A Stranger In the Family-Robert Barnard

A Stranger In the Family
Robert Barnard
Scribner, Jun 8 2010, $24.00
ISBN: 9781439176740

In Glasgow, Scotland, Kit Philipson was raised by professional parents; his mom taught school while his dad, who escaped the Nazis as an infant, was a journalist. He loved both of them and knew they loved him.

However, twentyish Kit is stunned when his dying mom informs him he was adopted; his birth name is Novello. Her comments trigger long lost not quite lucid memories of a nursery and a woman baking as well as strangers taking him away from his apparent biological family. Needing to know the truth, he searches newspaper clippings for Peter Novello. He learns that in 1989 in Sicily, three years old Peter Novello was abducted. Kit deepens his quest to meet his family, but is confused by what he learns as his siblings had no idea he existed or why his biological parents who never left Leeds suddenly went to Sicily on vacation.

This great tale will be on most short lists for suspense thriller of the year as everyman Peter digs deep into his past trying to connect the dots between Leeds, Sicily and Glasgow. The journey is filled with twists as nothing is quite like it seems. Readers will want to join Kit on his quest to discover why from Peter’s biological bloodline.

Harriet Klausner

The Exodus Quest
Will Adams
Grand Central, Apr 29 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780446563208

In Alexandria, Egypt Archeologist Daniel Knox walks in a local market place when he notices what appears to be an ancient earthenware bowl. The teenage vendor insists the artifact was given to him by his friend Daniel Knox and once belonged to Alexander the Great. He is amused by the hawker as everyone claims to be his buddy since The Alexander Cipher case. The lad sets prices based on pure supply and demand of how much he perceives the customer can afford, but refuses to reveal where it was found.

Knox visits his friend Omar Tawfiq who lets him browse through his database. He finds a picture of it, but Omar explains it is not a bowl from Ancient Egypt; instead it is a storage jar lid from Qumran, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Soon that lead takes the excited Knox to a dig led by Reverend Ernest Peterson and his team of theological students who seek a portrait of Christ that Peterson plans to keep. As a murder of a native archeologist occurs, corrupt cops blame Knox while the beleaguered Egyptologist learns in horror from his cell that his partner Gaille Bonnard was abducted near the ruins of Amarna, several hundred miles away.

With a strong ancient historical base, the latest Knox antiquities thriller is a fast-paced over the top of the Sphinx entertaining tale. Readers will enjoy the hero’s hyperactive adventures in which he is a guest of the state, but needs to be in three other places at the same time. First he must rescue himself by proving his innocence, which is difficult to do when you’re in a cell; so that he can second rescue Gaille; and third rescue the artifacts being devastated unmercifully by the Reverend. No caffeine for Knox.

Harriet Klausner



Risk No Secrets
Cindy Gerard
Pocket, May 18 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439153611

As the Baylor Middle School in El Salvador shuts down for vacation time; American expatriate school administrator Sophie Weber notices a mysterious van near her adopted daughter Hope and her tweener’s best friend Lola. The men snatch Lola. Upset, Sophie cannot reach her former husband Hugh who is out of the country working a kidnap retrieval case. Desperate she calls Hugh’s best friend Wyatt Savage of Black Ops, Inc. She explains what happened and he drops everything to help the woman he loves ever since meeting her twelve years ago when he and Hugh attended a language class she gave; she married Hugh instead of him.

Following a deadly incident at the airport in El Salvador, Sophie explains she has been divorced for two years as Hugh has become only interested in money. Wyatt meets Hope and reads the ransom note sent to Sophie demanding $500,000 for the safe return of Hope. He tells Sophie to let the media know Lola is like a daughter to her to keep her safe once the kidnappers learn the wrong girl was taken. Wyatt arranges for his teammates to come to El Salvatore to help him retrieve Lola and to take Hope safely to Argentina. The battle lines are drawn as everyone involved on three sides will Feel The Heat of a Show No Mercy and Take No Prisoners operation.

The fifth Black Ops romantic suspense is an exhilarating thriller starring a lead couple with a strong second chance subplot and a solid support cast to include previous stars and a secondary romance that is not explored deeply but will please readers. The story line is fast-paced with a super twist although the kidnappers are caught unaware that the hero would bring back-up to a key meeting. Fans of the series will appreciate the El Salvatore retrieval.

Harriet Klausner