Bea Reviews Enigma by Catherine Coulter

Series: FBI Thriller #21
Publisher: Gallery Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 12th, 2017
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
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Blurb from goodreads:

The highly anticipated twenty-first FBI thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter presents Agents Savich and Sherlock with two baffling mysteries. Working with Agent Cam Wittier (Insidious) and New York-based former Special Forces agent Jack Cabot, they must race against the clock to catch an international criminal and solve the enigma of the man called John Doe.

When Agent Dillon Savich saves Kara Moody from a seemingly crazy man, he doesn’t realize he will soon be facing a scientist who wants to live forever and is using “John Doe” to help him. But when the scientist, Lister Maddox, loses him, he ups the stakes and targets another to take his experiments to the next level.

It’s a race against time literally as Savich and Sherlock rush to stop him and save both present and future victims of his experiments. In the meantime, Cam Wittier and Jack Cabot must track a violent criminal through the Daniel Boone National Forest. When he escapes through a daring rescue, the agents have to find out who set his escape in motion and how it all ties into the murder of Mia Prevost, the girlfriend of the president’s Chief of Staff’s only son, Saxton Hainny. It’s international intrigue at the highest levels and they know they have to succeed or national security is compromised.

Featuring Coulter’s signature “breakneck plot and magnetic characters” (Huffington Post), Enigma is a shocking thrill ride that will keep the you turning pages as fast as you can.

My Thoughts:

I've been reading this series since the first book. I love the main characters of Dillon and Sherlock, FBI agents who married to each other. The books are always a mix of their married, a mystery that or one or both of them are working on, and a secondary mystery that usually introduces another couple, one of whom is usually not an FBI agent. There's action, romance, humor, and an intriguing mystery or two. The two story lines usually come together. In "Enigma" we get all that in a story that also blends medicine, science, an unethical scientist, family, a kidnapped baby, theft, blackmail, and death.

"Enigma" is a quick read even though it's more than 400 pages long. The story is fast-paced with a lot of action. I wouldn't call it thrilling as I never once believed any of the main characters or the the FBI agents were in serious danger. Coulter may have them get shot or injured but there's never any serious harm and of course, they don't die. This despite the fact that the agents are quick to rush into dangerous situations, well, most of the time. The FBI is a government bureaucracy, you know there's red tape and procedures! Yet,we  see little of that and little in the way of repercussions for their behavior. I have doubts that the FBI really works the way that Coulter's FBI does.

 I enjoyed the character interactions and trying to guess how the different plots would come together. Some of my guesses were right and some weren't. I wish the medical plot had more depth to it and more detail. Frankly, that could have made for a compelling story all on its own. The escaped con story did keep my guessing and there was a twist at the end that I did not see coming.  

Overall, not a particularly thrilling story but one that kept me reading and kept my interest. And though it's book 21 in the series, it works fine as a stand alone.  

Reviews of previous books in the series:

#14, Whiplash
#15, Split Second
#18, Power Play
#20, Insidious