SM5 Saturday: The Target by Catherine Coulter

Show Me 5, a meme started by That's a Novel Idea, gives each blogger a chance to answer these questions:

1. Title of book: The Target by Catherine Coulter

2. Words to describe the book: FBI thriller

3. Location or characters you met:

• Judge Ramsey Hunt: After a very newsworthy event in his courtroom, Ramsey has chosen to take some time off and escapes to a rustic cabin in the Colorado Rockies. While chopping wood, he hears a strange sound which upon investigation leads him to a little girl who has been the victim of a vicious assault. Ramsey does not want to traumatise her any further so he avoids calling in law forces until he can get her more comfortable. After a week or so, he realizes they need more food and Emma needs clothes so he risks a short trip to town to get the provisions. Later when Ramsey is out getting more wood for the stove, two men come out of the woods and shoot at Ramsey, wounding him in the leg. Now he knows she is still in much danger and that whoever is after her will not cease.
• Emma Santera: 6 year old victim who managed to escape her sadistic kidnapper and finds refuge with Ramsey. She is so traumatised she will not even speak until the day her mother blasts her way into the cabin accusing Ramsey of being the one who abducted Emma. When the mother threatens to shoot Ramsey, Emma finally breaks her silence and tells her that Ramsey is the one who saved her.


• Molly Santera: Emma's mother who was so fed up with police investigations going no where, she managed to track down Emma herself by showing her picture all over the rockies. When she finds the small store where Ramsey and Emma bought some clothes, she tracks down the cabin. After some misunderstandings, Molly and Ramsey decide to collaborate to find out who kidnapped Emma. Their search leads them back to some unexpected places finding help from Molly's mob connected father and Ramsey's FBI friends, Savich and Sherlock.

4. Things you liked/disliked about the book:

• characters were fantastically fleshed out and realistic


• chilling mystery of who kidnapped Emma and why with twists and turns in the plot kept me reading almost non-stop


• the development of the minor plot threads was perfectly executed


• the relationships between the characters

5. Stars or less for your rating: 4.5 **** The Target is number three in this suspense filled series. Even though this book was written in 1998, it does not feel dated. The Big Guy and I both enjoyed this one immensely.

Disclosure: This book is from my personal library and was purchased by me.