Catherine Coulter - Split Second

 Ro Bennett reviewed live on bookshow on 28th March 2013:

Kindle: £5.45 - but you can get it for 1p plus postage

This is the The seventeenth book in the series and here is the official summary: 

The number-one New York Times-bestselling author returns with another pulse-pounding thriller featuring FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, and introducing Special Agents Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight. 

A serial killer is on the loose, and it's up to FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock to bring him down. They soon discover that the killer has blood ties to the infamous now long-dead monster, Ted Bundy. Savich and Sherlock are joined by agents Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight, and the chase is on. At the same time, Special Agent Lucy Carlyle learns from her dying father that her grandfather hadn't simply walked away from his family twenty-two years earlier: he had, in fact, been murdered by his wife, Lucy's grandmother. 

Determined to uncover the truth, Lucy moves into her grandmother's Chevy Chase mansion. What she finds, however, is more in the nature of a nightmare. Not only does she discover the truth of what happened all those years ago, but she faces a new mystery, a strange ring that holds powers beyond her ken. She learns about obsession and destruction and ultimate power.

As the hunt for the serial killer escalates, Savich realizes he's become the killer's focus, and the hunted. It's up to Lucy to stop this madness before Savich dies. Whether you are someone who has been a fan of bestselling author Catherine Coulter's thrillers or even her romance novels, Split Second will give you a little of both.

There are three story lines.  The book starts with the first one which isn’t resolved until nearly the final page in the book.  The owner of a small convenience store in Washington, D.C. is nearly killed late one night in what appeared to be an attempted robbery. It failed because by lucky coincidence Agent Dillon Savitch was a customer in the shop at the time. This story line didn’t seem particularly necessary to the book except as a page filler.

The second, and main story line deals with a series of murders involving young women  who are picked up in bars, brought back to their own apartments, and strangled with a length of wire. 

The last is the uncovering of the horrifying family secret and mystery surrounding her grandfather’s death by Lucy Carlyle. 

I’m ambivalent about the book although I did mostly enjoy it. It was certainly full of suspense and a page turner with loads of gripping action. It was a mystery set in reality and believable story lines  — except for the magic ring element which bought in a paranormal aspect and made it all unbelievable...   

Parts of the book are inane and clichéd - the main characters all beautiful and rich with designer clothes, enormous houses, flash cars and long thin hands. 

But, even if a tad trashy,  I have bought the first book in the series as they are light and relaxing escapism to enjoy in between the more meaty reads.