ENIGMA

5 stars out of 5

Fully a score of books in this series has preceded this one, and despite my good intentions - they've been on my want-to-read list for quite some time - up to this point I've read nary a single one. Big mistake, but one I certainly won't make again. Ms. Coulter earned a spot on my list of favorite authors with The Devil's Triangle, her "A Brit in the FBI" series, and this one ensures that she won't be moving off anytime soon. Or, to put it another way, wow!

That the characters weren't familiar to me going in wasn't an issue; early on, I got the drift, and at no time did I feel lost (although I'll advise, as I always do, that it's best to start a series as close to the beginning as possible if only to see how the characters change and who comes and goes over time). Here, the most important people to know are FBI agents named Savich (Dillon), Wittier (Cam), Cabot (Jack) and Sherlock (if she has a second name, it slipped past me). There are a couple of plots going on at the same time, but even though they don't overlap much, I never got confused as to who's who and what's what.

The first story begins with Savich in the home of a very pregnant woman named Kara, who's being threatened by a man who's ranting about people out to get him and insisting he's an "enigma." Savich nails the guy, who then falls into a coma and is taken to a hospital. Kara soon follows - and gives birth to baby Alex. Then comes the unthinkable; the baby is kidnapped from the hospital right under the noses of the doctors and nurses. Further investigation turns up bizzare links between the still unidentified comotose guy, Kara and her baby - and leads Savich, Sherlock and their team to a grandiose scheme involving drugs of a very different sort.

While this is going on, a psychopathic bank robber somehow escapes just as he's arriving at his future home - a federal penitentiary. Whittier and Cabot get the case, following the convict and the people who helped him escape into the wilds of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Apparently, the convict, dubbed "Manta Ray," stole and hid some kind of safe deposit box before he was captured. Could it be that his new companions have an ulterior motive of their own for springing him?

The two investigations lead from U.S.-sanctioned Russian bankers (could that topic be more timely?) to the inner workings of a pharmaceutical firm to the highest echelons of the U.S. government. There's plenty of intrigue to go round, and the action rarely takes a break. This one's a don't-miss - and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Enigma by Catherine Coulter (Gallery Books, September 2017); 496 pp.