Cornered

In Brenham’s titillating crime novel, Temple, Tex., police detective Matt Brady is stymied in his investigation of the disappearance of five young women in less than three months, without either ransom demands being made or corpses discovered. Early on, the author reveals that members of a sophisticated ring target women based on the particulars of their appearance for abduction and sale to buyers who will use them as sex slaves. The remainder of the book amounts to a cat-and-mouse game between Brady and the kidnappers. The victims, as well as the main characters, are little more than ciphers, and the details are not realistic. For example, readers may find it unlikely that those behind the kidnappings would put the lucrative operation at risk by paying the actual kidnappers only $200 per woman. Inappropriate responses to the actual horror of the women’s fate are also a drawback. [em](BookLife) [/em]