“First in the Kathryn Dance series (an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation and an expert in 'kinesics' – body language). Daniel Pell, a cult leader and modern-day Charles Manson, hatches a complicated plot to escape from prison, interrogator and 'human lie detector' Kathryn takes on the case.
Thiis is a decent thriller, zipping along at a good pace, but the plot suffers from a rather typical Deaverish issue of ending up too convoluted to be entirely believable. The ending didn't quite work for me, and I think I would have preferred it if it had ended after the resolution of the main plot.
The mostly omniscient POV creates a bit of a distancing effect from the characters, and means we don't always get a great deal of voice, especially with Kathryn. It can feel a bit leaden at times, especially when talking about the mechanics of her interrogation techniques and methods: there's a sense of lecturing about it, rather than telling a story – a bit 'look at my fine research, ma!'
He also has a habit of referring to people by epithets rather than their names – the agent, the older man, the cult specialist, etc. -- which is a small point but something I just don't like.
Reasonable entertainment, but I liked it a lot better for the for the first three quarters. ”
Michelle K wrote this review Friday, March 20 2009.
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