Out of Mind
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
The critically acclaimed author of Falling Off Air returns with her heart-pounding second novel, in which Robin Ballantyne tracks a kidnapper -- and ends up on the trail of a killer.
Robin Ballantyne heads to Cambodia to film a documentary about landmines. That's her cover story, but she really wants to interview Mike Darling, who happened to be on a retreat with her friend Donna right before Donna mysteriously disappeared. The trip turns disastrous after one of the men at Mike's camp, whose parents share a home with Mike and his wife in England, steps on a landmine and loses his leg. Then the Darlings' own son is kidnapped. Mike returns from Cambodia furious that the police are making no progress, and then someone is found stabbed to death in the home the Darlings share. Robin begins her own investigation into the murder and the kidnapping that preceded it -- risking her own job, love, and life in the process.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In British author Sampson's uneven second thriller (after 2004's Falling Off Air), London TV journalist Robin Ballantyne looks into the disappearance of a colleague, Melanie Jacobs, an adventurous camerawoman. Warned off the case by her bosses, Robin persists, even traveling to Cambodia to interview the last person to see Melanie alive, former Special Forces officer Mike Darling, now a private security specialist. Back in London, Robin is drawn to Darling's extended family. When baby Christopher Darling is kidnapped, Robin suspects a link with Melanie's case and determines to investigate, despite continued opposition from her employer and the police, including her lover, DCI Tom Finney. Robin is the kind of heroine who ignores advice, makes instinctive accusations, forges ahead, steps on figurative and literal minefields, yet the unusual feature of this series is a caring and concerned single mother of twins. As in her first novel, Sampson assembles a bewilderingly large cast of intriguing characters, especially Robin's dysfunctional family, and meanders into subplots that are well done but distracting, then produces a slam-bang climax revealing a surprise culprit.
