Blown Away

In the gritty sixth Frank Corso novel (after 2005's No Man's Land), Ford makes clever use of an actual 2003 unsolved case to create a pulse-pounding plot capped by a dramatic and chilling ending. Corso, an investigative journalist whose promising career was derailed by a scandal, is sent by his publisher to a small Pennsylvania town to solve an unusual cold case. In an attempted bank robbery, a seemingly innocuous local, who presented his demands for cash with a bomb strapped around his neck, died when the device exploded. Corso is uninterested in the assignment until his initial inquiries lead to attempts on his life. The case takes on a whole new dimension when similar crimes begin to occur on the West Coast, leading the federal authorities to take a keen interest in the reporter's discoveries. While the eventual revelation of the motive behind the crimes is a little disappointing, this doesn't detract from the overall impact of this well-written and paced thriller.