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Vicky Hunnings shines when her professional background in nursing is on display. When her brave and bewildered heroine is hiding out in a hospital from a mercenary hit man who is hunting her down, it's clear that the descriptions of patients wavering between life and death, the bleak waiting rooms, and the patients' loved ones camped out in them weren't based on notes taken on a walkthrough. How to steal some sleep, evade authorities as well as the killer, and eat adequately if not nutritiously on just about no money inside a hospital is presented from the standpoint of a scared young woman in the process of finding out someone is after her without knowing who or why. This sounds like just one more femjep, but it isn't. This book could easily have been ruined if the author had tossed in a cliche or two, some helpless jeopardy, a star-crossed romance, or foolish bravado, and the author has succeeded in steering clear of them. This is the story of how Cece Campbell' s life is interrupted by the murder of her boss, a retired physician who's coordinating from his home office several far-flung researchers on the side effects of cell phone radiation, just when the research results were beginning to look ominous. She, too, is in peril because she's carried home from the office duplicate data disks. When she recognizes danger, she is courageous and inventive. She is sensible in trying to get the assistance of police and in trusting people she checks out as genuine when she needs help. I'd have liked this book quite a bit if it would have been all likable Cece pitting her wits and stamina against the greedy hired killer intent on deleting all the evidence and cleaning up all the loose ends, such as Cece. However, this intriguing story is stuffed into an ongoing series featuring Hilton Head, South Carolina, police detectives "Shark" Morgan and Dell Hassler. Maybe I'd have found these ongoing characters more interesting if I had read the previous book in the series, but I didn't, so I speed-read through these parts; I didn't want to miss any vital clues, but I did want to hurry through those sections and get back to Cece's plight to see her triumph. Also, the writing can be said to be serviceable if you're being charitable, and clunky if you aren't. There isn't anything wrong with it. It's just that it isn't lyrical, and it isn't raucous; the writing is just ordinary.
Reviewed by Joy Matkowski, October 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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