BLOOD LINES
by Kathryn Casey
Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong must hogtie a passel of varmints in two fraught and media-friendly murder cases.
All available evidence, including a heartfelt suicide note, indicates that Billie Cox killed herself. But Sarah’s infallible gut gurgles a warning: not so fast. It’s all too perfect, too staged, she tells colleagues with less insistent innards, as if some inveterate watcher of cop TV has arranged things according to a favorite script. Besides, Billie’s sister Faith is passionate in her portrayal of Billie as too much in love with life ever to consider cutting it short. Sarah decides on a hard-eyed second look, but while she’s taking it, another case clamors for her attention. Sixteen-year-old pop star Cassidy Collins is clearly out of love with her life. For some time now there’s been a stalker in it, someone clever, persistent, endlessly creepy and driving her to distraction. Tabbed by Cassidy as her best line of defense, Sarah finds herself stuck in the middle between a bratty teenage idol and her obsessed, slippery menace. Meanwhile, back on the ranch, there’s a cherished horse near death; people she loves still feeling the effects of trauma suffered in the series debut (Singularity, 2008); and an inexplicably fractured romance. As usual, Sarah has a lot to lasso.
By-the-numbers plotting, labored pace and an icky love affair.