Disappearing Act

Poison Flower by Thomas Perry.

A review by Marlyn Beebe.


When Jane Whitefield married Dr. Carey McKinnon, they both hoped that she could leave behind the former life where she helped people disappear. It worked, for a while. She became a model surgeon's wife: working on committees and raising money for the hospital. They thought about having a child. But eventually, someone desperately needed her help and she couldn't say "no". As Carey thinks to himself at one point during the story

"To her, saving people was just something a person did, if she happened to have the skills".

This book begins with the third "runner" Jane has helped since her marriage. James Shelby was framed for the murder of his wife. The people who set him up try to have him killed in prison, and he is taken to court to testify against his attacker.

Posing as an attorney, Jane helps him escape, then acting as a decoy,she is captured, taken to a remote warehouse and tortured. She manages not to reveal where James is, but her captors do learn who she is. When they discover that many powerful people would like to get revenge against her, they decide to auction her off to the highest bidder.

Jane Whitefield makes all of her cunning and intelligent moves seem like simple common sense. She is so attuned to the world around her: the people, the animals, trees and even physical structures, that she is able to anticipate almost exactly what will happen in any situation. Her actions are almost always calm and measured and planned. She has the enviable ability to focus on whatever task she happens to be doing, yet still remain aware of her surroundings.

Many of these traits can be ascribed to her upbringing as a Seneca, and her study of Native American history and folklore. It's only a tiny spoiler to reveal that there's a wonderful chapter in the book when Jane goes to the riverbank and gives a tribute to the Jo-Ge-Oh, the little people, as thanks for helping her to return alive.

Make sure to set aside a block of time to read this book. Once you open it, you won't want to put it down until you reach the end.

Poison Flower will be released on March 6, 2012.
*FTC Full Disclosure: Many thanks to the publisher, and to NetGalley for providing me an e-galley to review.

On the Horizon: What We're Excited to Read

As avid readers, we’d thought we’d share some upcoming titles we’re looking forward to.

Marlyn is eager for a little poison:

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson (William Morrow, 21 February 2012): This will be Robinson’s first standalone since 1995’s No Cure For Love, although he has published several short-story collections. His plots are complex without being arcane, and his characters are well-depicted.

The publisher’s summary of the novel reads as follows: Through the years of success in Hollywood composing film scores, Chris always promised his wife they'd return to the Yorkshire Dales one day. Now a widower, Chris feels he must not forget his promise. Back in the Dales, he rents an isolated house that will allow him the space to grieve and the peace to compose his piano sonata. But when he finds that the house was the scene of a murder in the 1950s, and the convicted murderer was one of the last women hanged in England, he finds himself increasingly distracted by the events of sixty years before . . .

Poison Flower by Thomas Perry, Jane Whitefield #7 (Grove/Atlantic, 6 March 2012): Jane Whitefield helps people disappear. Actually, she’s the non-government version of the Witness Protection Program. Her clients aren’t necessarily witnesses, but they are usually innocent of any crime.

Poison Flower is the first Jane Whitefield book since Runner in 2010, and is summarized here: Jane is spiriting James Shelby, a man unjustly convicted of his wife’s murder, out of the heavily guarded criminal court building in downtown Los Angeles. But within minutes, men posing as police officers kidnap Jane and, when she tries to escape, shoot her. Jane’s captors are employees of the man who really killed Shelby’s wife, who believes he won’t be safe until Shelby is dead, and his men will do anything to force Jane to reveal Shelby’s hiding place. She manages to escape but she is alone, wounded, thousands of miles from home with no money and no identification, hunted by the police as well as her captors.

On a lighter note, Gayle is looking forward to:

Michele Scott's next, as yet untitled book. It's about a young girl who comes to L.A. to break into the music scene. She moves into a house that's littered with the spirits of dead rock stars who all talk to her (yes, I think Elvis shows up). Of course, there's a murder to be solved.

Also, Dancing at the Chance, which is NOT a mystery, but historical romance by DeAnna Cameron. Says Gayle: I don't usually read romance, but I read her book, The Belly Dancer, and loved it. Dancing at the Chance takes place in the vaudeville era, in New York City. DeAnna did such a fine job taking me to turn-of-the-century Chicago with The Belly Dancer (at the World's Fair), I can't wait to go back to old NYC.

And L.J. has plans to read The Litigators, by John Grisham, which just came out. Not only does she enjoy Grisham’s legal thrillers, but this one involves a drug company, another favorite subject of hers, after seven years on a pharmaceutical magazine.

What books are you looking forward to? Share your reading excitement.