DAMAGED

Author: Pamela Callow ISBN: 9780778327509 6/2010 SUSPENSE Publisher: MIRA

Haunted by the death of her sister and wounded by her ex-fiancé's accusations, Kate Lange throws herself into her new career at a high-powered law firm. When the grandmother of a lonely private school student seeks her counsel, Kate thinks it's just another custody case. But then the teen is brutally murdered. And it isn't only Kate who wonders if her legal advice led to the girl's death. Put on notice by Randall Barrett, the firm's charismatic managing partner, Kate must fight for her career, for her reputation—and for redemption. Unwilling to live with the damage she may have caused, Kate pursues the case on her own and unearths some chilling facts. Facts that lead straight to the heart of a legal conspiracy. Facts that lead Kate directly into the surgically skilled hands of the Body Butcher.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

This is Pamela Callow's first book, and the first book in the Kate Lange series. I'm a big fan of thriller books, particularly legal and conspiracy thrillers. Anything with a legal aspect fascinates me because I've taken a bunch of courses dealing with law. So it's always interesting to see how much research an author has put into their work. Of course, with a fiction book, you do expect things to be twisted in a way that works for the plot of the book. That's more than fine by me, as long as it doesn't stretch the boundaries of reality too far, because if a thriller book does that, it loses me

The murder mystery, legal, and conspiracy parts of this book were definitely my favorite. If you've read as many mystery and thriller books as I have, most of the plots seem a bit predictable, and I'm usually able to predict how things are going. Pamela managed to impress me by keeping things interesting, and better yet, keeping me surprised. She did this while not stretching the boundaries of reality, so big kudos to her for that, because I know that can be hard to pull off.

Now to the problem areas. The surprising problem for me was the characters. It took me until the very last page to warm up to Kate Lange. She was the only character I really like in this. The rest seem under-developed and didn't seem to really do anything for the plot. To me, what would have made the book better was if the minor characters got a bit more screen time so that you could get a better feel for them. Without that much needed, extra screen time, the rest of the characters seemed more than a little paint by numbers. The other problem I had was the romance of the book. To me, the romance just didn't have a realistic pace and didn't get to a satisfying point by the end of the book. The most romance you really get in the book is longing looks.

While this book does have its faults, the plot and the mystery certainly make up for it. I think this is a strong debut from Pamela Callow, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. I recommend this to Thriller/Mystery fans that are wanting a good plot and a good mystery. If characters are the most important part of the book for you, then you should skip this.

Caitlin Turner