"terrific S&S FBI thriller"

It has been six months of being the "black widow" feeding frenzy for the media, but now Julia Ransom can whistle for the first time since her renowned husband the medium Dr. August Ransom was brutally murdered. In San Francisco she looks forward to dinner with her late spouse's friend Wallace Tammerlaine but now leisurely walks on Pier 39 to the rail looking out at the Bay when a man punches her in the jaw and takes out a knife. Another person shouts FBI so the tosses her into the Bay. Special Agent Cheney Stone saves her life. He calls his pal SFPD Captain Frank Paulette to take charge of a professional hit attempt probably connected to August's unsolved homicide.

At about the same time as the Julia assault across the country, though three years have passed, Maestro, Virginia, father of two boys Sheriff Dixon Noble has begun to move past his grief for his wife Christie who disappeared three years ago, thanks in part to meeting Ruth. However, he learns of Charlotte Pallack, who is a dead ringer of his spouse. He travels to San Francisco to see first hand this Charlotte though he has no hope she is his beloved Christie who he assumes is dead. Soon these seemingly divergent cases connect bringing agents Savich and Sherlock joining with Dix, and Cheney as they investigate the murky otherworld of psychics while an apparent serial killer is sending the mediums to join their spirit compatriots on the other side.

DOUBLE TAKE is a terrific S&S FBI thriller refreshed by the appearances of Cheney and Dix (who appeared in the previous tale POINT BLANK). The story line is fast-paced and ties up a major loose end from POINT BLANK (what happened to Christie?). The psychic connection adds a bit of fun and mysticism to the mysteries. Though the motives will prove too standard, fans will enjoy Catherine Coulter's latest suspense thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 5, 2007

Summary

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around her—tourists, seals on a barge—and for a moment enjoys the sheer normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end.

Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her over the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant, Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation.

Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble—last seen in Point Blank—still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished three years earlier. His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross. With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise, Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers—and their lives.