Book Review: Raise the Dead

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Raise the Dead     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jane Rubino
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Cat Austen # 6

Cat Austen's husband was a police officer and died in the line of duty before this series of books began. Austen works as a journalist, and her work on various stories has drawn her into the aftermath of several murders related in earlier volumes.

In this latest entry, things become a little more personal as Austen begins to receive strange phone calls announcing that the caller has news on the circumstances of Austen's late husband's death, and urging Austen to meet in person and learn more. Austen hangs up on the caller, until she hears from a local TV journalist, urging her to listen to the information. But when Austen goes to meet the journalist she is assaulted, and the next day brings the disturbing news that the journalist is dead, the result of an automobile accident.

Of course, the accident is more than it seems, and Austen simply cannot resist the urge to poke into the circumstances. This unfortunate tendency of hers causes a great deal of worry and concern for Austen's family and for the new man in her life. It also places her into a position of great danger, and created a frustrated reaction for this reader on too many occasions.

Rubino uses the background of Austen's personal life to examine issues involving in vitro fertilization, surrogate parenting, the harvesting of fertilized embryos, as well as the incredibly complicated legal issues related to all the new techniques assisting infertile couples.

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM