Title: At Risk
ISBN: 0316732982
While Patricia Cornwell is known for gripping thrillers, At Risk didn't match up to her reputation, and after putting the book down, I found it difficult to recall the story line.
At Risk is the tale of how one woman's narcissistic intentions to advance her career get overshadowed when she becomes the victim of crime. District attorney Monique Lamont - nicknamed Money La-Mount - has scant regard for the lives of those she is sworn to protect, until she hatches a plot to advance her political career.
The plan: Solve a 20-year-old murder case in a bid to prove the department will tackle "any crime, any time". So, the cold-hearted yet beautiful woman pulls Detective Winston Garano off a training course and sends him out to solve the murder mystery.
Lamont's plot backfires and she becomes a victim, in a bizarre parody of her new motto. Garano is now stuck between two cases miles apart: embroiled in solving Lamont's case, and the 20-year-old crime.
He, in turn, enlists the aid of "Sykes", an agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, who does his grunt work for him, thereby risking her place on the training course.
At Risk has elements of stock fraud, DNA research, wet and dinghy streets and a bit of love interest thrown in for good measure. Sadly, the story lacked depth and I ploughed onwards in the bizarre hope that it might improve.
Penguin billed it as "a 'one-off' from the best-selling creator of the Dr Kay Scarpetta series, based on the serialisation in the New York Times.
"With her hallmark qualities of deft characterisation, perfect research and tense story-telling, Patricia Cornwell has created a novella which entertains, intrigues and satisfies," said Penguin. I disagree.
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