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Nothing Else Matters |
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 Nothing Else Matters byS.D. Tooley Full Moon Publishing 288 pages, 2000 ISBN 0966602129 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Read our author interview Sam Casey’s last case as a detective for the Chasen Heights Police Department pretty much scrambled her life and she’s fighting to get back on balance. When a local minister is killed in a riverboat casino, she visits the crime scene with a fellow officer, even though she’s on temporary suspension. There, she finds her sixth sense from her Native American heritage kicking in and her passion for justice returning. Jake, her estranged new husband, is heading up the investigation and Sam is quickly drafted as a private investigator by the casino owners. She’s glad to be working the case, but Jake complicates things considerably. She’s not even sure she wants to stay married to him, but she’s also got a surprise pregnancy to tell him about. With hormones raging, Sam questions her own judgment sometimes, yet she’s determined to solve this case, if only to prove to herself she still can. She enlists the aid of a few friends and methodically sets out to track the suspect down. Notorious for operating independently, Sam’s really challenged when the suspect nabs her and a young accomplice. Can she fight her way out of this one? NOTHING ELSE MATTERS is Tooley’s second Sam Casey mystery. Those who haven’t read the first one will have no trouble developing that all important character relationship with Sam. It will, however, arouse curiosity about finding the first book to explain the circumstances Sam is in now, and to understand the love/hate relationship between Sam and Jake. Still, the story is tight and the pace brisk, keeping things moving to a surprising conclusion. Tooley deftly navigates the tightrope between introspection and action, and admirably portrays a young professional woman struggling to cope with the emotional turmoil of an unplanned pregnancy. As in life, Sam’s multi-tasking as fast as she can, because one heavyweight issue rarely takes a pause just because another crops up. She laughs, cries, takes risks and makes mistakes, but still comes out ahead. NOTHING ELSE MATTERS is definitely worth the time it takes to read. |
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