Point Blank (FBI Thriller (G.P. Putnam's Sons)) [Hardcover]

Catherine Coulter (Author)

Book Description

Series: FBI Thriller (G.P. Putnam's Sons) | Publication Date: August 23, 2005

FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich face the most dangerous case of their careers in Catherine Coulter's explosive new thriller.

Point Blank's propulsive story takes off when FBI agents Dillon Savich and Dane Carver are nearly killed while trying to rescue popular entertainer Pinky Womack from kidnappers. Lured to a motel in Pumis City, Virginia, by a known snitch, the only thing the agents discover is a glowing red timer. The place is demolished in a catastrophic explosion, but everyone survives.

The same snitch leads them to Arlington National Cemetery, promising the agents Pinky's safe return. The search is interrupted when Savich takes a fateful call on his cell. The mysterious caller taunts Savich with other threats-against him, and against his wife, fellow agent Lacey Sherlock. Up against an untraceable foe-not even MAX can locate him-Savich and Sherlock find themselves fighting an unstable villain with a very long memory.

At the same time, Agent Ruth Warnecki's passion for treasure hunting leads her to Winkel's Cave and a cave chamber that really shouldn't exist-as well as a dead student from Stanislaus Music School, left there for eternity. Some students have wandered quite far from the beaten path, with terrible consequences.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller as exhilarating and frightening as anything she's ever written, Point Blank is Catherine Coulter's finest achievement.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Coulter's new thriller romance (Blowout, etc.) opens with Ruth Warnecki lost in a cave in rural Virginia while fellow (married) FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock are hot on the tail of a psychotic dirty old man (Moses Grace) and his flirtatious teenage partner (Claudia), who've kidnapped a smalltime comedian. Coulter fans know if they suspend belief—really suspend belief—she'll deliver page-turners filled with good guys battling bad guys as well as enjoying domestic tranquility. After Ruth makes it out of the cave, she's cared for by Dixon Noble, the local sheriff and ex-New Yorker with two kids and a missing wife; then Ruth and the gang return to the cave to discover the body of a murdered music student. Lacey and Dillon consult MAX the miracle computer about Moses while Dix introduces Ruth to his domineering father-in-law, Chappy, and musician Gordon, Chappy's geriatric lech of a brother. Coulter alternates between the search for the student's killer and the hunt for Moses, cases tied together only by the FBI agents solving them and the theme of criminally insane grumpy old men. Coulter continues to prove more convincing describing virtue than vice, which means that sympathetic characters and happy endings take precedence over serious detective work. (On sale Aug. 23)
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Review

Coutler deftly orchestrates her fast-paced, intricate story threads and the disparate cases challenging her agents with a concertmaster's touch. (BookPage) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 357 pages
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons (August 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153225
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153228
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Coulter is the author of the New York Times-bestselling FBI thrillers The Cove, The Maze, The Target, The Edge, Riptide, Hemlock Bay, Eleventh House, Blindside, Blowout, Point Blank, Double Take and TailSpin. She lives in northern California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This "Maze" is not worth wandering through, June 18, 2006

By 

Red Rock Bookworm (St. George Utah) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Point Blank (FBI Thriller (G.P. Putnam's Sons)) (Hardcover)

Having read all of the Savitch and Sherlock series I was truly looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the revenge and murder plotline as well as the poorly drawn characters. If you are a first time reader of Cathering Coulter, I would advise you to read the early Savitch/Sherlock books such as "The Maze", "The Edge" and "The Target". They are exciting, well plotted stories that are well worth the time you will invest reading them.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I'm So Sorry, Catherine., March 3, 2006

By 

Kaleigh Lyman (Rome, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Point Blank (FBI Thriller (G.P. Putnam's Sons)) (Hardcover)

I'm an avid reader who takes pleasure in spending (too much) money on books. Catherine Coulter, being that she's one of my favorite authors, takes up a large amount of space in my book cabinet along with Julie Garwood, Tami Hoag, and Patricia Cornwell. However, I've noticed Ms. Coulter's losing a bit of her pizzaz when it comes to her more recent works.

Before I read this book, although in honesty, I have yet to finish it, I was elated upon seeing that it would soon be in stores. I went to her website each and every day for the longest time, in hope that she'd post a preview as she always does. When I read about Ruth's adventure, I was excited and determined to purchase the book with all haste. Especially after witnessing the panic she was feeling. However, once I'd begun reading Point Blank, I realized she'd put everything she had into a powerful beginning and not so much into the rising action. To say in the least, I'm disappointed.

I'm currently stuck, for lack of a better word, on chapter twenty-one because I've been straying from reading this book. Instead, I've enveloped myself in the wonderfully written novels Julie Garwood has provided. I hate admitting the fact that although Coulter started out as my favorite author with novels such as The Maze, The Edge, Riptide, Eleventh Hour, Blindside, and Blowout, Julie Garwood is beginning to pull ahead with her brilliant works.

The dialogue in this book is so forced, along with the jokes and relationships. I took a bit of a peek ahead and witnessed a kiss between Ruth and Dix that was both expected yet unexpected. You see, he kissed her in a rather awkward moment. The dog had just wet himself (and her borrowed leather jacket) when Dix decides this is the time to kiss her. I'm sorry, but who does that? There was no indication, from what I saw, at that moment to suggest he even desired kissing her. Yes, it's bound to happen eventually- the two of them realizing they care about each other. But at such an awkward time? With no warning or no hint of what he'd been thinking or seeing? It was certainly a moment I'd like to forget because it's one of the worst moments she's written thus far between two characters.

Yes, the dialogue is indeed forced, as are the relationships, jokes, and laughter. I don't understand exactly what happened to my favorite author, but I sense this is perhaps a foreshadowing of the worst.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hope you don't like closure..., August 31, 2005

By 

Liz "I enjoy narrators Simon Prebble, Tavia G... (Santa Rosa, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Point Blank (FBI Thriller (G.P. Putnam's Sons)) (Hardcover)

I have read all of Catherine Coulter's previous FBI thrillers, and was looking forward to this one with anticipation. However, although overall this was a good yarn, this story did not have the coherence of Ms. Coulter's previous forays.

Trying to tie together essentially 2 stories -- the story of Savich & Sherlock and the story of Maestro, ends up shortchanging both stories. Ms. Coulters brings in certain facts in her story, making the read think, and then does not carry through. The reader is left hoping that a sequel will be published soon to answer all the questions, but, is left wondering if maybe Ms. Coulter lost 100 pages somewhere.