Review of "Whiteout: An Antarctic Thriller" by R.S. Burnett

Rachael Beckett is an experienced Antarctic researcher who's skilled at measuring the thickness of the ice shelves, to predict possible calving.



Currently, Rachael is taking a break from field work to stay in England with her husband Adam and baby daughter Izzy, who's the light of Rachael's life.



Rachael didn't plan to return to the Antarctic for a while, but feels compelled to go after a visit from her mentor, Guy Barnard.



Guy brings research showing the Ross Ice Shelf is melting, and a piece weighing 4 trillion tons and measuring 23,000 square kilometers (the size of Wales) is in danger of calving off because of climate change combined with drilling. This could result in sea levels rising by six meters (about 20 feet), which would be disastrous.



A possible solution would be to stop drilling, which the U.S. Congress has to authorize. To convince senators to vote the right way, scientists need compelling undeniable research. Thus Guy is planning an Antarctic expedition, and he convinces Rachael to join his team.





Guy, Rachael, and the rest of the research group is flown into Antarctica and start their work.





Jump ahead four months and Rachael is alone in her pod in the pitch black Antarctic winter. For various reasons, Rachael has become separated from the rest of the team, and a radio broadcast repeating every two hours states the following: "This is the Wartime Broadcasting Service from the BBC in London. This country has been attacked with nuclear weapons....the number of casualties are unknown....stay in your homes, etc.



Rachael doesn't know if Adam and Izzy are dead or alive, but fears the worst, and actually thinks she might be the last person alive on earth.



Nevertheless, Rachael is carrying on with her research, recording everything in her journal: Temperature -69 C; Windspeed 63 mph; Ice Thickness....whatever; etc.






In the course of the story, Rachael's situation goes from bad to worse to horrendous, but she's absolutely intrepid and fights to carry on.



To say more would be a spoiler, but rest assured there's plenty of danger and drama.

This thriller is an edge-of-your-seat page turner, and you might even want to don your parka in empathy with Rachael, who has to 'Brave cold that's like a punch in the face. Cold that snaked its way inside you in seconds and seemed to freeze your very bones. Cold that overwhelmed you, stopped your hands from working properly and even slowed down the functions of your brain.'



Very good book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, R.S. Burnett, and Crooked Lane Books for a copy of the manuscript.

 Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Red Mist: A Kay Scarpetta Thriller" by Patricia Cornwell

In this 19th book in the 'Kay Scarpetta' series, the medical examiner sniffs out trouble in the prison system. The book can be read as a standalone, but works best for readers familiar with the characters.

*****

Medical examiner Kay Scarpetta is the director of the Cambridge Forensic Center in Massachusetts.



Early in her career, Scarpetta trained her protégé Jack Fielding, and he eventually became her deputy chief medical examiner.



Jack's drug abuse and incompetent management led to his dismissal, and six months ago Jack was murdered by his biological daughter, Dawn Kincaid.



There's a dark story behind this: Dawn was conceived when Jack was a 12-year-old boy at a ranch for troubled youth. Jack was seduced by his therapist, Kathleen Lawler, who got pregnant, went to prison, and gave the baby up for adoption.



Jack and Kathleen's biological daughter Dawn was intellectually gifted, but troubled, and ended up being a serial killer.



Kathleen Lawler herself is a disturbed woman. She's been in and out of prison all her life, and is now incarcerated in the Georgia Prison For Women (GPFW), for vehicular homicide. Lawler convinces Scarpetta to visit her in the GPFW, where Kay speaks with Warden Tara Grimm.....



......and has a conversation with Kathleen.



It turns out Kay has been 'lured' to Georgia to meet with Jaime Berger, a former New York City prosecutor who's in Georgia to further an agenda.



Jaime wants to get Lola Dagette - a woman convicted of killing a family of four - off death row. Jaime claims Lola didn't commit the murders, and she wants Kay to help free Lola.



