Case Study
A Taylor
Case Mystery
C. R.
Cardin
Evolution Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-9797412-6-2 (0979741262)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9797412-6-5 (9780979741265)
Publication Date: May 2008
List Price: $23.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): The childhood abduction of her brother has left Dr.
Taylor Case desperate for her father’s redemption and denying her
own desire to find love. While teaching forensic science at Georgetown
University, she secretly hunts down child predators ensuring justice is
served -- one way or another. As Taylor prepares to wrap-up fall
semester, she finds herself in the middle of yet another treacherous
child abduction, and this one is close to home.
During a birthday celebration for her niece, Taylor learns of the
suspected abduction of her nephew’s playmate, Kevin. She grows
impatient with the FBI’s efforts to track down the missing boy in
spite of the evidence she collects and shares with the dashing Agent
Anderson.
Driven by obsessive desire and unwilling to let history repeat itself,
she initiates her own plan, knowing she must find Kevin soon if she is
to find him at all. Taylor’s efforts toward saving the missing
boy draw her further and further into a chilling international web of
child brokering, and this time she may have gone too far.
In her dangerous attempt to rescue Kevin, Taylor finds herself the
hunted, captured by a vengeful killer who intends to silence her
permanently. Will it be too late for Kevin?
Review: C. R.
Cardin introduces forensic science professor Dr. Taylor Case who
becomes involved in an investigation of a kidnapped boy in Case Study.
Teaching students is Taylor's day job but she leads a secret double
life bringing child pornographers to justice. Despite lacking any
official capacity, she is instrumental in ensuring that the criminals
are arrested, even to the point of planting evidence for the
authorities to find. She believes that her own brother was kidnapped
years ago for the purposes of being forced into pornography and is
obsessed with finding him, or at least knowing what happened to him.
When a young boy living on the same street as her sister goes missing,
she's convinced he's been kidnapped and undertakes a secret
investigation separate from the FBI to locate him and return him to his
home.
Though Case Study is a
routinely plotted mystery, it is unusual both in how it is written and
a specific tangential subplot that is introduced along the way. The
narrative is roughly evenly divided between the perspective of Taylor
and that of the FBI. When Taylor is in the picture, the prose is terse,
almost brusque, as if she is emotionless or at best humorless. This may
be partly intentional to illustrate how she developed as an adult, from
her relationship with her father to the loss of her brother. It's
unnerving at times to read. About midway through, the FBI takes over
and the writing style reverts to that more commonly found in a police
procedural. The subplot involves a visiting scientist to whom Taylor
finds herself sexually attracted. She fears the scientist may in some
way be associated with child pornography, yet she allows her physical
desire to overtake her intellectual and emotional revulsion. It's a bit
of a rollercoaster ride for both Taylor and the reader yet at the same
time seems oddly incompatible with the mystery.
In large part Case Study
reads as if sections of two or three different and incomplete outlines
for books were melded here, the result being a not quite cohesive story
that works at some level but appears unfinished nonetheless.
Special thanks to Evolution Press for providing a copy of Case Study for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Case Study? How would you rate it?
Mysteries in this series ...
Case Study
Evolution Press (Hardcover), May 2008
ISBN-10: 0-9797412-6-2 (0979741262)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9797412-6-5 (9780979741265)
Omnimystery keywords for Case Study ...
Location(s) referenced: Washington DC.
