Shot by
Jenny Siler
hbk out October 02
Published by Orion
at £17.99
When scientist Carl Greene is shot to death in the prologue, you already know where you are going with this book. He is on the way to some unspecified rendezvous, which he needs to get over with to be able return to normality and his wife, Lucy. We soon learn he has also left a message for his former school pal and journalist, Kevin Burns, to meet him at a baseball game; the same Kevin Burns from whom he once stole his wife-to-be Lucy. Of course he doesn't make the game, and Kevin is left wondering what the big story is that Carl had promised him.
After both Lucy and Kevin learn of Carl's 'accidental' death, Lucy's home is invaded by a mystery burglar looking for Carl's work files. All pretty predictable so far. That the burglar turns out to be a woman, who is doing what she is doing to save her sister from a fate worse than death in jail, gives the standard formula a little twist. Darcy - the burglar - ends up helping Lucy and Kevin (do Americans know that we find 'Kevins' a little amusing in the UK?) to uncover what Carl was working on. We get back on track to the standard format with faceless government agencies and dirty tricks that result in Lucy being wrongly accused of murder, plus a sad side story of Lucy's damaged baby, who died in infancy, and whose medical problems have links with the secret being hidden. Eventually our heroes are chased hither and yon across country in a chase to find and reveal the facts. I leave you to work out for yourselves if Kevin, Lucy and Darcy win out in the end.
Though the book does work to a well-tried-and-tested formula, it is still an enjoyable read. It is well-written, fast-paced, and does carry the reader along, trying to fathom out just what secret the government is trying to hide this time.
(
Ian Morson
Author of Falconer books and short listed for 1999 Ellis Peters Historical Crime Dagger)
