Monday, February 2, 2009

There was no spin in "Tailspin" by Catherine Coulter


“Bad dog Catherine! Bad Catherine! I have been reading your books for YEARS! I love your work. You hooked me with all those delicious Regency Romances like the Brides series and I especially loved the ”Duke” and “Lord Harry”.
I was tickled silly when you moved your talents to modern suspense with the FBI series. “The Cove” and “The Maze” were killer, ( no pun intended). I even liked how you tied the novels together with the recurrence of Savitch and Sherlock. Then things changed. Instead of being supporting characters S&S became the features of the novel with the new agent and romance taking second seat to the dynamic duo. You have always linked stories through family and friends and it was nice to see old favorites in new stories but up until the FBI series no one couple overtook the other stories.
In your recent offering of “Tailspin” the story was Sherlock and Savitch, again. The synopsis says this story is about Jack Crowne who is protecting a Dr. Timothy MacLean and is rescued from his sabotaged plane by Rachel Abbott who herself just survived a near murder experience. From this little piece I was really looking forward to a great read. Strong Hero Jack meet Strong Heroine Rachel. Before 30 pages went by S & S entered the story and, in my opinion, hijacked it. Are these 2 the only ones who are able to solve a case for the FBI? Are they really such close friends to all these agents as well as the Vice President? Do agents really get calls over breakfast and discuss a case in front of their small child? Do agents really converge at a victim’s house with said small child in tow and discuss the near death attempt on someone they are guarding? It really bugged me because I didn’t believe it.
There were so many suspects in this too many plot story that it became truly silly. In earlier efforts you focused on the main hero and heroine and a clever villain or group of villains. In this story Rachel Abbott who is raised by a mysterious marine uncle and probably would qualify as an expert marksman at Quantico doesn’t seem to need any rescuers so it feels so fake when she leans on Jack who, for me, never gets anything right as a hero. All the people after Dr. MacLean could have had their own stories! Rachel certainly deserved her own book. I hate to say this but I sighed in relief when I got to the last page and not because the bad guy was caught.
Catherine, I am a big fan, really I am. I am on your side. I will understand if the FBI series has been played out as far as it can go. I would be willing to read a fresh new Regency or Modern novel with your name on it. You don’t have to write another book that isn’t exactly spot on. You are a much better author than this last book demonstrated.

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