Book Review: Cross Current

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Cross Current     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Christine Kling
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Woman Main Character   Thriller   Amateur Sleuth
Series: Seychelle Sullivan
Ballantine, Oct 2004, $23.95, 320 pp.

While waiting to tug a boat filled with Haitian refugees, Seychelle notices another vessel out in the gulf and takes her ship the Garda there. She finds a young dehydrated girl named Solange with a dead woman. She rescues the girl and tugs the boat containing the deceased to the dock. Seychelle immediately forms a bond with the Haitian refugee, who says that her father lives in the United States. Seychelle intends to find him so that Solange will not be deported.

There has been a recent increase in the smuggling of Haitians into America. Seychelle believes that Solange and the dead woman were on a boat that capsized with fifty Haitians aboard. Solange is not safe as thugs try to kidnap her although neither Seychelle nor she can determine why. Those Haitians that survive have been sold into slavery making it even more difficult for Seychelle to gain their trust so that she can locate Solange’s father. Kidnappers abduct Seychelle and Solange taking them to Bimini where they meet the smugglers’ mastermind. The criminal tosses Seychelle overboard expecting her to die while he carries out his plans for Solange.

Christine Kling is a very visual writer who makes the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast come alive to readers. The heroine breaks laws to keep Solange safe from a monster, who sees the child as merchandise. There is a lot of action in CROSS CURRENT, but it is the characters who turn this novel into a superb thriller as Solange is at the mercy of adults with only Seychelle apparently caring what happens to her. Ms. Kling is a rising queen in the suspense genre.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner