Review of "The Target: An FBI Thriller" by Catherine Coulter

After some dramatic courtroom heroics Federal Judge Ramsey Hunt - needing a break from the paparazzi - takes time off to relax in an isolated cabin in the mountains of Colorado. While there Ramsey finds a six-year-old child, Emma, who escaped from an abusive abductor.



The child doesn't speak and Ramsey, believing the girl would be further traumatized by police and doctors, contacts no one.



Instead he cares for the child himself. Before long people try to kill both Ramsey and the girl, so their situation is clearly perilous.



Skip ahead a few days and the girl's mother, Molly, shows up. Molly decided the cops and FBI searching for Emma were haughty and useless; thus she set out to find Emma herself.



At first Molly thinks Ramsey is the kidnapper and almost kills him.



Things are soon straightened out though, and Ramsey, Emma, and Molly become a trio - working together to evade the would-be killers and find out what's going on.

It turns out Molly's ex-husband (and Emma's absentee dad) is a famous singer with a huge gambling problem.....



.....and Molly's father is a big-time Chicago mobster.



Could all this be connected to Emma's abduction somehow? A number of deaths follow and Ramsey, Emma, and Molly are apparently in constant danger. To help resolve the situation Ramsey contacts his friends, FBI agents (and married coupled) Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock for assistance.



I'd say this book is roughly half thriller, half romance and has the expected features of those genres. That is, people fall in love super quick, there's a lot of risk, and so on. In the end the motives of the various bad guys' stretch credulity and the resolution of the story isn't totally satisfying. In addition, the idea of a federal judge harboring a kidnapped child without attempting to contact authorities or her parents is beyond belief.

For me this book was just okay but I think readers who are big fans of romantic suspense would probably like this book.

Rating: 2 stars