What She Saw

Jessica Mack wakes up on a train on the California coast with no idea of where she is, who she is, or how she got there. When a man identifies her as Jenna Marcott, Jessica plays along and allows him to escort her to Jenna's apartment, where%E2%80%94despite her continued state of amnesia%E2%80%94she is certain a violent crime occurred. When Jessica goes to Jenna's job at the BioNeutronics Laboratory in Oxnard, she learns that Jenna was involved in the mysterious Project 42. Jessica tries to discover what the secret project is, but she's soon trailed by lab security personnel, who demand to know the whereabouts of files relating to Project 42. Jessica is taken to a secret room at the lab, where she makes an amazing discovery%E2%80%94the ramifications of which impact her own life and the upper echelons of American politics. Lowe's thriller covers a lot of ground%E2%80%94however, readers may find it difficult to follow the overly complicated narrative. The book's last-minute twists and turns rely on deus ex machina, and it is only revealed at the end that two minor characters%E2%80%94a handwriting analyst and a cop%E2%80%94are focal points of the sequel. While the author's prose is clean and effective, her plotting and pacing are often overly confusing.