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Ebooks - Mystery - |
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Safe Beginnings |
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| Safe Beginnings by Christine Duncan Dynamic Patterns -Ebook, 2000 ISBN 1894606027 Reviewed by PJ Nunn Kaye Berreano is a crisis counselor in a Denver battered woman's shelter called Beginnings. But how effective can she be when her own life is in the throes of a messy divorce? There's never enough money, her teenage children are left on their own far too much, and her soon-to-be ex-husband is fighting her every step of the way. As she settles into a quiet night shift, the silence of softly falling snow is shattered by a threatening phone call, leaving Kaye feeling uneasy. When smoke detectors go off later, waking her and sleeping residents, there's no doubt that there's cause for the alarm. As smoke fills the house and Kaye rushes to ensure that women and children make it outside, she discovers there is one sleeping resident in the room where the fire started. Maybe it's the smoke, or the hour, or being awakened so suddenly, but everything seems a blur to Kaye: fire-fighters hustling, lights flashing, and police officers asking questions while EMTs offer hasty aid. It appears that everyone got out all right; even the woman Kaye struggled to drag from the burning room is alive and en route to the nearest hospital. Yet in the strong light of day the next morning, the possibility that the fire was not an accident calls into question Kaye's competence - and motives. Safe Beginnings is a poignant tale and Duncan does an excellent job of creating life-like characters that are easy to visualize. Kaye is no detective, yet her concern and her response to troubling information are both believable. As with any good mystery, there is a variety of suspects to choose from, although motives might have been further developed. The identity of the actual perpetrator is kept secret right up to the time of capture, as it should be. Though it has a few rough edges, Safe Beginnings is a compelling story, and I'll definitely be interested in reading what Kaye Berreano is up to next. |
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