Chillwater Cove

Patrick Anderson

This is a novel in which people die in surprising ways—from snake venom, rocket-propelled grenades, mysterious explosions—miraculously escape near-certain death and prove to have unexpected parentage. At times I grew impatient with the bizarre plot twists, but I came to accept them, even to enjoy their ingenuity. It helped that the pace is fast and the prose often tasty.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

At the start of Lakeman's compelling second mystery (after 2006's The Shadow Catchers), FBI Special Agent Peggy Weaver, who works for the Crimes Against Children Unit in Philadelphia, receives a chilling memento of a childhood tragedy-e-mailed porn photos that depict her best friend at age 10, obviously from the lens of the abductor who snatched her while Peggy escaped. When that victim, now college professor Samantha Stallworth, calls to tell her she has received the same photos, Weaver heads home to Avalon, Tenn., an isolated college community with sharp divisions between town and gown as well as black and white. Peggy's homecoming reignites friction with her father, Avalon's police chief, who had always berated her for being a poor eye-witness to the abduction. When Samantha goes missing once again, this time with no witness, Peggy pursues the case frantically, obstructed by town police, Samantha's powerful in-laws, her own personal demons and some very real ones. Rich atmosphere, an intriguing plot and a solid heroine make this one another winner for Lakeman. (Nov.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Library Journal

While shutting down a Philadelphia child pornography and slavery racket, FBI agent Peggy Weaver discovers among the perpetrators' possessions photos of her childhood friend, Samantha, who was kidnapped when she and Peggy were ten years old. Although Samantha was rescued, the kidnapper escaped, and Samantha never spoke about what happened. But now someone has begun a campaign to terrorize both women, and Samantha vanishes again. Going home to Avalon, TN, is not easy for Weaver as she uncovers a tangle of deceit and is called upon to save her friend; she is determined not to fail. Lakeman follows up his debut thriller, The Shadow Catcher, with a gripping edge-of-the-seat tale of suspense. Lakeman lives in Alabama.

—Jo Ann Vicarel

School Library Journal

Adult/High School -FBI agent Peggy Weaver returns to her hometown just as her childhood friend, who had been kidnapped when they were 10 years old, disappears again. At the time of the kidnapping, Peggy had been with her friend and had gotten away. Readers are drawn immediately into the horrific plot as the adult Peggy receives pornographic photos of 10-year-old Samantha, and it is revealed that Peggy's life is in danger as Lakeman brings the past horror into the present. Chillwater Cove is a remote area in the Tennessee woods. It is home to poor, racially mixed outcasts who have something many of the major players in the town want-badly enough to commit crimes to get it. Peggy's father, the redneck police chief, is less than supportive as they both work on the case; he also plays other roles as the plot twists and turns. In spite of occasionally awkward descriptions, the author draws readers into a story so terrible and so action-packed that they cannot put it down. Teens who like James Patterson and Dean Koontz will eat this one up. Give it to students who "don't like to read" and watch them reconsider that statement.-Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A little girl thinks she's escaped a sexual predator. But has she?Peggy Weaver and her friend Sammie Stallworth, age ten, are a familiar sight as they bike in and around their small hometown of Avalon, Tenn. On an apparently normal day, however, insanity enters their lives. Someone captures Sammie, and Peggy is challenged in a way that will haunt her endlessly. "Trade," the skinny man says, grinning evilly, while holding Sammie helpless. "You for her." Instead, Peggy runs, outdistancing the danger but never the guilt. Twenty five years later, Peggy is the much respected FBI special agent Weaver, her career on the rise, whose past is about to throw a roadblock. When pornographic photos of a little girl heartlessly posed appear on the Internet, she recognizes Sammie, who'd been used and abused by her monstrous captor before being almost casually released. Later that night Sammie, now the equally respected professor Aldridge, calls. She too has seen the photos and is badly shaken by them. After all this time, must she reprise the half-forgotten horror that came so close to ruining her life? And, for that matter, what lurks in Avalon for Peg? Secrets and lies, yes, but perhaps long-sought redemption as well. Lakeman's second (The Shadow Catchers, 2006), though a bit overplotted, is blessed with feisty, fearless Special Agent Peg, who kick-starts the action whenever she has to. Agent: Marian Young/The Young Agency