Things get complicated after this. Kay learns that several inmates of GPFW committed suicide in bizarre ways, and other women in the prison system died in suspicious circumstances. Kay investigates all this with the help of her husband Benton Wesley - an FBI profiler;



her niece Lucy Farinelli - a computer hacker and helicopter pilot;



and her investigator Pete Marino.



All this leads to surprising twists and a dramatic climax.

Though I enjoy the 'Kay Scarpetta' series, it requires a HUGE suspension of disbelief. It seems Kay - in her capacity as medical examiner - is ALWAYS in the sights of a demented psychopath who's trying to kill Kay and her family. Moreover, the medical examiner's office is constantly hiring employees with secret evil agendas. It would appear that being a medical examiner is more dangerous than being a CIA field agent. (You'd never know it from shows like Rizzoli & Isles; Silent Witness; Quincy M.E.; etc.)

If you're a fan of Kay Scarpetta, you'll probably like the book.

 Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Gone Again: A Jack Swyteck Mystery" by James Grippando

The Freedom Institute in Miami, Florida works to get wrongly convicted prisoners off death row. Attorney Jack Swyteck worked at The Freedom Institute for four years before he struck out on his own as a criminal defense lawyer. Ten years later Jack is back at The Freedom Institute, but only to rent office space, not for death penalty work.



Jack is alone at The Freedom Institute one morning when a woman called Debra Burgette comes in seeking help.



Debra explains that her 17-year-old daughter Sashi disappeared on her way to school three years ago.



Sashi was never found, dead or alive, but her semen-stained underpants turned up in the car of an ex-con called Dylan Reeves. Reeves was convicted of murdering Sashi, and the ex-con is now on death row in Florida State Prison, with his execution set to occur in a few weeks.



Debra Burgette contends that Reeves deserves to be prison for assaulting Sashi, but he shouldn't be executed for murder because Sashi is still alive. Debra says she gets a phone call every year on Sashi's birthday, and though no one speaks, Debra is sure it's her daughter. Ultimately, Debra's agenda is to get the police to re-open the missing persons case and re-start the search for Sashi.



Though Jack doesn't do death penalty work anymore, he agrees to help. So Jack and The Freedom Institute lawyers re-investigate Sashi's disappearance. This leads to several hearings before Judge Frederick, during which the prosecution argues to go ahead with 'the needle'. Jack, on the other hand, argues to delay delay delay, so The Freedom Institute can (attempt to) find evidence to get Reeves off death row.



Swytek's inquiries reveal that Debra and her (now divorced) husband Gavin adopted Sashi and her little brother Alexander from Russia when Sashi was a young girl.



Sashi was a problem child from the get-go, and was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) - an inability to form an emotional bond with her caretakers. Debra's flashbacks detail the Burgette family's struggles with Sashi, which escalated over time. Nevertheless, Debra dearly loves Sashi and is desperate to find her still alive.



In the course of the story, more and more secrets emerge, and additional persons of interest come to light. The end result is that Jack believes death row resident Dylan Reeves IS a scumbag rapist, but that he didn't kill Sashi.



While all this is happening, Jack's wife Andie, an FBI agent, is pregnant. Andie has had two miscarriages, and she and Jack are anxious about the pregnancy going well this time.



There's plenty of angst for everyone involved in the story, and Dylan Reeves is on tenterhooks in his death row cell, circling around and around until his feet are rubbed raw.



In the end, the truth about everything emerges, and it's a doozie.

I'm a fan of detective stories and courtroom dramas, and this book contains elements of both. I was interested to see the regulations (or lack thereof) related to international adoptions, and it was informative to observe the legal arguments used by The Freedom Institute.

The story is engaging, and I liked the Miami ambiance, but I do have some grumbles. In my view, the 'new information' discovered by The Freedom Institute would have been found by the cops when they initially investigated Sashi's disappearance (unless they were complete incompetents). Thus I had a hard time suspending disbelief. Also, when I learned about Dylan Reeves crimes against women I would have left him on death row (murderer or not).



My final verdict: Good book. Recommended to fans of legal thrillers.

 Rating: 3.5 stars