Final Approach

August 3, 2009
Some smart dialogue and the novelty of a skydiving protagonist lift Brady's less than assured debut. PI Richard Cole gets in touch with Emily Locke, who was inadvertently involved in a missing-child case four years earlier, because he believes her “jumping” skills would be useful in another missing-child case. At Richard's urging, Emily travels from Ohio to Houston, where she immerses herself in the cozy environment of Gulf Coast Skydiving, an establishment that's somehow linked to the disappearance of an 11-month-old boy whose divorced parents share custody. Emily's willingness to drop her daily life and rush off to Houston is one of several slightly flimsy plot points. At Gulf Coast, Emily meets a handsome guitar-playing cowboy, Vince, who's so clearly meant to be Emily's love interest that the reader may be hoping that he turns out bad. On the other hand, Emily's best friend, Jeannie, is a charming smart-aleck who brightens the pages.

August 1, 2009
A skydiver gets roped into p.i. work when clues in a kidnapping point to a fellow diver.

Emily Locke is just trying to get through her daily routine when Richard Cole, police detective turned private eye, asks her help in solving a child's kidnapping. Cole needs Locke because the only clue in the case is a skydiving ride ticket left at the crime scene, and Locke is an experienced diver who can infiltrate the skydiving crowd. Unfortunately for Cole, Locke is still upset with him for failing to appear in court when a man went on trial for the murder of her husband and daughter. Even so, she reluctantly agrees to head out to Gulf Coast Skydiving and pose as part of the scene, where she becomes fast friends with the crew, especially handsome loner Vince. She thinks she's blending in perfectly until a fellow diver who's borrowed her gear has a suspicious malfunction during her jump. Suddenly, Locke suspects someone is trying to sabotage her. As things slowly build to an extended climax, she wonders whether her involvement in this case may be more than mere coincidence. Solving the abduction may give Locke the information she's been looking for about what happened to her own family. But will she survive long enough to get the closure she's been looking for?

Brady's debut is weighed down with technical information about skydiving. For buffs, it's a must; the less committed might want to sit this jump out.

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