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At first glance, you would probably decide that you didn't want to spend any time with the protagonist of Scorpion Rain. Laura Winslow is a mess. She's addicted to Ritalin, popping pills like they're M&Ms. She has Attention Deficit Disorder. She does not play well with others. She's paranoid. And to top it all off, her choice of profession is dubious at best. She's a top-notch computer hacker who goes after serious money theft, embezzlement and other kinds of white-collar crimes. In spite of all that, Laura is an appealing character. She possesses an extraordinary sense of loyalty and a certain vulnerability. In the past, she's done several jobs for a woman by the name of Meg Arizana. Meg has many problems of her own, not the least of which being that she is manic-depressive and a drug user. Meg specializes in helping women to escape from abusive situations, transporting them to a Safe House where they can pick up the pieces of their lives. She often calls on Laura to help her out. The job at hand is to move a woman who has agreed to testify against the mob to a safe place. As they cross the Mexican border, a group of commandoes swoops down upon them. Meg is taken hostage, and Laura promises to rescue her. And that promise is the basis for everything that follows. Because of the high profile of the woman that Meg had been trying to move, the media becomes involved. A female reporter who works for CNN is determined to get the story. She also is a damaged person who is even more messed up than Laura, as ludicrous as that might seem. She's well connected and antes up some cash to fund the search, but ultimately, she's only interested in her own agenda and serves as a roadblock rather than a conduit into the investigation. Laura also works with some law enforcement officials who are able to give her access to some of the most proprietary government computers. In the meantime, someone has broken into the various security layers that Laura and her partner, Don Ralph, have created for themselves. She's receiving phone calls from a breather. She's receiving threats in her heavily protected email accounts. Given the fears she ordinarily faces based on her drug addled brain, she is operating at a whole other level of paranoia. It seems that perhaps the situation with Meg might be connected to the person stalking Laura, that some event involving a past client may be the cause of these troubles. Scorpion Rain is fast paced and keeps the reader turning the pages. In spite of the fact that all of the female characters are battling a veritable den of demons, they aren't over the top or implausible. Laura becomes more focused during the course of the book, to the point where she is not taking any Ritalin so that she can function at an optimal level. It's interesting to see her battles with herself as she decides who she can trust in the situation. Trusting is something that she does not normally do. Overall, I enjoyed the book and thought that Cole did a far superior job to one of the previous books in the series, Stalking Moon. The plot progressed rapidly and cohesively. I felt the author missed an opportunity to develop the narrative even further by not going into the bandits' setting and elaborating on their inner workings. There's an insinuation that they are kidnapping rich Americans for ransom and possibly selling body parts, but that isn't really developed. I enjoyed learning about some of the high tech methods that were available to Laura and Don to find Meg. However, I'm not certain that a person without a bit of knowledge about computers and technological innovations in communications would find the book very comprehensible. Maddy Van Hertbruggen List owner: 4_Mystery_Addicts-owner@yahoogroups.com
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, October 2002
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