Review: Complex and Satisfying
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 4, 2012
Eb Maclean is an immensely troubled, terribly angry former Army helicopter pilot. He's very judgmental,  a strong, attractive man whose relationships are all with women. He is attracted to strong women: his half sister Maggie is a former FBI agent who now runs the restaurant whose ownership she shares with Eb.  His girlfriend Sarah is a gorgeous Barbie doll blonde,with a PhD in psychology who is, oddly enough, working in the restaurant.  Eb is going to fire her from the restaurant because she is totally inept in a kitchen, serving or even hostessing.This close but unlikely trio is drawn into a web of deceit and danger when Maggie's car is blown up outside the restaurant, killing a local farmer who supplies produce to the restaurant. Both the FBI and the ATF are drawn into the investigation. The FBI agent is a pain but the ATF agent, Danielle is a great looking, powerful woman, exactly Eb's  type but there are a couple of complications. The first is that the detonator for the car bomb is the cell phone found in Eb's pocket and the other complication is even more Machiavellian and revealed later in the book. Although Sarah dumps Eb because he is emotionally so closed down from his war experiences, she is still in love with him and integral to the story.The web of intrigue widens as Eb realizes that his sister has not been truthful about leaving the FBI and some other very important issues. He is drawn into the investigation as Maggie is first arrested and then disappears.  Additional familial ties are revealed that may be pertinent to the explosion and another murder that occurs. We see flashes of Eb's legendary temper as he tries to deal with the emotional turmoil of his sister's disappearance, the loss of his girlfriend, and his inability to cope with any strong emotion. On the run chasing clues, Ricci and Eb take refuge in the parish house of a priest who has known Danielle since she was adopted shortly after her birth by one of his parishioners. Danielle's adoptive father is in failing health and being cared by the priest and doctor in charge of their medical clinic. As Eb seeks answers, he is forced to seek help from his other half sister, Patty's cousin, the international terrorist, Imme Amoud.Things are rarely what they appear to be in this deftly written novel of intrigue and judgment. Eb is a wonderful character, masculine yet real, dealing with real human challenges, trying to find inner peace in a world writhing with turmoil and hidden and half truths. The ending is powerful and, like the rest of the book, complicated and satisfying.