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OUT OF MIND by Catherine Sampson

OUT OF MIND

by Catherine Sampson

Pub Date: Aug. 26th, 2005
ISBN: 0-89296-814-1

Telejournalist Robin Ballantyne probes the disappearance of a veteran camerawoman.

Once the police discovered she hadn’t really murdered her twins’ father, Adam Wills (Falling Off Air, 2004), the case had a silver lining for Robin: She inherited an apartment spacious enough for herself, William and Hannah, and a live-in nanny. Now she’s back at the Corporation, producing a documentary about missing persons—particularly Melanie Jacobs, who survived missions to Kosovo and Rwanda only to disappear from HazPrep, the Corporation’s safety-training facility for war-bound personnel. The police have already interviewed Melanie’s boyfriend, psychiatrist Fred Sevi, who rang her cell phone that night. But Robin’s more interested in HazPrep instructor Mike Darling, who knew Melanie in Afghanistan. Egged on by officemate Sal Ghosh, Robin treks to Cambodia to confront Darling, only to see their meeting interrupted when Justin, son of Darling’s best friend Kes Laver, steps on a mine. Despite warnings from Corporation boss Ivor Collins and the disapproval of police detective Tom Finney, whose love for Robin survives her constant doubts, she pursues Darling and discovers dark doings at Sydenham Hill Wood, where he and his spacey wife Anita, daughter Jacqui and infant son Christopher live in domestic disharmony with Kes, his girlfriend Sheryl and the newly maimed Justin.

A cheerless potboiler that makes having it all look like a total drag.