Having coauthored five bestsellers with James Patterson (Lifeguard
, etc.), Gross makes a solo debut superior to his collaborative efforts, if short of the first thriller rank. His engaging heroine, Kate Raab, a medical researcher in the Bronx, is shocked when the Feds arrest her beloved gold trader father, Benjamin, and charge him with laundering money for a Colombian drug cartel. A hit team's attempt to kill the entire Raab family prompts all of them, except Kate, to start their lives anew in the witness protection program. Kate's choice, predictably, places her in continuing danger, even as she begins to suspect that her father's involvement with the narco traffickers was more deliberate and extensive than he's willing to admit. The secret revelations at the heart of the plot may strike some as a little far-fetched, and the details about the witness protection program fail to convince, but Gross shows sufficient talent for readers to want to see more from his pen alone. (May)
