Don't Lose Her

April 20, 2015
Unmemorable characters don’t help Edgar-winner King’s tepid seventh Max Freeman mystery (after 2012’s Midnight Guardians). Soon after Juan Manuel Escalante, a Colombian drug cartel kingpin, threatens a pregnant Florida federal judge, Diane Manchester, in open court at his trial, she’s snatched from the street during her lunch break. Diane’s attorney husband immediately reaches out to Freeman, who rapidly insinuates himself into the official investigation. Since the book shifts among the perspectives of Freeman, Diane, and one of her abductors, the reader knows exactly what’s going on with Diane, as well as the thoughts of a reluctant criminal watching over her, which lessens rather than heightens the suspense as the story plays out in a fairly predictable way. The motive for the kidnapping seems like an afterthought, and more than a few developments come across as contrived. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency.

June 1, 2015

When Diane Manchester, a pregnant federal judge presiding at the trial of a drug kingpin, is kidnapped off the street during a lunch break, her husband calls in his best friend, PI Max Freeman, who works his contacts, including Charles Quarles, a streetwise NBA player and Johnny Milsap, a crooked lawyer. Alternating viewpoints between the frantic search for Diane and her experiences at the hands of her kidnappers, the plot climaxes deep in the Florida Everglades. VERDICT A twisty reveal at the end throws the reader's understanding into a tailspin. While this is the seventh book (after Midnight Guardians) in the series, it works well as a stand-alone. Recommended for admirers of James Hall and John D. MacDonald.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
Edgar-winning King's seventh Max Freeman mystery has the kind of clock-driven suspense seen in the best of Harlan Coben. A south Florida U.S. district judge, Diane Manchester, is in the middle of an extradition hearing of a Colombian drug overlord and near the end of her first pregnancy. On her lunch break, she is hustled into the back of a van. Ex-cop Freeman's employer and long-time friend, Billy Manchester, is married to the judge and frantic to get her back. Two narratives shuttle back and forth here: the kidnapping and holding of the pregnant judge, and Freeman's search for her. This real-time aspect lifts the novel above the usual find the killer mystery. Knowing the victim is holding onto life ratchets up the suspense considerably; Freeman's interviews with anyone connected to the judge grow in intensity because of Diane's peril. What this mystery lacks is atmosphere. Freeman used to operate out of a tiny shack deep in the Everglades; the move to an urban setting makes the sense of place less vivid. Still, this is a strong series, and this entry will appeal directly to fans of adrenaline-driven crime fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)