.  You’re some kind of police officer, too, aren’t you?”

    “Some kind, yes,” Ruth said agreeably.  “Agent Ruth Warnecki.  I believe we had lunch together, what was it, two days ago?  They say memory is the first to go.”

    Cynthia said, “Yes, I’ve heard that, too.  But why would I even want to remember you?”

    “Good one,” Ruth said.  (pg. 270)

 

“What are you up to, smearing hot dog all over my shoe, making everybody laugh at me?” (pg. 243)

    I wouldn’t label Point Blank a cozy mystery, but the cussing is sparse.  I counted just 8 instances in the first 25% of the book, all of them being of the milder 4-lettered ilk.  A number of adult situations are also referenced, but none are witnessed firsthand.

 

    I don’t have any major gripes with anything in Point Blank, other than nitpicking about Savich and Sherlock not revealing the key break in the case until they confront the main perp.  I have several more books from this series on my Kindle and TBR shelf, so we shall see if holding back on the “big reveal” is a regular occurrence in this series.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing. At one point, a psychochemical compound called QuinuclidInyl Benzilate (shortened to “BZ” for simplicity's sake) figures into the story.  I thought I had heard of all such hallucinogenic chemicals, but this was new one to me.  You can read more about it in Wikipedia here.