Customer Reviews

Out of Mind

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4 star:		(1)
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I enjoyed 'Falling Off Air', Sampson's debut novel featuring Robin Ballantyne, but had to slog through this dreary follow-up. It started out quite well but about a third of the way into the book, I felt Sampson lost impetus (it seemed to me as if she herself was bogged down and bored with the characters) and started meandering all over the place. Robin's relationship with her detective boyfriend is bloodless and unconvincing, her bratty twins tedious and somehow unreal (hard to believe she has three children of her own), and Robin herself is unlikeable and colorless. In fact, none of the characters seem like real people. The story line had potential, but became totally lost in a thicket of silly sub-plots and unconvincung characters. And the number of phone calls from one player to another was ridiculous! At one point there seemed to be three of four per page and the only way the author could think of to convey the plotline to the reader. I made myself finish it, just to see how Sampson extricated herself from the morass, but it was a chore.

The critics were not kind to Catherine Sampson's sophomore novel, Out of Mind. Publisher's Weekly called it "uneven" and Booklist referred to it as "mildly appealing." I, on the other hand, had a much different experience. Maybe it was because I didn't read her first novel, Falling Off Air, but I found Out of Mind a marvelous read.

Robin Ballantyne is now the single mother of three-year-old twins, a nightmare all by itself. Her job as a journalist for a London television company keeps her doubly busy. Robin makes documentaries and is working on a show about missing people. Then one of her colleagues, Melanie Jacobs, disappears from an embedded-journalist training school, yet no one seems concerned. Robin barely knew Melanie other than by sight and by her reputation as a woman unafraid of man, beast, or war. After calling Melanie's parents to express her sympathies, Melanie's mother asks Robin to look into things since it seems that neither the law nor the television station seem to care. When Robin agrees, that sets the entire chain of events into action.

Robin identifies the last person to see her alive, Mark Darling. Mark is in Cambodia, but that doesn't stop Robin from using her expense account, and with her photographer, takes the next flight out.

The plot gets a little confusing when Robin returns to England, with more questions than answers. Her investigation leads her to Mark's completely dysfunctional family, with whom Robin becomes more and more obsessed.

With a twist I never saw coming, Sampson created a character that was for the most part believable. I had some trouble believing that Robin would leave her kids with her neighbor to look for a woman she never knew, but on the other hand, hard journalism often requires that kind of willingness to abandon home and hearth.

Out of Mind was, for me, a suspenseful read that kept me up past my bedtime.

Armchair Interviews says: If you like suspense with your mysteries-and good writing, check this out.

Following maternity leave to raise her twins now three years old as a sole parent, journalist Robin Ballantyne has returned to work as a TV reporter. Her current assignment focuses on a series of missing persons. When camerawoman Melanie Jacobs vanishes without a trace, Robin promises the distraught mother of her peer to investigate this as part of her work.

Robin's inquiries lead to the killing fields of Cambodia but quickly link back to London. She particularly researches what she can about Mike Darling, who allegedly is the last person to have seen Melanie. As she gets closer to the truth, her lover DCI Finney and the Corporation's bosses tell her to back off for her own safety. Before she can decide what to do, someone kidnaps Mike's baby. Though no one else agrees with her assessment, Robin believes that there is a link between the infant abduction and the disappearance of Melanie; she is determined to find it even if it means angering two highly regarded military families who prefer secrets remain hidden.

OUT OF MIND, the sequel to FALLING OFF AIR, is a strong journalistic investigative tale starring a wonderful protagonist struggling between raising her three years old twins alone and doing her reporting work. The story line is superb especially when everyone tells Robin to drop this particular inquiry, but the obstinate mother feels she survived the terrible twos so how bad can this case be. Though sometimes her supermom efforts seem off kilter, fans will appreciate this strong mystery and look forward to more of Robin in future books.

Harriet Klausner

This is about a missing person case, a high profile one of a war photographer, Melanie Jacobs, who vanished in England. Mike Darling, no relation to Jim, was a professional soldier (member of the Special Forces) and supposedly the 'last person' to see her before she disappeared.

A news investigation at the same network, Robin Ballantyne, is planning a documentary about missing persons and takes matters into her own hands when her boss orders her off this particular case. After talking with Melanie's mother, she went to Cambodia where Darling is taking cover and keeping mum, appearing to have something to hide. There, under false pretense to film part of her documentary, she uncovrs secrets her boss did not want her to know.

Things gets dangerous after she returned to England. She'd remembered Melanie as a meticulous, hard-working and brave photographer out in the field and she was a stickler for attention to details. Like Robert Capa, she risked her life daily to "record atrocity." He felt guilt for taking photos of the soldiers who died immediately afterwards, but she wasn't afraid to put the factual record above her own survival. Capa was killed by doing just that.

Her disappearance was kep uder wraps, for some mysterious reason, with claims from the Head of Corporate Policy, that no one has an idea why's she'd simply vanished. Was it a coverup or just fate that Melanie had been abandoned by the network? Robin received threats and endured person violence, like the girl in the movie, 'Red Eye,' but it made her stronger in the end, but she returned home changed. She faced her demons and won. Catherine Sampson previously wrote FALLING OFF AIR.

September 15, 2005

Robin Ballantyne is the single mother of twins and a TV documentary maker who has recently returned to work. She convinces her bosses to let her film a series about missing people. A project that will attempt the reconstruction of vanished lives when a daring and reckless camerawoman named Melanie Jacobs suddenly vanishes without a trace from HazPrep, a military training camp for journalists, and a private security operation just outside of London. Melanie's mother approaches Ballantyne with a request to help uncover the truth regarding her daughter's mysterious disappearance. Ballantyne in turn promises her co-workers distraught mother that she will investigate.

But when she begins asking questions, Ballantyne heads directly into the depths of a dangerous and conspiratorial world as conflict rises with a group of army veterans, as well as with her boyfriend, DCI Tom Finney. Ballantyne's employer, "The Corporation," does nothing to support her, instead an executive requests she back off and drop Melanie from the series altogether. Melanie's boyfriend, Fred, confesses there were problems in their relationship.

Persistence will reveal that the last person to have seen Melanie alive is ex-special forces soldier turned mercenary, Mike Darling who is clearing up land mines in the killing fields of Cambodia. Darling is hesitant to speak of Jacobs despite a rumored relationship. A landmine explodes, sending Ballantyne home before she can dredge up more. But when Darling's own child is abducted Ballantyne suspects there is a connection between the two disappearances.

The devious plot twists and turns to an explosive end that is sure keep readers glued to their seats!

Reviewed by Betsie