Jenny Cooper is a coroner.  Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?  She declares people dead.  That gets more complicated when there is no body.  Amira Jamal brings a case to Jenny that starts out complicated and only gets more so.  Seven years ago, her son and one of his friends disappeared.  The presumption at the time was that the two boys had been radicalized, and left England for Pakistan to become involved in extremist Islamic movements.  Ms. Jamal doesn’t believe that and wants Jenny to investigate the case.

Jenny does it, because it’s her job.  As she delves deeper into the case, it becomes apparent that something is not right.  The higher ups seem to be more involved than they need to be; British Security Services doesn’t really want to cooperate at all.  Jenny begins to take steps that are very close to the line of impropriety.

Her personal life isn’t all that wonderful, and this contributes to her discomfort about the Jamal case.  She is, on some levels, incredibly fragile, and yet she somehow keeps finding the strength to press on when she has plenty of reasons to cave.

Hall has some great characters, and a very believable plot.  Not all the characters are likeable, but that’s how life is.  The Disappeared will certainly have a lot of appeal for readers who want to see their protagonist take on a corrupt system and find some kind of victory.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren.

Travis Chase has a past, a prison sentence served for deeds that deserved the conviction, although some might say he had justification for his behavior at the end.  Whatever the case, he has come to the Alaskan wilderness for the solitude that may help him make some decisions about the direction the rest of his life should take.   He’s not alone in the backcountry, though, and the sounds he wasn’t sure he heard three nights earlier have crystallized at the sight before him, the crashed Boeing 747 in the valley below.   This is not just any 747; this one is full of executed people and carried a very special passenger who left an ominous message before she died.

Paige Campbell has a past, too, as an member of an agency charged with protecting possibly the biggest secret in mankind’s history.  Spared the bullets of the executioners, she has spent hours being tested physically and psychologically and her resistance means time may be running out.  Paige holds the key to everything that has happened on the plane and to what the future might hold.

A book club I belong to discusses mysteries based on themes rather than choosing a specific book each month.   Not long ago, the theme was “Kept You Up All Night”, meaning you were compelled to keep reading to the end.  I had no trouble coming up with a choice once I started The Breach.  The sheer intensity of the story literally kept me up all night and Patrick Lee has, in my opinion, established himself with his debut as a premier thriller writer.  Few have grabbed my attention the way he did and the tension on nearly every page is memorable.  Fans of thrillers, suspense and science fiction should run to the nearest bookstore to get this.

The Breach will be on my list of best books of 2010.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor.

When I began this book, I thought that I had remembered that I had read both previous Dr. Rachel Goddard books. I was wrong and I believe it influenced my reading of this book. I will have to go back and read the second book in the series, Disturbing the Dead. Don’t get me wrong. I loved this book! Once I started I could not stop until I finished.

I remembered Dr. Rachel Goddard, the neighborhood veterinarian. She loves animals and is extremely loyal to her friends and family, which includes Ben. Ben is an old friend of Rachel and when he is accused of murdering Cam and Meredith Taylor, she stands by him but at times she wonders if she really knows him. Does she?

Tom, her boyfriend and the local law, says that she doesn’t but is that jealousy or the fact that there are secrets in Ben’s past that Rachel doesn’t know everything about? Tom admits that he is jealous but is not sure if he really knows Rachel since she has secrets too. Enter Lindsay…

Lindsay is Cam and Meredith’s daughter and holds a serious crush on Tom. She does whatever possible to put herself in between Tom and Rachel and create doubts in each other’s minds while tempting Tom every chance she gets. Meanwhile there is another murder and new suspects and attempts on Rachel’s life.

The two main things I enjoyed best about this book are the secondary characters and how they interact with each other and the main characters and the continued twists and turns. What will Lindsay pull next? Ben’s mom disappears—where is she? Did Meredith really die in the fire? What is Meredith’s friend hiding? What is the real truth behind Ben’s secrets and what did Cam know? And….

Who dun it? I challenge you to figure it out before the end of the book—the answer will amaze you, for it certainly did me and I always love that in a mystery.

Reviewed by Wendi Chapman.