Truth Catcher: A Novel of Suspense » (Reprint)

Anna Salter is a forensic psychologist with a specialty in assessing sexual offenders. She is also the author of four suspense novels, including Prison Blues, which was nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe Award. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

A forensic psychologist uses her unique condition to solve the cold case of a missing girl.

Forensic psychologist Breeze Copens has a gift. She not only hears the truth, she also sees it, through the rare psychological condition synethesia. So she knows when Daryl Collins—a born-again but remorseless con jailed in Seattle for armed robbery—is lying. What she doesn't know is the identity of a little girl in a blue dress with yellow daisies who appears suddenly in her line of vision during her interview with Daryl. And Daryl isn't telling.

A heart stopping thriller, its twists unexpected, its suspense mounting as the steely Breeze attempts to make hard evidence of her intuition, Truth Catcher sets the lovely, red-haired forensic expert on an increasingly treacherous course. Matching wits with devious and deviant criminal minds, Breeze tracks her quarry fearlessly, only to discover, chillingly, in Edgar nominee Anna Salter's compelling fifth novel, that she's the prey.

Publishers Weekly

Edgar-finalist Salter, after four books in her Dr. Michael Stone series (Prison Blues, etc.), introduces a heroine with an unusual gift in this solid suspense novel. Breeze Copens, a forensic psychologist specializing in assessing sex offenders, must recommend that Daryl Collins be released from prison because, on paper, he's not a threat. But Breeze is also a synesthete-someone who sees colors and designs when she hears sounds-and may have paranormal powers, so she knows Daryl's dangerous. To prove it, she travels to Dallas, where she meets Daryl's vicious half-brother and partner in crime, Leroy, one of Salter's most sinister villains. Meanwhile, Breeze agrees to care for Lily, the troubled adolescent daughter of her drug-addled childhood friend, Jena. Breeze winds up having to cope with increasing threats from both Leroy and Jena's abusive husband. Despite some clumsy plot devices and weak characterization, the book builds to a satisfying conclusion. The tensions in Breeze's professional life alternate nicely with poetic evocations of the peaceful North Carolina coastal island where she lives. (Feb.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.