Review: Backfire

Backfire by Catherine Coulter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Sherlock and Savich are back! This time, they have a mysterious threat - "FOR WHAT YOU DID YOU DESERVE THIS". The crazies are just out and about in this book. Once again the readers are treated to a delightful double threaded plot line which are humming side by side.

Judge Dredd, real name - Ramsey Hunt is shot by a sniper. Ramsey is working as the judge on a high profile espionage case. There seemed to be some underhanded dealings from the prosecutor's office. On top of this, we have a budding romance between Agent Harry and US Marshall Eve. What is interesting about this style of writing, is the reader sees a more complete picture of this world. Different points of views and how the cast of characters interact gives a better idea of how pieces fit together. In addition, the story moves along fast and furious. This book is a page turner.

Each storyline contain little enhancements which makes it more robust. For example, Emma's prodigy pianist skills tie nicely to Sherlock and shows the family relationship between Ramsey and Emma. It's a beautiful bond. This book is essentially bonds of family and friends. How the bonds can bring loved ones into the focus of a crazy revenge plot as well as how bonds can be used to force ordinarily good people behaving badly. This was well done of Ms. Coulter. Her bad guys were bad with a purpose. Learning about their backgrounds shows why they do what they do, even if the readers find them repulsive or reprehensible.

Ms. Coulter creates great villains in this story. While there are some run of the mill con artists, the mastermind behind the killings are phenomenal. These are bad guys with a plan and who think. Many times, authors create the villains to be dumb and bumbling. Here, there are direct and thorough planners as well as the elaborately psychotic ones. It's an interesting dichotomy which baffles the LEO in the story as well as readers. Once more information is revealed, it all makes sense.

This story is a four star for me because I'm pulled in and I want to know what's going to happen next. I'm trying to figure it out and some of my guesses were correct while others were way off. This makes me happy because the story is not completely predictable. There are no great leaps in the story either, to make it unrealistic. The close calls and the demonstration of how even the best people can make mistakes made me happy. No one is perfect in this story, which made the story perfect for me. This book is recommended for romantic suspense lovers who enjoy a good crime solving plot with a dash of romance.



View all my reviews