Knock Out

Starred review from April 27, 2009
Bestseller Coulter's riveting 13th FBI thriller (after TailSpin
) opens with a bang as psychic FBI agent Dillon Savich thwarts a gang of gun-totting robbers attempting to hold up the First Union Bank of Washington, D.C. Three days later, seven-year-old Autumn Backman, who sees Dillon on TV, sends him a telepathic message that she's in danger. Though eager to help Autumn, Dillon is busy tracking a bank robber who escaped, a teenage girl now leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. Meanwhile, in Titusville, Va., Autumn's mother reports her daughter missing to sheriff Ethan Merriweather. After finding Autumn, Ethan discovers her sinister uncle, Blessed, has evil designs on his psychic niece. Before Dillon and his fellow FBI agent and wife, Lacey Sherlock, can get to Titusville, Autumn and her mother flee. Well-developed characters and an expertly paced plot that builds to a breathtaking conclusion make this one of the best in this paranormal suspense series.

May 1, 2009
FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock have their hands full when Savich is caught in a bank holdup near his Washington, D.C., home. The vicious attack leaves the criminal leader dead and his injured teen daughter swearing revenge. She manages to escape, leading the FBI on a bloody chase. Then Savich receives a message from seven-year-old Autumn through extraordinary means: she contacts him with her mind. Her mother took her to Brickers Bowl, Georgia, to bury her fathers ashes, and now her very scary, psychic uncle Blessed is after them. The local sheriff vows to keep her safe, but he has no idea what hes up against. These two cases keep Savich and Sherlock busy trying to protect their family from a brutal psychopathic teenage criminal and a psychotic paranormal family trying to bring a sweet child into their fold so they can manipulate her psychic power for nefarious purposes. This fast-paced thriller, featuring the authors trademark wit in counterpoint to intense action, is an excellent addition to Coulters popular FBI series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)