The Blue Zone by Andrew Gross
Review by Vicky T. (VickyJo)
One of the most common questions I get asked in the library goes something like this:
“I love BLANK (fill in any author’s name) but I’ve read everything he/she has written. Who else writes like him/her?”
This is a popular dilemma. People find an author they really enjoy, but when they have read it all, they don’t always want to wait for the next new book. They want to find someone else that can hold their interest and offer the same type of reading experience. So, librarians who advise readers on what to read next collect “read-alike” authors.
If James Patterson is one of your favorite writers, and you would like to read someone else that writes like him, I’d like to suggest Andrew Gross. I have several good reasons for this: one, Andrew Gross has actually written five novels with James Patterson: Judge and Jury, Lifeguard, The Jester, and two of Patterson’s Murder Club novels, 2nd Chance and 3rd Degree. Second, Gross has the formula down pat: a plot that takes off like a roller coaster; short chapters with cliff-hanger endings, twists and turns and surprises at the end that makes a novel a page turner. And now, Gross writes novels alone, and so I picked up his first solo effort, a fast-paced thriller called “The Blue Zone.” James Patterson himself called this a “tense and chilling thriller”…and I had to agree!
The title comes from a code devised by the agency that oversees the Witness Protection Program; this code describes three stages of agency involvement.
The RED ZONE is when a subject is held in protective custody, while in prison or on trial.
The GREEN ZONE is when that subject, along with his or her family, has been placed in a new identity and location and is living securely in that identity, known only to his case agent.
The BLUE ZONE is the state most feared, when there is suspicion that a subject’s new identity has been penetrated or blown. When he or she is unaccounted for, is out of contact with the case agent, or has fled the safety of the program. When there is no official knowledge of whether that person is dead or alive.
Benjamin Raab has it all…on the surface, anyway. A loving wife, three great kids, a thriving business. Life is good for Ben, until the FBI knocks on his door. He is arrested on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and intent to defraud the United States government. Ben has been acting as a go-between for a business, buying and supplying them with gold. The FBI now informs Ben that this business is actually a cover for a Colombian drug cartel, and it certainly looks as though Ben knew this all along.
The only way out is for Ben to testify against the cartel, which puts his family in immediate danger. Ben goes to prison for the 8-10 months before the trial and his wife and children enter the Witness Protection Program. Well, everyone except his oldest daughter, 23-year-old Kate. She refuses to leave her life: her career as a medical researcher and her boyfriend Greg, who is in medical school. It’s a gamble, but she is willing to risk it.
A year later, strange things begin happening. Kate feels as though she’s being followed; it seems that someone has broken into her apartment, and she starts to wonder: is she just being paranoid, or are they really out to get her? When her colleague Tina is shot in the head late one night after closing up the lab where she and Kate work, Kate realizes something is terribly wrong. And then the news comes that her father, after testifying and serving his prison time, has disappeared. His case agent is brutally tortured and murdered, and it seems this ruthless cartel not only has a long memory, but is willing to do anything to find the Raab family and exact their revenge. It seems Kate has entered The Blue Zone. The question is: can she survive long enough to get out?
Note: We have had the pleasure of an Author Interview with Andrew Gross for the PBS Blog, click here to see the interview!
The Blue Zone was an awesome book!! I love Andrew Gross’s books! He is an awesome author!