The Cove

April 1, 1996
"So perfect, like a Hollywood set," FBI agent James Quinlan thinks as he enters The Cove, a seemingly tranquil, picture-postcard town situated on the Oregon coast. Quinlan has been on Sally Brainerd's trail since her arms-dealing father, Amory St. John, was murdered. Sally is the key witness, and it's Quinlan's job to bring her in. Quinlan, whose cover is working as a PI hired to find an old couple who had mysteriously disappeared three years earlier, quickly learns that when he starts asking questions, bad things start happening. Coulter (The Nightingale Legacy), whose contemporary suspense novels are, unfortunately, few and far between, delivers a fast-paced, solidly structured read despite the occasionally cartoonish characters.