Split Second (FBI Series #15)

A potent powerful thriller with deep characterizations.

The FBI is stunned when the DNA of the Black Beret serial killer breaks the profile norm. First the psychopath is female and statistically very few serial killers are women. Second she is related to Ted Bundy.

FBI agents Dillon Savich, Lacey Sherlock, Lucy Carlisle and Cooper McKnight lead the hunt for apparently Bundy's biological daughter. At the same time Lucy's father just before dying informs her that her grandfather did not abandon the family; instead her grandmother murdered her spouse. Needing to learn what happened decades ago, Lucy moves into her grandmother's mansion in Chevy Chase, Maryland. As she begins to unravel the past and finds a strange ring, a trap fails ending up with Sherlock hospitalized and Dillon believing the female-predator they stalk is hunting him.

Although S to the second power in their sixteenth appearance have dealt with seemingly quadrillion serial killers, Ted Bundy's daughter brings over the top freshness by being a chip off the old murderous block as Catherine Coulter makes a case for naturing. The story line is fast-paced especially once the Feds realize who they are dealing with and never slows down as the audience anticipates a showdown between the offspring and Savich. A potent powerful thriller with deep characterizations.

Harriet Klausner

21 out of 23 people found this review helpful.

I understand your frustrations & hope this helps.

First of all this page is supposed to be for reviews of the book, not complaints about the price. That being said, I understand the complaint and agree the publishers are being greedy. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind: 1. It IS the publishers and NOT B&N so don't get mad at them for something they can't control (this includes the dumb rules with the lend me feature). Go to any other ebook store (i.e. Amazon or Kobo) & you'll find that ebook prices in general (this one specifically) are the same. Occasionally one store might have a sale and you can get an ebook cheaper there, same as you would at a regular book store. 2. The printed version of this book is only avaliable in hardback and you'll notice that the nookbook price IS chearper than the hardback price. Once a printed book becomes avaliable in paperback (this usually happens about 6 months after the hardback release) then the nookbook price will usually go down & in most cases be less than the paperback. So, B&N didn't lie to you about ebooks usually being chearer than printed books. 3. There are tons of good free ebooks & ebooks for less than $2 out there. Also with nook, unlike the kindle, you can get ebooks from the library. The libraries (at least in Colorado) are good about getting the new releases & have a huge selection (sometimes you have to put a hold & wait your turn same as for printed material in a library. Again this has to do with the publishers). You usually get the book for 21 days (sometimes you can choose fewer if you're a fast reader) & the library I use lets me have upto 20 e-book/audiobooks "checked out" at one time. This is my most used method for getting ebooks. The only books I buy are the ones that I will go back and re-read over & over. I LOVE my nooks (I have both the original & the nookcolor) and find that the advantages to having an ereader far outweight the frustrations. I hope this helps you understand the position B&N is in & feel less frustrated with them.

10 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

Split Second from Catherine Coulter's FBI Series

Split Second by Catherine Coulter is a landslide of suspense and heart stopping complications. Program 911 into your speed-dial as Coulter reveals an astounding and frightening FBI thriller where the action may be right outside your door.

Scattered over the US woman are getting murdered. Ted Bundy did it before and the FBI came out the winner. Agents Cooper McKnight and Lucy Carlyle have their doubts on who will win this new game.

Ted Bundy has a daughter, Kerstin. She murders women and enjoys it. And she does little to hide her identity. After she follows a pattern of killings and gets the attention of the FBI, she tosses her common procedure and kills anyone in her way. In any manner.

Lucy inherits a deadly chunk of jewelry. She has a split second to think and use it to save lives. Which lives does she save? Which lives can't she or won't she save? It's all in the timing.

Lucy and Cooper are partners in this deadly game and honesty is integral in staying alive. Yet Lucy won't reveal the special quality of the ugly jewelry, which may cause a rift in the simmering romance Cooper provokes.

And Kerstin keeps killing.

The characters came to life and I urged them to get ahead of the incessant killer as I watched them pursue her in the United States capital and surrounding areas. Numerous subplots tangle the clues and the clock winds down as the clues need to be tied in order to stop the murders.

The seventeenth addition to Coulter's series of FBI thrillers is a masterpiece of chills.

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Gee, did any of you read the book?

How about you review it and not the store?

6 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

Split Second

While FBI agents Dillon Savich, Lacey Sherlock, Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight are busy tracking down a serial killer that may be related to Ted Bundy, Lucy has to deal with her dying father declaration that her grandfather was killed by her grandmother. So she moves into her grandparent's home and learns of a family heirloom that holds secret powers or does it? But don't forget the serial killer that has her sights on agent Savich.

