VOICES CARRY

Mariah Stewart

Pocket Books

February 2001

ISBN: 0-671-78591-5

 

Mariah Stewart's superb book BROWN EYED GIRL introduced us to the characters of FBI Agents Genna Snow and John Mancini. VOICES CARRY, another sensational story from this gifted author, focuses on the professional, and personal, lives of Genna and John as they attempt to find a very methodical and evil psychopath.

FBI Special Agent Genna Snow still has nightmares of her near rape at a church camp when she was nine years old. Genna’s life was changed forever after that night and later in the aftermath of the trial against “Brother David”, the man who attempted the rape. Her parents disowned her and forbade her twelve-year-old sister, Crystal, to even speak her name. Genna was subsequently given a foster home and more love than she had ever had by Patsy Wheeler, the woman who found her huddled in her boathouse the night of the incident.
 
Genna is a highly respected member of the FBI currently working on juvenile related cases. She is surprised when her supervisor has an assignment for her in the Amish area where she grew up. She’s been chosen due to her familiarity with the area and the people there. She also spends her summers at the lake near the property under surveillance. The assignment isn’t very palpable to Genna, but the idea of a paid vacation and seeing Patsy is very enticing. Genna worries about Patsy living alone and is glad that Pats has a new neighbor that she enjoys very much, even though Nancy only spends weekends at the lake. Genna’s cover is blown on the first day she is at Patsy’s, and now there is a chance that she has put her foster mother in harms way.
 
John Mancini has just rejoined the FBI after taking six months off the job to get his “head on straight”. His last assignment was so gruesome and got so personal that he more or less went into seclusion when it was over. John and Genna had a very special and personal relationship that came to an abrupt end when he just left with no explanations. Now that he is functional again he wants Genna back in his life.
 
John is heading up a very elite taskforce and has chosen Genna to be on the team. Women are disappearing from their homes in different locations across the United States. There does not appear to be anything that connects the cases, but all the law enforcement agencies agree that there should be. The perpetrator in this case leaves no clues, isn’t asking for ransom, and there is no indication that the women have been killed. By the time the task force was formed there had been eight disappearances and each member is given two files to delve into for further background information. Genna vaguely recognizes the first name of one of the victims, but has no reason to believe it could be the same person she knew as a child.
 
Once again the amazing talent of Mariah Stewart shines like a mega watt spotlight. The familial bonds that are Ms. Stewart’s signature run through the storyline and give the reader a sense of personally knowing the characters. The relationship between Genna and John is handled beautifully and skillfully and doesn’t make the reader feel like a voyeur. VOICES CARRY is a riveting page-turner with all the trademark twists and turns that the author handles so well.

  
Reviewed by Betty Cox
 
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