PARALLEL PERIL

In this installment of Barrs’ Vicky Robeson Mystery series, a journalist’s search for her long-lost sister leads to a mysterious cult.

Reporters are always on the hunt for a good story, even while on vacation. Dallas TV journalist Vicky Robeson is ostensibly on a two-week break in California, but thoughts of work are never far behind. Recently promoted to news director, she’s waiting to hear from the higher-ups about her proposed budget, which is coming in the face of network cuts. When she visits Bakersfield, her ulterior motive for her holiday is to find out if her sister is still alive. They were separated during a California wildfire when they were very young, and their parents perished—Vicky never knew if her sibling survived. (“She’d never found anyone who knew any details about her parents. Or her younger sister. But she’d kept looking, kept following up on leads however unlikely they might be.”) Working with Susan Winslow, who singlehandedly runs a newspaper in the town of Isabella, and her teenage niece Chrissy, Vicky finds her search complicated by a reunion with Pete Harris, her former flame. This would be a lot for anyone to take on, but Vicky remains determined and focused, even as she navigates the complex emotional terrain of dealing with her ex-boyfriend and the possibility of reuniting with the sister she hasn’t seen in decades. When the trail leads to the gates of The Colony, an insular, fundamentalist compound located in the middle of a national forest and presided over by the ruthless and violent Richard Hart, Vicky’s investigation takes a dangerous turn. The novel lays out its twisty plot cleanly and efficiently, though the revelations are somewhat muted. Moving along at an engaging clip, the narrative tends to favor plot over characterization. Readers may feel like the complexities and complications of family, work, religion, and relationships are waiting to be explored more deeply.

A breezy thriller that stays on the safe side of sinister.