With all this going on, one cannot stop turning the pages as Coulter has written a serious thriller with three storylines that simply absorbs this reader.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful!

Great read!

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

highly recommended!!

great book! Loved every page! Couldn't put it down!!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Split Second

There are three story lines presented in the newest book by Catherine Coulter. The first appears on page one, and isn’t resolved until nearly the final page in the book: The owner of a small convenience store in Washington, D.C. is nearly killed late one night in an apparent robbery gone wrong, the latter not having counted on FBI Agent Dillon Savitch being the customer in the shop at the time. When the same man is shot in another incident shortly thereafter, leaving him seriously wounded, it would seem there is more going on than a “simple” robbery.

The second, and main, story line deals with a series of crimes involving women in their 20’s and 30’s who are picked up in neighborhood bars, brought back to their own apartments, and strangled with a length of wire, no apparent connection among them, and the crimes occurring in various large cities including Cleveland, Ohio; San Francisco; and Chicago. Autopsies show the women were drugged with Rohypnol and ketamine. One of the victims had scratched her attacker before being killed, leaving a nice sample of DNA to be analyzed and run through databases, after which it is determined that the killer is the offspring of none other than Ted Bundy, the man who kidnapped dozens of young women, raped, tortured and then murdered them before he was caught and ultimately electrocuted in Florida in 1989.

The last of the plotlines is a very personal one, having to do with a horrifying family secret just discovered by Lucy Carlyle, another FBI agent in the Washington DC office, and her attempt to put it on the back burner while joining her boss, Savitch, and her partner, Cooper (“Coop”) McKnight, in the investigation of the serial killer, whose victims number five and counting.

I had several problems with the book, starting with the fact that one of the agents, whose name is, disconcertingly, Lacey Sherlock, is never referred to or called Lacey but, always, “Sherlock,” even by her husband. As well, much of the writing felt stilted, the dialog often not what I felt one or another would be expected to utter or their actions not ringing true, e.g., a 27-year-old FBI agent “bouncing up and down” upon being given news of an important breakthrough in the case; a cup of coffee described as “dark as sin.” And would a woman who had just been told her niece had lost control of her car and been badly injured, upon seeing that niece, really say to her “Oh, you’ve got a bandage on your head!” Nor am I enamored with the supernatural in mysteries, as is the case here.

On the other hand, almost in spite of myself, I was caught up in the story, the pages turning quickly, and anxious to find out how each story line was resolved. I am obviously in the minority with my reservations about the book, since the author consistently makes the bestseller lists. This is her seventeenth book in what is termed “the FBI Thriller” series. It made for good reading, on balance, and I’m sure most readers will find it very enjoyable.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Terrible book

I don't know why I finished it.There were so many stories going on and they were all silly especially the magic ring from her Mother etc I read a lot and this is one of the worst I've read in a very long time. DJWB

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

one of her worst books

This is one of the worst books by my favorite author

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Just getting around to reading this book. Sorry - don't waste y

Just getting around to reading this book. Sorry - don't waste your money (paperback or otherwise). First of all, I am not enamoured of the non-American authors who constantly use phrases that most Americans do not use, e.g. "gone missing," "walkabout" etc. Also, there are simply too many characters to keep track of. Then, there's the witchcraft element. I agree with one of the earlier reviewers: if I wanted science fiction or cult material, I wouldnt have chosen a mystery.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ring of Confusion

I am amazed that someone could write such interesting books that absolutely compel the reader to turn the page while at the same time fill the book with actions so unlikely that you just want to scream at the characters - and then there is the "magic" ring. Give me a break. I love the Savich and Sherlock characters but I am moving on to see if I can find a mystery writer who gives his or her agents of law enforcement enough common sense to not insult the reader. If I wanted magic I would read science fiction.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Lillycat

So disapointed in this book by one of my favorite authors. Pass this on up.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Agree it is a decent story AGREE it's too $$$$$$$$

This starts off quick and keeps on moving. However at some point, kind of hard to keep track of the three different lines she has going here.

AND agree, way too expensive for something I cannot share! I only buy books on sale here at B&N. I tend to check out from the library, however the library does not always get the new releaes in ebook fashion for at leat 3 months after the book comes out. I REFUSE to pay more than 10 dollars for something I cannot control. And the lendme feature, just plain sucks. There are hardly any books worth sharing!

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

good

Just finished reading Split Second...it was a good read- just like the other books. I found the magical ring concept very interest.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

fbi series

cool married couple series love the mystery and action

standard

fare

Good Good

Very enjoyable. One of the betters.

Highly Recommended

As with her other FBI series books this one is as good and kept me wanting to never put it down.

Another good one.

I liked the part where Savich was visiting his Indian friend in the hospital.