An FBI agent goes after the hit-and-run driver who has killed her husband and newborn son—and so does nearly everyone else in greater Miami. Frank Benedict, driving home from an unsuccessful dinner with the prospective client he’s counting on to help him land a law partnership at 44, slams into the side of Charlie Calloway’s van in a fit of rage, then backs up and hits it again before driving off into the stormy night. Charlie, awakening in a hospital to find that she’s lost both husband and son—even her dog Paz has run away—vows revenge. Meanwhile, Frank’s told his blue-blooded wife Anita just enough lies to enlist her help in ditching his ruined BMW in a nearby swamp and reporting it stolen. It’s hardly the perfect crime, but he’d probably get away with it if it weren’t for all the forces of justice arrayed against him. Item: FBI forensic specialist Leo Wells seeks out his misfit ex-colleague Doug Logan, who developed an uncanny sensitivity to psychic phenomena after surviving a near-death experience. Item: Charlie’s old roommate, Dr. Lorraine Sneider, puts Charlie under hypnosis to see what details she can dredge up about the fatal night. Item: veterinarian Chrissy Lincoln, whose mother took in the fleeing Paz under the impression that he was a reincarnation of her late husband, recognizes him as the dog mentioned in accounts of the incident. Item: even Anita finds herself tempted by the $1 million reward Charlie’s old friend Chico Ruiz, the gay talk-radio host, is offering. And now that Charlie herself, having been pronounced dead for two minutes at the hospital, has developed a seventh sense like Logan’s, the biggest question is which of these avengers can get to hapless Frank Benedict first. Too many cooks spoil the suspense, leaving this story most memorable as another example of MacGregor’s distinctive amalgams of melodrama, parapsychology, and wrenching emotional loss (The Hanged Man, 1998, etc.). (Author tour)
