Customer Reviews

Unnatural Instinct

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Robert Walker's latest novel, "Unnatural Instinct," appellate court judge Maureen DeCampe has disappeared from an underground parking garage in Washington, D. C. The FBI fears that someone bent on revenge has abducted her. Dr. Jessie Coran, FBI medical examiner and sleuth extraordinaire, is in charge of the investigation.

Jessie, with the help of her colleagues, including her lover, Richard Sharpe, frantically seeks clues to the identity of Judge DeCampe's abductor. The investigators even enlist the aid of a psychic, Kim Desinor, who senses that the judge has been taken to a place filled with decay. As the investigators race against time, the judge is facing certain death at the hands of her crazed attacker.

Unfortunately, "Unnatural Instinct" does not rise above the pedestrian. The dialogue is stilted and the characters are mostly stereotypes. Although there is a fair amount of suspense as the killer eludes his pursuers time and again, the plot is basically a recycling of many similar novels. The only real distinction of "Unnatural Instinct" is the method that the killer uses to torture his victim. It is a novel idea, as original as it is gruesome, and it is one that I have never encountered before. Overall, however, "Unnatural Instinct" is an average thriller that breaks little new ground.

Robert W. Walker does a lot of research for his books. In UNNATURAL INSTINCT, although it takes place in the present, he writes about a form of punishment that was used a couple of millennia ago. I don't know whether people were more brutish then (I doubt it) but it is difficult to read about. However, we need to learn about the past so we known when we're repeating its mistakes (although that doesn't
usually stop us).

Medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran is called upon to find a judge, Maureen
DeCampe, who has been abducted from the parking garage of her courthouse.
Jessica has her lover and a number of other people helping her in a race
against time since they are quite sure the kidnapper doesn't mean to keep
the judge alive long.

The book is well written and very intense. The descriptions are vivid and
graphic. I found myself reading past my bedtime.

FBI Agent and medical examiner Dr. Jessica Coran enjoys some downtime with Richard Sharpe, who resigned his position at Scotland Yard to become an FBI consultant. Their romantic interlude is interrupted when Appellate Judge Maureen DeCampe is abducted from an underground garage in Washington DC Jessica is put in charge of this political hot potato of a case. She immediately concludes that the judge knew her attacker and didn't feel the culprit was a hazard to her.

The judge when confronted by Isaiah Purdy did not feel that he was a threat to her. She knew him from her days as a judge in Texas when she sentences his son to death in the electric chair for a series of rape-murderers. After his son was killed Isaiah claimed the body, drove to Washington DC and abducted the judge. She is now naked tied to Isaiah's son rotting decayed corpse and she will surely die if Jessica and her team fail to find her rather quickly.

There are very few crime writers to day who consistently write compelling and exciting thrillers. Robert W. Walker is not only of those very few, he is elite amongst them. Hopefully he obtains what he deserves having UNNATURAL INSTINCT on all the bestseller lists for its powerful story line with a strong cast. The heroine, a brilliant workaholic, might have finally met her match in Richard Sharpe. They make a good pair personally and professional and it is hoped that there will be more novels starring this couple in the not too distant future.

Harriet Klausner

This was a good, quick read. Not as emotionally gripping as earlier books in this series, but a good quick plot that I enjoyed, and Jessica Coran was vastly more interesting in this book than in the previous two Instinct novels. The last hundred and twenty pages fly by, which was a fairly nice surprise. I think my one real quibble with the book (and something I havent' seen mentioned yet) was the guest-starring of Stonecoat and Sanger from Walker's Edge series. That, and the small subplot with the Indian killings in Sioux Falls that Coran and Stonecoat both became involved in, shouldn't have even been written about and frankly took a bit away from the main story of this book, which would have been fine on its own if lengthened just a bit.

Overall though, it seems like Mr. Walker is returning to the form that he had last in Darkest Instinct and Extreme Instinct. Let's hope the next book in this series continues the trend of good books in this series.

But please, no more cameos from characters in the Edge series, ok?