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Ray Dolan is a police officer in the town of Mansfield in New York State. He's not married - never was - lives alone in the house he grew up in, and he's considered a hero cop. Unfortunately he's fallen in love with his new next door neighbor, Sheila Travis. At night, he watches Sheila as she undresses in her bedroom, he watches her as she swims in her pool, and after meeting each other, Ray can tell that Sheila loves him too. The only thing standing between them is Sheila's husband, Lance. Lance is considered a big man in Mansfield. He hobnobs with the Mayor and other movers and shakers in the town, and he even has contacts with the more shady citizens, those that have dealings with the criminal element. The fact that Lance is a drunk and beats Sheila every so often doesn't stop the rest of the town from looking up to him. One day, Lance is critically and conveniently shot in his living room while Sheila is shot in her bedroom. With the husband out of the way, you would think that this would allow Sheila and Ray to finally be together. But things are never that simple! It was Sheila who shot Lance and, as a favor to her, Ray who shot Sheila. Thus begins Ray's plummet into his own hell. He's sure that the detective on the case, his best friend Frank, knows what he and Sheila have done. To make matters worse, Ray is starting to doubt if Sheila is what she claimed to be, an abused wife. Because, you see, Ray finds out that Lance has a one million dollar insurance policy on his life and if he dies it all goes to Sheila. Ray had no knowledge of the insurance policy until Frank told him about it and now Ray is really suspicious of his lady love. No matter what, Ray now has to go through with the charade of not knowing who the shooter really is, that is until Sheila suddenly implicates an innocent man. LINE OF SIGHT is one of those books that lives up to the adage that you can't tell a book by it's cover. When I first looked at the book I was sure I wasn't going to like it. I was wrong. Jack Kelly started his story in the style that reminded me of an old time, film noir, dime novel detective story. The first pages were dark and seedy and filled with desperate characters who had suddenly found themselves in desperate circumstances. I was hooked. The town of Mansfield is filled with marvelous characters including Sheila's teen-aged daughter who was supposedly abused by Lance when she was younger. Kelly gives us good insight to Ray and Frank which leads the reader to understand the surprise ending. All throughout this first-class novel, you will find yourself screaming at Ray to stop what he's doing. Doesn't he see what he's getting into? What does he see in Sheila anyway that makes him do these things? I did my best to let Ray know that he should rethink his actions! And for this reason, LINE OF SIGHT is an outstanding book. I cared about Ray and the other characters, even though some of their actions were questionable and shady. Don't let the dime store book cover showing a couple in a sordid tight clinch stop you from reading this terrifically entertaining book. It really is true. You can't tell a book by it's cover.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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