Out Of Mind: Library Edition

"After a long maternity leave, Robin Ballantyne returns to her job at Britain's largest news corporation and immediately starts making waves with a new documentary series on unsolved missing persons cases. Melanie Jacobs, a camerawoman who works in war zones, has vanished in England. When Robin starts to investigate, she encounters a wall of silence." "Robin's first real lead is Mike Darling, the last man to have seen Melanie before she went missing. He is a professional soldier who, after Melanie's disappearance, fled to Cambodia where he'd rather clear land mines than talk to the police. Robin longs to track him down, but she has personal reasons to stick close to home: her twin toddlers and her rocky love affair with Finney, a police officer. Then Robin's boss, who has his own motives for keeping her off the story, orders her to drop the investigation. More suspicious and concerned for Melanie's life than ever, Robin plunges into the case." From an eerie interview in London to an explosive encounter in Cambodia, Robin quickly becomes entangled in the mystery of Melanie's disappearance and in the lives of Mike Darling and his splintered family. The more he tries to evade her, the more Robin believes he must have something to hide. As the web unravels and her relationships with her own loved ones start to fracture, Robin is blindsided by threats from an unexpected source. She will face betrayals and violence that will either make her stronger - or leave her dead.

Editorial Reviews

In British author Sampson's uneven second thriller (after 2004's Falling Off Air), London TV journalist Robin Ballantyne looks into the disappearance of a colleague, Melanie Jacobs, an adventurous camerawoman. Warned off the case by her bosses, Robin persists, even traveling to Cambodia to interview the last person to see Melanie alive, former Special Forces officer Mike Darling, now a private security specialist. Back in London, Robin is drawn to Darling's extended family. When baby Christopher Darling is kidnapped, Robin suspects a link with Melanie's case and determines to investigate, despite continued opposition from her employer and the police, including her lover, DCI Tom Finney. Robin is the kind of heroine who ignores advice, makes instinctive accusations, forges ahead, steps on figurative and literal minefields, yet-the unusual feature of this series-is a caring and concerned single mother of twins. As in her first novel, Sampson assembles a bewilderingly large cast of intriguing characters, especially Robin's dysfunctional family, and meanders into subplots that are well done but distracting, then produces a slam-bang climax revealing a surprise culprit. Agent, Amanda Preston. (Aug.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.