Finished 6-21-09, rating 3.5/5, romantic suspense, pub. 1996

This is book 1 in the FBI Suspense Thriller series

Someone was watching her.  She tugged on the black wig, flattening it against her ears, and quickly put on another coat of deep-red lipstick, holding the mirror up so she scould see behind her.

The young Marine saw her face in the mirror and grinned at her.

Chapter 1

Sally flees the east coast to The Cove, the picture perfect town on the Oregon coast, to find her Aunt Amabel, who she hopes will hide her.  Sally is on the run after her father is murdered and the government wants answers from her that she is unable to give.  Aunt Amabel accepts her and Sally is given respite for only a short time before she a murdered woman washed ashore.  And James Quinlan, and undercover agent, finds Sally and befriends her without mentioning he was sent there to question her.  Then she starts receiving phone calls and seeing her father although he is dead. 

As Sally is unwillingly dragged back home, Quinlan must pull out all the stops to find her, especially since she now means more to him than a case to be solved.  The horrors uncovered when Sally goes back home are brutal.  And when she is led back to the Cove lives are at stake.

Okay, this is the first of a series and I own several that follow it already, so I imagine I will read more.  The book was fast paced and had a few mysteries that kept me guessing.  Sally was a sympathetic character, but I did find it difficult to believe what was done to her by her father, husband and doctor.  I thought there might be more romance, this is Catherine Coulter after all, but I did find it lacking in that department.

The book is a fast, pleasant read, but nothing extra-special.