Written by Catherine Coulter
SUMMARY:
Jove Books re-released this title as a 451-page paperback edition in 2014. Previously seen in 2012’s Backfire, FBI Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith has nearly completed his cross-country drive from San Francisco to join Dillon Savich’s elite unit in Washington, D.C. Hammersmith intends to first stop over and briefly visit his kid sister, Delsey Freestone, who is a promising student at the prestigious Stanislaus School of Music in Maestro, Virginia.
During the night before her brother’s arrival, an inebriated Delsey is nearly killed after she glimpses an unknown bloody corpse in her own bathtub. With his severely-concussed sister hospitalized, Hammersmith finds himself assigned to the case. All isn’t what it appears, as he soon suspects that someone at Stanislaus may be involved in illicit schemes extending far beyond a local break-in. Complicating Hammersmith’s probe is one of Delsey’s classmates, with secrets of her own.
Meanwhile, amidst the bitter cold of the nation’s capital, Dillon Savich & Lacey Sherlock’s FBI squad investigate a bizarre murder after a frozen nude corpse is left overnight at The Lincoln Memorial. A grotesque image of the crime is subsequently uploaded on the internet by presumably the culprit making this crime a sensationalistic topic amongst the public. As the victim was the college-age grandson of the Federal Reserve Bank’s controversial former chairman, the squad find this grisly homicide may be linked to other crimes, both in the past and the imminent future.
Along with Sheriff Dix Noble and the DEA, the team aids Hammersmith, as he is outmatched by dark forces still seeking to kill Delsey. Included for good measure are brief references setting up The Final Cut – A Brit in the FBI (the first book in a series spin-off starring Nicholas Drummond).
Note: Bombshell was previously released as a hardcover in 2013. This title is also available digitally.
REVIEW:
Catherine Coulter’s consistency slickly writing this series is evident, as Bombshell provides routine proof. Granted, would anyone really believe that a real-world FBI Speial Agent would be officially assigned to investigate his own sister’s near-homicide? Or that married agents actually work together in the same investigative unit (let alone have one supervise the other)? Or that previously evasive witnesses will conveniently buckle at the right moment and confess vital evidence to the FBI without an attorney present? Or that two major cases would simultaneously resolve inside of a week?
Of course not – but Coulter’s literary talent and years of experience honing her ongoing cast of FBI personnel makes it an enjoyable read suspending one’s sense of disbelief at the novel’s fast pace. Where she falters, however, is over-indulging a tendency to pitch unnecessary throwaway details that, to varying degrees, may test a reader’s patience.
For instance, depicting a frozen corpse as totally nude is a salacious element that is utterly irrelevant to the plot. Or extra tidbits like: Hammersmith, by sheer coincidence, owns classical CD’s of two of his homicide case’s main suspects; Savich & Hammersmith are both grandsons of famous female artists (one a painter and the other a singer); Delsey quickly recognizes Savich & Sherlock’s young son due to his ‘internet’ fame, etc. Such storytelling winks might work for Nora Roberts and Jayne Anne Krentz, but, in Coulter’s Bombshell, the abundance of such eye-rollers hampers her storyline’s credulity.
In spite of formulaic plot contrivances and glaring instances of self-promotion (i.e. repetitively hyping The Final Cut), Bombshell, for the most part, provides the necessary suspense. Coulter’s knack for constructing a relatively complex plot is a plus, since Bombshell maintains dual storylines that intersect only as necessary. She also makes Griffin Hammersmith and presumably his future partner a likable crime-fighting duo; one could readily infer that Bombshell is meant to explore interest in them as another potential spin-off.
If anything, Coulter delivers reliable entertainment to keep stashed at one’s desk or for those long airport layovers.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
A three-page sample previews the series’ next entry: Power Play. In a reverse-chronology, a list of Coulter’s FBI Thriller titles is provided.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 7 Stars
