No Where Safe by Kate Bold
This is crime fiction, so it hits the justice button. There is one relationship where redemption is achieved.
Harley Cole is an FBI agent who works in the behavioral analysis unit (BAU). She’s described as a profiler. This is a popular role for authors writing FBI crime thrillers. The book opens with Harley being suspended from that unit for going outside the lines while bringing a serial killer to justice. The story of that case would have been much more compelling than the story we were given. Maybe there’s a prequel?
Harley returns to her hometown in New Mexico. There, she’s recruited by the local FBI branch head to consult on a case where two young girls have been found dead in abandoned mines. The story focuses on Harley teaming up with another FBI agent named Calloway and tracking down the killer of those two girls.
This book has a lot of reviews and a lot of them 5 star. I don’t get it. I’ll give it 3 stars. The book suffers from many technical issues. The story itself is okay. The suspense is mediocre. No real thrills until the climax at the end. Unfortunately, the climatic action scene was confusing, so I got lost reading it. Unfortunately for this book, I read it right after reading a John Connolly book. His prose, as I stated in my review, is poetic and engrossing. The prose in No Where Safe is okay, just not memorable.
Most of the technical issues were minor. But the major one I’ve seen other authors make when they writer about the FBI. There is a misunderstanding of what cases the FBI takes. They generally take cases that involve federal crimes. Murder is a state crime in nearly all cases. When Harley gets to New Mexico, the FBI already has this case, the two murdered women. The state police of New Mexico has a major crime squad that would likely handle this type of case. The FBI could be requested, but they would not be sole investigative unit on the case unless a federal crime has been committed. Even in serial killer cases, the FBI works with local authorities. Someone like Kate Bold who has published many books should do better research than she did.
The other minor issues? While looking for a house in the desert Harley loses her cell signal. That’s understandable, but in this case the mapping program and GPS lost signal. Doesn’t happen. GPS doesn’t rely on either cell or WiFi. And if the route had been established when in cell range or WiFi, the map would have been downloaded. Fortunately, one can navigate without cell signal. At one point, Harley flashes her badge, the one she had to turn in when she was suspended. Harley is a profiler, yet never once works up a profile on the killer they are chasing. Once she suspected a serial killer, that would have been one of the first things she’d do. Finally, during a fight scene in a pitch black mine, the person being fought against is wearing night vision goggles. Harley has a flashlight. Only once does she shine that in the person’s face.
This book also suffered from another flaw that I’ve mentioned in several others I’ve reviewed. I just didn’t like Harley Cole. There was little to like about her. She was impetuous. Everybody she met she accused of being the killer. She sacrificed her marriage for her job. During the story she did very little to make herself likeable to anyone, though for some reason people bent over backwards for her. She was the proverbial bull in a china store.
Overall, the book was okay. I read to the end. The story was compelling enough to want to know who the killer was. But it’s unlikely I’ll read another from this author.
The book had some minor profanity. No on page sex. And the violence is reasonable and not graphic. This one moves to the end of the rankings at this point.
- Every Dead Thing by John Connolly
- Citadel (Palladium Wars Book 3) by Marko Kloos
- No Where Safe by Kate Bold
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